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The Eastern Echo Thursday, July 2, 2026 | Print Archive
The Eastern Echo

J Richard Bates

The Eastern Echo
News

SESI conference features locals reinventing Michigan

The fifteenth annual SESI Midwestern Regional Entrepreneurship Conference was held in the EMU Student Center on Friday. The conference was presented by the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization and was focused on reinventing Michigan, utilizing the entrepreneurial spirit. In 2009 EMU received $200,000 from the estate of Catherin Sesi to endow the annual conference. The conference featured speakers from a variety of businesses and organizations, broken down into two breakout sessions with a keynote presentation during breakfast and another during lunch. The breakfast keynote speaker was Amy Cell from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. The first breakout session featured Chalres Senteio, an entrepreneur in health care and consulting; Gauri Thergonkar from Zingtrain; and Pat Muldoon, vice president of product development engineering for Venchurs Vehicle Systems. The second session included Zach Wigal, founder of Gamers Outreach Foundation; Kentaro Ray, founder of Kentaro SEO Marketing; and Bilal Saeed and Tim Adkins, founders of Pakmode Media and Marketing. The lunch keynote was delivered by Mike Lorenc, Google manager of Dedicated Client Services.

The Eastern Echo
News

Public Act 4 protest goes to Snyder's

A red helicopter hovered low overhead, and police officers were at every intersection, as over 800 protestors, armed with signs and microphones, marched from Parker Mill Park to Governor Snyder’s home on a windy and overcast Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Eastern Echo
Sports

Gymnastics opens season at Kent St.

The EMU Gymnastics team opens the 2012 season on the road at Kent State following a strong sixth-place finish in the Mid-American Conference Championships last year. The Eagles finished the 2011 season with a 4-10 overall record and went 2-4 in conference match-ups.

The Eastern Echo
Sports

Indoor season opens

The Eastern Michigan University women’s track and field opened the indoor season with a win Friday against the University of Toledo and University of Detroit Mercy at the Bowen Field House. Eastern earned 123.5 points, Toledo scored 83 points and Detroit Mercy had 64.5 points. The field events began the meet when senior Angela Scarber won the weight throw and set a EMU record at 17.38 meters.

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Eastern Michigan University’s “Enlighten U” has been ranked the top mental health podcast in Michigan by FeedSpot, a platform that compiles blogs, podcasts, YouTube channels, newsletters and other sites in one location.

“Enlighten U” is a podcast geared toward students who are experiencing mental health challenges. Melissa Thrasher, EMU's executive director of media relations and social media, and Lolita Cummings, an EMU public relations professor, serve as the co-hosts. Each episode is released around the 15th of every month and features a student or alum and a subject-matter professional.

Lolita Cummings in an interview with The Echo said that this is not the first time the No. 1 mental health podcast in Michigan has been awarded to "Enlighten U."

"We've been the No. 1 mental health podcast in Michigan from the very beginning," Cummings said. "I think it's an indicator of the fact that what we are trying to do, we are doing well, and that is important."

At the start of each "Enlighten U" episode, Cummings and Thrasher state that the "Enlighten U" podcast is an award-winning show.

"A couple of years ago, I won the best in PR for good campaign from Public Relations Society of America for the marketing and promotions program, because it's important that we get this, the word, out to everyone and about the podcast," Cummings said.

Thrasher and Cummings are both extremely proud of their podcast, but these awards and recognitions are not why they continue with it.

It is important to Cummings that she serves all of her students' needs. She noticed that before the COVID-19 pandemic, the mental health of many of her students was declining. When the students came back after the pandemic, Cummings noticed that her students' mental health was even worse. Due to this, she began brainstorming with one of her students about how she could help.

"She [the student] said to me, 'We watched a lot of podcasts while we were off.' So I said, 'Okay, I don't know anything about podcasts, but I will meet you all where you are.' So that's where the idea came from," Cummings said. "I am able to not just serve their academic needs, but I'm also able to serve their mental health needs. And to get the feedback from them, that is really helping, and is everything to me because the students are the ones who tell us what issues are impacting the most. Those are the issues that we bring to the table at 'Enlighten U.'"

Cummings encourages students to not only watch and listen to "Enlighten U" but to also spread the word about the podcast.

"One of the things we want to do is get the word out about this podcast to as many people as possible, across the nation, across the world," she said. "The need is not limited to our campus — the need is universal; it is worldwide. My goal at this point is obviously to continue to produce quality shows that reflect the mental health challenges that students are facing, but also get it out to wider audiences so we can help more people."

For those who are interested in engaging with "Enlighten U," the podcast can be found on YouTube and Spotify.