Flint: Taste of Downtown for UM students.

I love posting positive things from home. Here's an article from the Flint Journal.



FLINT, Michigan -- It was a hopeful picture of what could be a glimpse of Flint as a college town.

Nearly 100 college students weaved through the streets Thursday, many huddled under blue and yellow University of Michigan-Flint umbrellas while seeing the city and eating local food for the first time.

They chowed on hummus and peaches and ice cream at the Flint Farmers' Market, sampled the "college club" at the new Hoffman's Deco Deli and Cafe and munched on snacks while touring The Lunch Studio.

Just for one night, a city that normally quiets down after 5 p.m. was alive with crowds of students who were being introduced to the community through UM-Flint's "Taste of Downtown."

"I'm going back to the Farmers' Market and that last place for sure," said Morgan Mead, 17, after testing out a deli sandwich and strawberry-kiwi smoothie at Hoffman's Deli, which just opened at 503 Garland St. a week ago.

Mead, of Millington and who lives in UM-Flint's First Street Residence Hall, said she'd been told Flint was a dangerous place but this showed a different side of the city.

"I had no idea that all these things were here," she said.

It's just what university officials and business owners wanted to hear during the walking tours that led both commuter and residential students through eight different local stops with samples and coupons along the way.

The hope was obvious -- that they would like what they saw and come back. In the first year UM-Flint has on-campus housing, it's part of a much bigger vision that includes students as a key piece in boosting downtown.

"It's a move by the university to make connections between students on campus and the community around them," said Farmers' Market Manager Dick Ramsdell, who said many students don't even realize what's at the market nearly across the street from them.
Flint Journal extras

Getting to know Flint
At UM-Flint's "Taste of Downtown," students went on walking tours through the city, stopping for food samples and coupons at:

• Brown Sugar Cafe

• Good Beans Cafe

• Hoffman's Deco Deli and Cafe

• The Lunch Studio

• Mega Coney Island

• Mike's Deli

• Rolls R Ready

• The Flint Farmers' Market.


"Saginaw Street is really coming alive ... and I think UM is working very hard to introduce their students to what's available in their community," he said.

Jasmin Jackson, 18, who moved from Saginaw to live in UM-Flint's First Street Residence Hall, said the night offered a good snapshot of what's off campus.

"The only place I knew how to get to was the mall," said Jackson. "This shows us what's around here. I'm not from Flint and it's nice to know where everything is."

Even commuter students and non-freshmen learned something new about the city in which they attend college.

After a year here, sophomore Melissa Leemhuis, 19, of Capac, said she had never been to the Farmers' Market.

"After walking around and getting to know the city, it's not that bad," she said while tasting a sample of cookie dough ice cream at the market. "I like being exposed to new things."

At Hoffman's Deli, a sign read "Welcome U of M students." Owner and manager Mark Hoffman surveyed students about which foods they liked best and how he could cater to them, such as by offering Wi-Fi, late night hours and even music.

"Everyone has their own attitudes and opinions of Flint and now that students are actually walking down here, I think they'll have a different opinion," he said.

On Saturday, UM-Flint will offer similar tours during "Cultural Center Invasion." Students will have the chance to visit such places as the Sloan Museum, Longway Planetarium and The Whiting.

"Our goal is to really get students acclimated to their community, not just the university community but the extended community," said Aimi Moss, director of UM-Flint's academic advising and career center. "They get a very real sense of what it looks like, feels like and tastes like and it gives them a sense of security.

"It's important for students in this particular moment of university history to engage in their community.