Photo caption: Middle school-aged students enjoy a summer drone camp at Kalamazoo Valley Community College’s Texas Township Campus.

Kalamazoo Valley Community College’s expanded community collaborations is connecting hundreds of youngsters this summer with the world of higher education in fun and educational ways both on-and off-campus. More than 300 students alone have participated in college summer athletic camps at the Texas Township Campus. Also joining us were dozens and dozens of Early/Middle College summer campers. These middle school-aged students explored careers and pathway options while visiting a number of Kalamazoo Valley’s campus locations.

Kalamazoo Public Schools students have and continue to provide valuable input about the college’s Kalamazoo Valley Museum “Wonder Media: Ask the Questions!” exhibit. Together with exhibit creator Western Michigan University Presidential Innovation Professor Sue Ellen Christian, the museum is hosting student groups throughout the summer. The exhibit, a collaboration between Kalamazoo Valley and Western, includes 14 unique interactive stations that challenge our understanding of and relationship to the digital media landscape. The exhibit runs until December 2023.

At Kalamazoo Valley Community College’s Food Innovation Center, high school-aged students have been learning about sustainable, urban food practices through Youth Opportunities Unlimited summer placements. High school students interested in cooking and health are participating in the college’s Learning Kitchen, a new, free virtual cooking program made possible through a partnership between Kalamazoo Valley and the Bronson Health Foundation. The project is funded in part by the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education through the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and the Michigan Fitness Foundation.

Also new this summer, the college collaborated with the Douglass Community Association in Kalamazoo to offer free girls and boys basketball clinics at its Northside location. The hope is that the pilot program grows and that even more students will have the opportunity to interact with college basketball coaches and athlete-scholars during these day long events.

These and other efforts support the college’s new mission statement: “Kalamazoo Valley Community College creates innovative and equitable opportunities that empower all to learn, grow and thrive.”

“Kalamazoo Valley Community College is very pleased to be a part of the lives of learners of all ages and look forward to welcoming many of these young people and their families to the college as enrolled students in the future,” said Kalamazoo Valley President L. Marshall Washington, Ph.D.

Registration is now open for the fall semester that begins on Sept. 7. For more information, visit www.kvcc.edu.

ABOUT KALAMAZOO VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Established in 1966, Kalamazoo Valley Community College offers certificate programs in more than 50 areas of study and associate degrees in 60 others. These include business, healthcare, human and public service and technical occupations, culinary arts and brewing training. The college has four Kalamazoo, Michigan, locations, including the Texas Township Campus, the Groves Campus, the Arcadia Commons Campus and the Bronson Healthy Living Campus. Classes are available during the day, evening, online and weekends.