Welcome to Kalamazoo

"I've been all the way from Timbuktu to Kalamazoo." This is the famous saying that actually founded the current name of Southwest Michigan's largest city. With such a strange and bizarre name, Kalamazoo has found itself into the hands of many songs, the most notable one being I've got a gal in Kalamazoo by the Glenn Miller band. Kalamazoo receives most of its attention just because of its name.(photo above from colleaguesinternational.com)

While people have heard of a Kalamazoo, most know little to nothing about the living conditions within this city. After reading this blog though, you will be able to get a better idea on how Kalamazoo would be like to live in. In this blog, I will inspect 5 elements of the living conditions in Kalamazoo; Schooling, Shopping and Dining, Outdoor Activities, Housing, and Transportation. If after reading this, you still feel like you don't know enough about Kalamazoo, I'd recommend coming out and visiting it.

Schooling

Public Schools K-12:
Kalamazoo Public School district offers good quality free schooling for students from kindergarten through senior year. The district serves over 12,000 students with 2 high schools, 3 middle schools, and 18 elementary schools. Like all districts in Michigan Kalamazoo Public Schools offers intradistrict school of choice allowing your child to switch to any other school in the district if their school is low performing. The district also offers busing routes for all levels of education ensuring your child will make it to school everyday. The two High Schools are affiliated with a career technical institute that allows students hands on learning in many popular careers. After graduating from Kalamazoo Public Schools and attending K-12 their all students are eligible for the Kalamazoo Promise scholarship.

Kalamazoo Promise:

Thanks to numerous anonymous donors in Kalamazoo students who attend Kalamazoo Public Schools have increased incentive to attend college after graduation because of the Kalamazoo Promise. The Promise scholarship can pay up to 100 percent of student tuition at any of Michigan's state colleges or universities for Kalamazoo Public School graduates.(kzoo promise photo below from kenbrooke.com)

 

Kalamazoo Private Schools:

Kalamazoo also has many private schools to choose from. With 16 different options in private schooling in kalamazoo there is no shortage. The largest elementary private school, offering K-5, is Kalamazoo Christian West Elementary School with more than 500 students. One of the best private middle schools includes Kalamazoo Christian Middle School. Numerous private schools in Kalamazoo offer schooling from K-12 and include Reformed Heritage Christian School and Heritage Christian Academy. Please note the Kalamazoo Promise does not apply for any private schools.

Kalamazoo Valley Community College:

After your children complete their k-12 education college begins to come into the picture. Many parents are looking for a cheaper alternative KVCC offers a great start to higher education for a lower price. KVCC has two locations. Some classes will be located in downtown Kalamazoo while most will be located at the campus thats just outside the hustle and bustle of the city. KVCC offers a wide variety of undergraduate courses ranging anywhere from golfing to management. Primarily all of KVCC's credits are transferable, not only Western Michigan University, but to most other universities as well. KVCC is a great way to prepare students for transfer into any major four-year college institution as well as entry level jobs in many vocations. KVCC has workshops and programs in law enforcement, health care, personal development, supervisory management, computer software, manufacturing processes and much more. (KVCC photo below from kvcc.edu)

Kalamazoo College:

Kalamazoo College, also known as K college, is located in Kalamazoo and is a private liberal arts college. K college is located just north of downtown and is one of the top 100 oldest academic learning institutions in the United States. They are known for producing the largest number of peace corps volunteers per capita and they also produce a large number of Ph.D's. Kalamazoo College offers 28 majors in total. K college offers majors in Fine Arts, Humanities, Modern and Classical Language and Literatures, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Physical Education, and Social Sciences. With a student to faculty ratio of 12:1 K college is a leader in Liberal Arts higher education. This is a premium College for those students who are most talented. (K college picture below courtesy of kzoodtclub.com)

Western Michigan University:

(aerial photo courtesy mlive.com/kzgazette)

The best university choice in Kalamazoo is Western Michigan University. Western Michigan University is a public college and was established in 1903 and in the 1950's WMU was established as Michigan's 4th public college. WMU has its main campus located just north of downtown Kalamazoo and enrolled are nearly 25,000 students. WMU colors are brown and gold with Buster Bronco as the school mascot. WMU has one of the largest Aviation programs in the United States. WMU is also noted for its Paper Engineering Program and Behavioral Analysis Programs, as well as for Haworth College of Business and an Army ROTC program. The WMU School of Music is also renown for offering some of the best programs in the nation for those with musical interests. WMU offers 240 degree programs which includes 29 at the doctoral level. Western's Haworth College of Business is one of the sixth largest Business colleges in the United States. With a wide variety of majors to choose from chances are WMU has a program for everyone in your family. 

Shopping and Dining

 Kalamazoo offers a great commercial variety. Two great examples of these lie within downtown and the south side of town.

Following Westnedge (one of the largest roads in Kalamazoo) south, you can reach the main commercial side of town. This is where all of the chain stores and chain restaurants are located. You'll be able to find all of the typical fast food restaurants and general stores here. Whatever your preference is, - whether it be Aldi's, Meijer, Wal-Mart, etc. - South Kalamazoo is sure to have it.

Although South Kalamazoo offers all of your daily needs at a low and affordable price, in quality it doesn't compare to that of the mall district. Kalamazoo has been known as being the "mall city," ever since it created America's first ever outdoor pedestrian shopping mall. The mall extends 4 blocks, containing only local businesses. Here you can find great local stores, such as Gazelle Sports. Local restaurants like Bimbo's pizza are located here as well. Entertainment in town can be easily found at any time. Many shopping events also occur downtown.

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Outdoor Activities

Summer

Kalamazoo has plenty to offer in the summer as temperatures usually soar above 70 degrees Fahrenheit making it wonderful for outdoor activities. With some beautiful parks and a wonderful downtown Kalamazoo is a wonderful place to take a walk or jog. There are plenty of bike trails as well in Kalamazoo including the Kal-Haven trail.(picture above from kzoo.edu)

Disc Golfing:

The Kalamazoo area is world renown for its Frisbee disc golfing courses. A local course is used in the world Frisbee disc golf championship and is really a challenge. There are many other local courses that will challenge your disc golfing skills as well. The best part about all this disc golf is that it is free at the majority of courses.

(photo courtesy motorcity.blog.com)

Golfing:
The Kalamazoo area also has plenty of regular Golf courses as well. Kalamazoo has everything from easy par 3's to lengthy tougher more expensive courses. With over 8 courses located in and around Kalamazoo their is no shortage of golf. Kalamazoo also has many driving ranges for practice as well as their very own Kalamazoo Country Club for those with serious Golf skills. (photo from of eamrivest.com)

Fishing and Boating

With a few nice lakes located in and around Kalamazoo Fishing and Boating are two great outdoor activities. Fishing is an outdoor activity you can do here in Kalamazoo year around whether it is ice fishing or just plane ole fishing. Fishing in kalamazoo you have plenty of lake options and river options. The kalamazoo river may be the most exciting with the yearly salmon run kicking of in late August. Wether fishing or boating on these waters it is truly beautiful. With plenty of access to the lakes in Kalamazoo launching your boat for a day on the water shouldn't be a problem. With boating come many fun activities such as tubing, sailing, or just flat out drifting and enjoying the sun. (picture from fws.gov)

Winter

Kalamazoo's temperatures drop a bit low from December to early March; however, there is still plenty of great outdoor activities that will keep you from siting inside all day. The top winter outdoor activities in Michigan include hockey, skiing. and snowboarding.

Skiing and Snowboarding:

Kalamazoo has some nice sized beginner hills for snowboarders and skiers to learn the sport. However, with just a short ride north you can ski at some decent ski resorts. Kalamazoo has no major hills but for those who enjoy cross country skiing their is plenty of trails to ride including Kal-Haven trail that runs from Kalamazoo to South Haven.

Hockey and Ice Skating:

Kalamazoo has numerous hockey rinks with access to the public almost any day of the week. Their are many leagues for kids and adults of all ages to join in on the hockey fun. If hockey is a little to rough for you all of these hockey rinks offer open skates to give people an chance just to ice skate. Other fun outdoor winter activities for everyone include sledding, snowmobiling, hunting, and ice fishing. 

Housing

Apartments:

Kalamazoo offers a wide range of affordable housing including mobile homes, apartments, and of course full size housing options. For most families near campus apartments would be the least appealing because of all the student partying going on every night. However, for those who are looking for the cheapest and most accessible apartments near campus Western Pine Apartments, Hidden Hills Apartments, Campus Habitat, or Campus Court Apartments may be the best options.

picture courtesy of http://g.mnp0.com/dimg/785221/300x225

Downtown also offers a great apartment selection that would be much more reasonable for a family with younger children. Skyrise Luxury Apartments or Copper Landing are two great complexes located in the heart of downtown near shopping and all of the big businesses. These are just a few of the best apartment options in Kalamazoo their are many more.

Houses:
For those who look to purchase a home in the Kalamazoo city area there are plenty of affordable options especially because of the recent housing market bubble. Depending on where you would like to purchase a home prices vary. Kalamazoo has many houses for sale valuing in price from really cheap to million dollar homes. Whatever type of home you wish to purchase it can be done in Kalamazoo. In the Kalamazoo "student ghetto", located near downtown, you will find your cheapest and largest options because it is a historical district with really old houses. Many of the homes in the student ghetto would need much renovation, however, the cheaper price may make this option the best.
Student Ghetto
photo courtesy olx.com

Mobile homes:
Kalamazoo also offers a few cheaper house options including purchasing a mobile home. There are a few mobile home parks where you can move your trailer too if you already own one otherwise you could purchase one. The mobile home parks are all located near downtown and offer easy transportation to and from work or school.

Transportation

Kalamazoo's transportation system is a great asset to many of the citizens within the city. It is cheap and affordable. The bus system covers the entire city, with multiple buses working each route. There are 28 different routes going through the city and even into Portage, and they are all easily accessed at the metro transit station. The buses run from early morning to late night, with a stop at every location within a half of an hour. College students in Kalamazoo are offered free bus transportation around the entire city.

The state of Michigan offers a service known as Ridesharing. When applying, the service asks exactly when and where one is going, along with passenger preferences and other important bits of information. After applying, Ridesharing does the best they can to set you up with a carpool. There are many benefits to this, including transportation costs and environmental conservation.

If you're looking toward taking a more distant voyage, there are also buses for that. Amtrak also makes a stop in Kalamazoo, although prices there vary. And then the fastest yet most expensive long distance trip would of course be by plane. The Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport. A total of three airlines serve this airport: American Eagle, Delta, and Direct Air. Airport amenities include 5 car rental companies, a Flight Deck Café, the Old Fisherman’s Pub, wireless internet access, a shoeshine stand, a limousine service, an ATM, a visitor’s information booth, a real estate company, skycaps, and a Jet Transit Air Freight.