The director of the May 4 Visitors Center gave a presentation on the “Future of May 4,” announcing the upcoming release of a new application, Thursday April 16 in Taylor Hall.

The new application “May 4 Matters” is a result of collaboration by the director, Mindy Farmer, and her colleagues.

“We had this idea of overcoming trauma caused by May 4 by writing about it. We partnered with the May 4 Task Force, LGBTQ Center and Signum Design, and more,” Farmer said.

Instead of people writing about their experiences with May 4, they are able to speak about it.

“It is designed to collect short videos of everyone’s story related to May 4. So not just people who witnessed it or experienced it in some way but also people who are still experiencing it,” Farmer said. “So it’s made up of stories from both current students and eye witnesses.”

Signum Design, a small student-based design studio located on the second floor of the Student Center, helped to create the design of the application.

“They came to us asking us to design backgrounds for it,” said Terran Washington, visual communication design graduate student. “We designed it to be simplistic, elegant and visually to represent May 4.”

Farmer said the application has been piloted and tested, making sure it’s ready for its release soon. The exact date has not been released yet, but Farmer said she believes everyone has a story to tell from their experiences from May 4 and believes their voices should be heard.

Khantal Tigner, freshman history major and tour guide at the May 4 Visitors Center, said this application is a better way of reaching out to people about Kent State’s history.

“It’s important to know what happened here on May 4,” Tigner said. “Not just as students, but everyone. Other campuses, the surrounding community and pretty much just everyone. This day was a day of tragedy and an event nobody will forget. I remember in high school, we learned so little about May 4. I feel like not only coming to the May 4 Visitors Center will educate people, but so will this app. It will give them a better picture of what went on during that time.”

During the presentation, audience members said one of the most important things the May 4 Visitors Center can do is to educate as many people as possible about the events that took place.

“We want this application to be effective. We want people to know that the May 4 Visitors Center is a center of learning and place you can always go to when you have questions,” Farmer said. “This app will help break through barriers, and we will be able to educate more people on the subject.”

Contact Lydia Taylor at [email protected].