Kalamazoo Valley Hosts Signing Day

More than 800 high school seniors from Kalamazoo County’s public, private and alternative high schools celebrated their post-secondary education plans last month at Kalamazoo Valley Community College’s Texas Township Campus.

The College and Career Action Network (CACAN) in partnership with Kalamazoo Valley and Western Michigan University hosted the second annual event which provides an opportunity for every college, military or workforce-bound high school senior in Kalamazoo County to gather and celebrate their plans for the future.

“It’s a great chance for students to celebrate all that they have accomplished throughout their time in K-12 education,” said Evan Pauken, College and Career Action Network coordinator. “The event serves as a way to bring together students from across Kalamazoo County to both build community as well as encourage continuing education in all of its forms.”

Kalamazoo County College Signing Day is Kalamazoo’s local reworking of the National College Signing Day, a program of the former first lady Michelle Obama’s Reach Higher initiative and The Michigan College Access Network’s State of Michigan College Decision Day. The event was held last year at WMU.

The event included a “signing process” by all students where they formally acknowledge their post-secondary plans, a performance by local spoken word artists Kinetic Affect as well as entertainment from different high school bands, choirs and drum lines.

“The majority of students who come to Kalamazoo Valley are from within Kalamazoo County so we were thrilled to host this event and give those students another chance to see our campus,” said EJ Bast, director of enrollment management at Kalamazoo Valley.

Close to 300 students at the event plan to attend Kalamazoo Valley Community College in the fall.