Award to the Kalamazoo Promise

Education is one of the most important aspects of society. If we educate, we can develop and move forward. Apparently, one group of people know just how significant education is, so they joined forces to make sure that students enjoy free education at some of the best colleges and universities. Doing so, they ensure that future generations will be better prepared and will end up being one of the solid pillars holding the community in the future. The movement is called the Kalamazoo Promise, and it involves the promise of numerous anonymous donors, who wish to support up to 100% of the tuition fee, at any of the colleges and universities in the state of Michigan.

Can anybody join this program? Respectively not, since there are a couple of conditions a student must meet to benefit from a full or partial tuition at one of the colleges or universities, he or she is planning to study. As the name suggests, the promise targets students that reside in the city of Kalamazoo. Thus, one of the aspects a student should comply with is to have lived in the Kalamazoo School District, to attend the courses of a public high school in the area for three or four years, and become a graduate. Respecting the previously mentioned conditions will help a student acquire a respectable 65% of the financial help the Kalamazoo Promise is providing. To get an extraordinary full paid tuition, the students must be a part of the Kalamazoo’s public educational system from kindergarten until high school graduation.

It is not a program developed for a limited period either, or with a limited number of scholarships. In fact, they recently celebrated their ten year anniversary, ensuring a reliable educational system and a better future for the entire community.

Alex Maine, Project Director discussed with us how the Kalamazoo Promise came to receive the award.

“After the success of our first award in the US earlier this year, we launched an online campaign to target the users of Reddit. From this campaign we received a lot of nominations from the younger generation and this eventually led to a nomination for the Kalamazoo Promise from a student who had been part of the promise.”

“In the nomination she expressed how thankful she was for all the financial assistance she was given which allowed her to chase her dream. Our board was certainly moved by this, so we researched their work further and this led to the award.”

“I have a lot of respect for what they are doing and I’d like to offer not only my thanks to the Promise and the students, but to all those donors who have so kindly given aid to the fund to educate and provide for so many.”

In a statement to the Atlantic Award yesterday, Mayor Bobby Hopewell of Kalamazoo said:

““It is an honor to be able to present the Kalamazoo Promise with this award from the Atlantic Award Group. By providing students in our city the opportunity to further their education and reach their full potential, The Kalamazoo Promise truly is “beyond what is usual”. In celebrating this extraordinary gift to our community, It is my hope that this award will continue to challenge us to support our students and schools to ensure everyone can benefit.”

The Atlantic Award Group would like to thank Mayor Hopewell, and the staff at City Hall for helping us make this presentation possible. To learn more about the promise, please visit their website: https://www.kalamazoopromise.com/