On the other side of me is Zack Koozer, a sophomore at the University of Akron. Zack stays busy managing his blog, writing, sketching and playing with his dog, Sparky. He plays video games, and so on. Zack’s nicknames include Zack, Kaxzc, Kooz!, Kaxzcstrasz, and “Scooter.”

This summer marks Zack’s third internship here. During this stint he is focusing his efforts on social media.

Zack, on working at State and Federal, said this: “I love it here. I am never comfortable with people I don’t know, until I know them.” By now, he knows everyone pretty well.

For lunch, Zack is a sandwich and chips kind of guy. He also pays particular attention to Nutty Bars, apples and yogurt.

On Fridays during the summer (June 1- August 31), our neighbors at the John S. Knight Center host an outdoor café called “JSK Café”.   This is a flame-broiled event, often with a line around the building.   Chefs serving up burgers, pulled pork and other grilled delights greet the Akronites’ appetites.   At the sidewalk location on the corner of E. Mill St and S. High St, you are provided with a condiment bar to please any palate.

Elizabeth Bartz has purchased coupons for the staff of State and Federal Communications to be able to enjoy the delicious lunch opportunity and the fantastic Northeast Ohio summer weather.   Today, I joined many of the staff and walked down the block to enjoy lunch.    I have recently moved back to the Akron area after living in Austin, Texas for over seven years and love that I am becoming reacquainted with Akron.   I was excited to hear a unique but familiar sound overhead, yes, the iconic Goodyear Blimp made a flight over Downtown Akron.  Take a look at the photos:

A scraper, a sander and a paint brush. Not your typical office supplies. But Friday, June 15, 2012 was not your typical work day as State and Federal Communications, Inc. volunteered its time to lend a hand to Akron Public Schools for the United Way’s Day of Action.

State and Federal President and CEO Elizabeth Z. Bartz—an avid supporter of the United Way—sent 15 dedicated employees to be a part of this year’s event.  Day of Action functions to improve the good of the community in education, income and health by uniting local corporate sponsors, volunteers and non-profit organizations with a common agenda – to better the Akron area.  This year marks the 4^th year that State and Federal has participated.

Our assignment was scraping and painting football stadium bleachers. We split into two teams; one went to Kenmore High School and the other to Ellet. Team Kenmore scraped bleachers while team Ellet scraped, sanded and painted the handrails.

I was on team Ellet. We arrived and were put straight to work. I gathered my supplies; a scraper, gloves, a sander and a water bottle. With the sun beating down and sweat dripping from our faces, we spent the hottest hours of the day refurbishing the handrails surrounding the bleachers.

Over at Kenmore, for I.T. assistant Ken Kelewae, the task was more meaningful; he was back to his alma mater. Ken and the rest of his team stripped the faded bleachers that have served Kenmore High for at least 50 years.

What seemed like such a simple task proved to be much more. After many hours in the sun, a lot of sweat and a few sunburns later everyone walked away from their site with a sense of accomplishment. The United Way and Akron Public Schools were grateful for the hundreds of volunteers that committed their day to bettering the Akron community and the bleachers were ready to go for a new football season.

Out with the old, in with the new!

Day of Action video courtesy of Alexa Livadas.

There are six of us in all.

Joanna Kamvouris sits beside me, to the right. She smiles brightly and works hard. She doesn’t go by any nicknames, so Joanna it is. A soon to be sophomore, Joanna studies journalism at Kent State University. While in high school, she reported for The Richfield Times and the Bath Country Journal, though she considers working here—at State and Federal Communications, Inc.—her first real job.

“It has given me a chance to experience the working environment of an office . . . to work among a close group of employees, observe meetings, and bond with some of the staff here. I am so thankful,” she said. Joanna is responsible for helping with communications. She said she was nervous to begin, but slowly things started feeling more familiar. “There is still so much that I have yet to learn!”

Everyday Joanna packs a lunch of peanut butter and jelly on wheat, Wheat Thins or cheese crackers, a granola bar and a bottle of water. One time she and I walked together, around the corner and across Market Street, to join her Great Uncle—Evangelos—for lunch at his restaurant, the Western Fruit Basket. She had a gyro and I had salata.

As cars and crowds pass by the offices of State and Federal Communications, a vibrant flower arrangement sits peacefully on the corner of South Summit and East Mill Street. At a glance, this may seem like just an ordinary arrangement of white, green, purple and red plants growing from a large, blue pot. But this delicate flower arrangement represents the pride of a company and the intricate beauty of its surrounding city.

Through a program sponsored by the Downtown Akron Partnership, State and Federal Communications, under President and CEO Elizabeth Bartz adopted a flower pot to decorate outside the company building. The Keep Akron Beautiful program is sponsored to plan and maintain flower arrangements throughout the city of Akron.

On June 2, ambassadors representing the Downtown Akron Partnership decorated a large, concrete flower pot in front of the building. That’s when IT Assistant Ken Kelewae of State and Federal Communications along with his wife, chose the arrangement of flowers to plant in the pot.

“My wife helped me in choosing the color arrangements of the plants to put in the pot,” Kelewae said.  “I painted it a solid color and topped off the pot with a layer of soil before I planted.”

Every morning an ambassador from the Akron Partnership makes a quick stop at State and Federal Communications to water the adopted flower arrangement.  Kelewae, along with his co-worker, IT Assistant David Jones, checks on the plants daily and gives them extra water toward the end of the day on Fridays.

“We wait until after 10:00 a.m. every day to check on the plants and make sure they’ve been watered,” Kelewae said.

From species of Sedum to the snow-white leaves of the Dusty Miller plants, State and Federal Communication’s adopted flower pot provides a colorful contrast to the brick buildings and black pavement along Summit Street.

“I think as active as Elizabeth is in the city and with the Chamber, it just shows how we’re involved and that we care how things appear,” Kelewae said.

Ren walked away with an exasperated look on his face. It was really loud. Joanna and I turned towards each other. We were just told by one of our superiors to leave work in the middle of the day, and to go outside. It was beautiful outside. Well, yeah. We nodded, in agreement. Of course we’ll go outside.

So we went. And we walked. We did laps around the building, maybe 8 to 10 of them. At 5’3” and with Joanna at 5’5” we noted how many steps we must have taken due to our short strides. We discussed our excitement for Walking, Part 2 to begin.

State and Federal Communications, Inc. was in the middle of its health initiative: Walking, Part 1. The staff is divided into three teams and provided with a pedometer. The team with the most steps wins. There is also a chart that translates other physical activities into steps, so those who do the rowing machine at the gym, for example, still get credit for being active. Signs of encouragement are posted all over the office: Keep on Walking, they remind us. On day one we were told to watch out for Team Myra: Myra Texas Walkers. They were in the lead. Apparently, Myra runs marathons with the same ease that most run through the drive thru. I can’t compete with that sort of mastery, I thought. But I did just run my first 5K. And with my little legs? They might finally be worth something.

Tiny steps, I said. For the win.

We were told to leave the office, for sanity’s sake. Everyone was running around in a bit of a panic. Some people had left work early. Ren Koozer—Executive Director of IT—looked me dead in the eyes, and then towards Joanna. Go take a walk, he said, and motioned towards the door. Just get out of here. This is nuts.

It was week two, day four for the interns at State and Federal Communications, Inc.—your compliance information source for campaign finance, lobbying, procurement and ethics laws.* Located in downtown Akron, it felt very adult getting dressed in a suit and parking in the designated lot behind the building. Two weeks previous, we had been given key codes and access cards, getting us into rooms that felt exclusive and elite. Inside, we were situated very comfortably, each with our own desks and computers. Everyone was warm, and helpful. Things were starting to feel comfortable.

On this particular day, however, there were five to six strange faces in the office, and they weren’t dressed business casual. Clad in jeans and paint-spotted tees, they bore canvas tool belts around their waists, filled with tools, of course. They passed behind our cubicles by the minute, always smiling and kindly, but noisy nonetheless. They came with ladders, trying desperately to slant them around the sharp angles in the office; they brought sheets of plywood, and plastic, and wooden doors propped against walls not yet attached to anything.

At the moment, they were in the kitchen, across the hall, pounding away at a concrete wall with what sounded like chain saws and sledge hammers. Surely they had plans of mass interior destruction. Home Makeover Goes Corporate. I had my head phones in, trying to drown out the sound, but that only made things worse. The louder they clobbered, the higher my volume had to go. The Mars Volta pulsated through my head phones and into the cochlea; it felt like my ears might implode. I was working on compiling a spreadsheet full of contacts for a conference we were planning. It was hard to alphabetize with all the clamor. I was also supposed to gather rates for our summer outing: Indians vs. Yankees in August. We wanted to purchase a few party favors, but making phone calls was out of the question.

What the men were doing in there, a mere ten feet from my desk, was actually really nice. It was a kitchen they were building. The office already has three of them, two on the first floor and one on the second, but they were making this one, the main one, much larger. Room for more tables was the initiative, so more of us, Elizabeth said, could eat lunch together. Elizabeth Bartz—our boss, the President, the CEO and the head of this home—was initiating a gesture for our comfort and camaraderie. I thought that was really thoughtful, and sweet. But still, we were new here, the interns, and trying to figure out what it is we’re supposed to do. And then do it, well. And maybe we were nervous about it.

The jackhammer grinding into the stone across from our cubicles wasn’t helping.

The Ohio Society Summer Social is tomorrow, June 20th from 6-8 pm at Tortilla Coast (Capitol Hill Location) 400 First Street SE, Washington, D.C.

State and Federal Communications is proud to be one of the sponsors of the event.

Elizabeth Bartz, President and CEO of State and Federal Communications, is attending the BIO International Convention. This great event is being held from June 18-21, 2012 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in Boston, Massachusetts.

Last night, State and Federal Communications was one of the sponsors to the Council of State Bio Associations dinner at Fenway Park. Enjoy some pictures from the event:

State and Federal Communications wrapped up its first six-week Walking Challenge and each of the three teams has been wearing pedometers and walking like crazy. We congratulate Myra Cottrill’s team – Steve Quinn, Jeff Roberts, Becky Campbell, John Cozine, Myra Cottrill, Jen Zona, David Jones, George Ticoras, and Megan Huber – for walking the farthest. Their hard work paid off with a whopping total of 3,828,367 combined steps!

I took a look at our company total, which was 11,217,621 steps, and it was hard for me to comprehend such a number. So I thought I would see how far those steps would take us if we drew a straight line from Akron, Ohio. If my online distance calculator is to be trusted and if you assume we could walk over the ocean, our 11 million-plus steps would equal about 5600 miles, taking us to Buenos Aires, Argentina; Ankara, Turkey; or Omsk, Russia! (My own total of 435,500 steps would only take me to Toronto or Cincinnati.)

The individual team member (company wide) with the most steps was Jim Bartz, who reached 777,703. Just amazing…

The heels of our walking shoes will not cool off for long, since next week the company will once again divide into three new teams and start another six-week walking challenge! Good luck teams!

Planning on attending NCSL in Chicago and want to be involved with Ohio Night? Be sure to save the date!

For more information, contact Elizabeth Bartz of State and Federal Communications, Inc. at
330-761-9960.

Elizabeth Bartz, President and CEO of State and Federal Communications, was recently the master of ceremonies for a parish banquet recognizing the achievements of the church’s recent graduates. The event was held on Sunday, June 10, 2012 at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Akron, Ohio.

The keynote speaker for the banquet was Dr. Lester Lefton, President of Kent State University.

After dividing into three teams of nine, State and Federal Communications employees worked up a sweat, completing four weeks of the “We’re Walking” program.

The Myra Texas Walkers took the lead in the first week, successfully reaching 655,040 steps.

Team Winner proved worthy of its name after placing a victory in the second week by walking 607,187 steps. Team leader Jim Warner acknowledged the intended line of attack behind Team Winner’s sudden success.

“My strategy can be summarized in two words: sneak attack,” Warner said. “I knew Myra and Joe May would disregard Team Winner and become too confident.  Team Winner started slowly, but we have tried to increase our steps each week.”

In retaliation, Team Happy Feet strode past its opponents in the third week by reaching 678,969 steps.

“We shall outpace them on the beaches, we shall outpace them on the landing grounds, we shall outpace them in the fields and in the streets; we shall never surrender,” Happy Feet team leader Joe May announced.

Although all three teams are striving for the win, Team Winner took the most steps in the fourth week, accumulating 781,808 steps.

With only two weeks of the competition left, team members are eagerly setting aside time to improve their scores.

“We’re treating this like a marathon, not a sprint,” Myra Cottrill, leader of the Myra Texas Walkers said. “Team Winner and Happy Feet may be in the lead, but I know our steady week-to-week improvements will result in a decisive victory.”

The competition rises as team members find themselves neck and neck on their way toward the finish line. To provide more motivation, Elizabeth Bartz is upping the stakes by offering a bigger prize to the winning team.

Stay tuned for more details as the competition heats up!

With the leadership of President and CEO Elizabeth Bartz, State and Federal Communications, Inc. was selected as one of the top women-owned businesses in Ohio. This is the fourth year the company has received this honor.

The award from the web-based publisher and business site, DiversityBusiness.com selected the company for its overall leadership and economic achievements, ranking 49^th of 100 Women-owned businesses in Ohio in 2011.

Bartz and the company also won the award in 2007, 2009, and 2010.

“This is a testament to the hard work of our 30 employees and their willingness to adapt to change and meet the challenges of a competitive marketplace,” said Bartz. “I am very happy we are recognized by Diversity.Business.com.”

Congratulations to Elizabeth Bartz and to everyone at State and Federal Communications!