April is Community College Month

Together with over 900 other community colleges across the country, Kalamazoo Valley is celebrating Community College Month during April. This monthlong campaign is an opportunity to share with the community not only that Kalamazoo Valley is the first choice of many college-bound students, but also that community colleges are first-class institutions that are vital to our local and state economies.

Community colleges are respected collaborators, leaders and partners, creating innovative and equitable opportunities to prepare learners for existing and emerging careers. For more than 58 years, Kalamazoo Valley has been at the forefront of change and at the workforce and economic development table - collaborating with local, regional and state partners, creating innovative educational and training programs that fuel the economy.

Community colleges are a uniquely American educational model that was designed to guarantee access to affordable, high-quality education for all. They serve as an on-ramp to careers and to higher-level degrees for many students, particularly forthe most demographically and socioeconomically diverse students. They offer opportunity to all, right in our own backyard.

As Kalamazoo Valley Community College President L. Marshall Washington, Ph.D., has noted, "The credentials earned by our students prepare them to fill in-demand careers in healthcare, skilled and professional trades, technology and new media or for transfer to four-year institutions. Community College Month is our opportunity to remind citizens about the huge impact the college makes on the vitality of Southwest Michigan."