Inside the Monda Student Resource Center with Morgan Vibbert and Jordyn Sikula

In today's episode we are joined by two Members of the Monda Student Resource Center, Associate Director, Morgan Vibbert and Student Support Specialist, Jordyn Sikula. Together they give an inside look at the resources and offerings of the center and how students can access them.

Transcript

Welcome And Safety Disclaimer

Josh 0:00

PsychBytes with CCS is a weekly podcast hosted by Student Life's Counseling and Consultation Service. This show is dedicated to discussing a wide range of topics pertaining to mental health commonly experienced in the college setting. It is important to note that this podcast is not a substitute for therapy. All of the topics on this show, while discussed by professionals, are strictly psychoeducational and meant to inform listeners on available resources, skills, and support. Topics on this show can be sensitive in nature, and should you find yourself needing additional support or resources, please visit ccs.osu.edu or call us at 614-292-5766 With that in mind, enjoy the show.

Why The Center Exists

Josh 1:18

What is up everyone and welcome to PsychBytes with CCS. My name is Josh and today we are revisting the Monda Student Resource Center. The last time I talked about it, we were talking about what it was going to be, what it could be, what we hoped it would be. And now that it is fully opened and available to students, we have brought in Morgan Vibbert, who's the associate director, as well as Jordyn Sikula, who is the student support specialist, to talk about the Monda Student Resource Center now that it is live and all of the different services and resources that are available to students. So let me go ahead and open it up and please tell me about the Monda Student Resource Center.

Morgan 1:50

Awesome. Well, thank you, Josh, for having us. We're really excited to be here. The Monda Student Resource Center is a program of the Student Wellness Center we opened in April of 2025 as an essential needs resource center for all of our students. So that's students at our Columbus campuses as well as across all of our regional campuses, which includes our undergraduate, graduate, professional, and virtual only students. So we have six different programs that are serving over 60,000 students. And we're really excited to be able to provide those students with support so they can remain enrolled as Buckeyes. So what we know is retention rates on college campuses are down because of the financial burden of being a student at a public institution. And so OSU wants to support our Buckeyes to remain enrolled, to graduate in the fields that they want, and then to continue on to the careers of their choice. So this was a project from the student life standpoint, as well as our primary donors, Keith Monda and Veronica Brady, who have a passion for helping students succeed in their education. And we've developed six different programs to support our students. Those are our student food pantry, our Reed Family Career Closet, our student support specialist, resources for parenting students, emergency financial assistance, and then locating housing support. We are open during this school year, Monday through Friday, with varying hours to support our students. So morning, afternoon, and evening hours on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. So if students are having full-time internships, they can still partake in our resources. We are a drop-in model as well as a scheduled model. So

Who Can Use It And How

Morgan 3:36

students can schedule appointments on our website, which is msrc.osu.edu, using our platform called Pantry Soft for all of our resources. We're located at the Younkin Success Center, which is a lot of success centers in one statement. Um, but the Monda Student Resource Center within the Younkin Success Center is where we're located in it where every student is eligible. So we're not need space, we're open to every student. So it's simply a way for our students to supplement the financial cost of being at OSU.

Josh 4:12

Oh, awesome. So correct me if I'm wrong, but before we had one centralized location, all of these different services that you offer were scattered around campus.

Morgan 4:23

You are correct. Yes. So a lot of the resources that we provide through the Monda Student Resource Center are not new to the university, but did not have like a brick and mortar or constant location on campus. So now they all have a permanent location. It's all centralized. So the Monda Student Resource Center is on the CODA bus line. We're on the campus bus line. So it's more accessible to our students.

Josh 4:47

Very much so. So I'd like to talk maybe a little bit about each of the different services that you just listed

The Student Food Pantry Basics

Josh 4:53

out there. And I think we can start with the food pantry, uh, which I think is a really nice thing to have. And so I guess tell me a little bit about that. How does that work? How do students access it? How do you utilize it? What's it like?

Morgan 5:05

Absolutely. So the student food pantry is one of our largest programs. Our students on campus might remember it as the Buckeye Food Alliance, but the Buckeye Food Alliance is actually a student organization that supports the student food pantry through volunteering. So the student food pantry itself is an order ahead model. You can order ahead on our website between six and 48 hours in advance. And it's a choice-based model, meaning our inventory or our offerings are updated nightly based on what food is coming in. We have a variety of options ranging from fresh and frozen items, produce, shelf stable items, pantry staple items, household items, hygiene items, and baby items. And it's all free for students. There's no limit to how many times they can order from us or the amount of items that they can take. So we understand, you know, food insecurity is a huge need across our campuses. Based on the Student Life survey from 2026, 20.5% of our students are experiencing food insecurity. So that could be freshmen sophomores who are making food choices for the first time and going through their meal plan really quickly, all the way up to our international graduate students who might be sending their stipends home to support families in other countries. So with that in mind, we want to be able to support students not only with physical, tangible goods, but also food education or ongoing benefits. And that's where like Jordyn's role will come in and talk a little bit more about like linkage to SNAP and other resources across campus as well.

Josh 6:51

When it comes to utilizing the food pantry, is there a degree of anonymity to that? Do I have to prove my need to utilize it or it's open to anybody and everybody?

Morgan 7:00

Absolutely not. So we're not need s based we're open to everyone. So as long as you have a buck ID, whether it's the tap or the physical one, and are enrolled in at least one credit hour for the semester, you are eligible to use all of our programs.

Career Closet For Interviews And More

Josh 7:17

I want to transition then to talking about the Reed Family Career Closet. What's that all about?

Morgan 7:24

Yeah, absolutely. So the Reed Family Career Closet is sponsored by Jimmy and Allison Reed and their family. They're all alumni of the university and have a passion for fashion. We never want the accessibility of career clothing to be the reason why someone does not engage in a class presentation, an internship, an interview, or an on-the-job need. We have over 7,000 items in our inventory, ranging in styles and sizes from extra, extra small to 5XL. And we are able to provide all this at free of cost for students. So we have things ranging from maternity workwear to office wear to agricultural field wear and medical wear as well. So that for whatever a student's career endeavor is, they have the choice of what they wear to feel most confident in that experience.

Student Support Specialist Navigation Help

Josh 8:18

Jordyn, you're a student support specialist. So where do you come in here? How are you involved? How do you help out?

Jordyn 8:25

So I assist students with navigating different campus and community resources to ensure that their essential needs are being met during their time here at OSU. So with linkage to campus and community resources, that can involve anything from helping students apply for benefits, connecting them to academic support, maybe they are wanting to apply for student life disability services and they need assistance with that application. That is something that I can assist with, along with, let's say a student is experiencing uh utility shutoff or risk of eviction. I can assist with rental assistance provider linkage as well.

Josh 9:04

Okay. And how might a student access your services?

Jordyn 9:07

So a student can either schedule an appointment with me online through our website, which is called Pantry Soft is the scheduling platform that we use through our website, or they can drop in during operational hours as well. And these appointments can be either virtual or in person, whichever a student prefers and whichever is most accessible.

Josh 9:27

Okay.

Parenting Support Emergency Aid Housing

Josh 9:28

And kind of following along with the family trend that I had started on a little bit earlier, you guys also offer support for parenting students. What does that mean? What does that look like?

Jordyn 9:37

So we have a partnership with Access Collaborative, which is a social and academic support program for parenting students. So we work very closely with them, along with partnerships with Columbus Diaper Coalition and Ohio Furniture Bank as well. So let's say a student is needing a bassinet or a crib, we can work on a referral and getting them connected to the proper resources and products for their family. Also, linkage to government resources. So maybe a student needs assistance applying for childcare or WIC or food stamps for their household. That's another thing that I can assist with. Along with we have those specific pantry items, whether that's formula, wipes, diapers, uh limited baby food, along with some uh children's books as well.

Josh 10:23

And so you highlighted financial need and financial strain that I think everybody can relate to. So tell me more about the emergency financial assistance that is offered.

Jordyn 10:34

With the emergency financial assistance that we offer, we help link students or connect students to various uh financial resources. So let's say a student is needing assistance navigating a grant or a scholarship, whether that's at the college or a specific department that they are in, or for example, maybe they are experiencing a financial emergency. We can help them apply for some of the funding through Student Advocacy Center along with the mental health care fund to alleviate mental health care costs, like a copay, for example. Uh, we also can connect them to Office of International Affairs funding as they have a uh student grant for international students as they're not eligible for FASFA.

Josh 11:16

What about housing support? What's that look like? How's that work?

Jordyn 11:19

So with housing support, let's say a student is at risk of uh experiencing homelessness, or maybe they are at risk of utility shutoff, looking for those additional rental assistance providers, um, even connecting them to different shelters as well, or if it's the winter or summer and they're needing connection to warming and cooling stations. Some students also don't have a convenient shower or laundry facility. So connecting them to those community supports as well.

No Wait Times And Reducing Stigma

Josh 11:51

What are turnaround times like? So if someone wants to reach out for any one of the services that are offered, like what is the wait time like or is there a wait time?

Morgan 11:59

There's no wait time. So if you need food today, come on in for a drop-in appointment. So we hold a ton of resources for drop-in spaces for our students because essential means most of the time can't wait until the next day. So we are simply there to support our students, especially on a campus with hundreds of different resources in a city with millions of different resources. It is very difficult to navigate where to start first. And so the Monda Student Resource Center is there to be our students' starting point for accessing resources.

Community Garden And Volunteering

Josh 12:34

This isn't in-house, but we were talking about this a little bit before we started recording. There is a community garden happening, or is it already started, ongoing?

Morgan 12:43

Yeah. So that was our first program expansion, actually. We opened in April of 2026. And so what we know from our students is that they want access to fresh produce, right? So this is not just the canned goods and the ramen that students are seeking for longevity. They want access to healthy options. So we have different ways to find those options. So we're growing our own through our MSRC community garden, um, which is right behind our center. And so we're growing things like zucchini and tomatoes and cucumbers, and that's been a huge success. It's also a great on-campus learning opportunity about agriculture and food security. We also send student volunteers out to OSU Student Farms, and then they send back to us fresh produce, as well as we get fresh produce from Mid Ohio Food Collective. So we have a ton of different options for food coming in every day.

Josh 13:43

That is so cool. And if somebody wants to help out with the garden stuff, they want to help out with like tending to the actual garden itself or harvesting the vegetables. Can they just sign up to do that? Is that open to people? Like, how does that work?

Morgan 13:54

Yeah, so we primarily work through our student organization, the Buckeye Food Alliance. So if they're interested in an ongoing volunteer opportunity, I would say to join that student organization. But we also partner with a handful of other student organizations that require service hours. Um, that's such a great opportunity for volunteering on campus. So students don't need transportation. And so we really encourage you to come stop by, email us, let's have a conversation about how you can further support your fellow Buckeyes.

Josh 14:26

Now, are there any other things that maybe we didn't touch on or speak to at length enough that either one of you would want to further highlight or expand upon?

Morgan 14:37

I think just honing in a little bit on the fact that this is not need space. This is really open to every student. So our mission is to reduce that stigma around accessing resources and asking for help. And so if you see students who are there helping other students, you're more likely to feel comfortable using that space. So whether that's volunteering your time or donating canned goods, um, donating clothing that you don't need anymore, I think it's a really wraparound resource of Buckeyes helping Buckeyes. And that's the model that we want to continue.

Josh 15:12

How hand in hand are you with other agencies and stuff around campus?

Partner Offices And Yonkin Success Center

Josh 15:16

Obviously, that me here at CCS, you guys are right below us in the Younkin. So we have a very close relationship. But how are your relationships with everyone else and other partners around campus and around Columbus at large?

Morgan 15:26

Thank you so much for bringing that up because I don't think we actually talked about our campus and community connection spaces. So we have two offices within our space that are held for um drop-in or scheduled office hours appointments with a variety of different campus resources. So things like career, financial, and nutrition coaching are there. We have student life disability services. Um, Buckeye Link is there, Military and Vet Services, our graduate student ombuds person. So that calendar can be found on our website so that students can plan accordingly to pick up their groceries or find a new suit while also meeting with additional campus and community resources so that they aren't running around the 10 miles that is OSU to find the resources that they need. It's all in central one centralized location. It also is super helpful that we're in the Younkin Success Center. As you mentioned, the counseling, counseling and consultation service is on the fourth floor. Student Advocacy Dentist Learning Center in Green Buckeyes is on the second floor. Student Athlete Sport Services on the third floor. That was a little out of order. Um, and then we're on the first floor. So there's so many different resources within one building. So it's now just an amazing place for students to stumble

Wrap Up And Where To Look

Morgan 16:42

into.

Josh 16:42

Morgan, Jordyn, thank you both so much for joining me today and giving us an in-depth look and overview of everything the Monda Student Resource Center has to offer. To my listeners, thank you so much for tuning in. Hopefully, you got some good information today. I will put links to the Monda Student Resource Center in the description, as well as any other resources that may be pertinent. Keep your eyes peeled for the next episode. And until next time, I'm Josh, and this is Psych Bytes with CCS.