Germany Trip with President Gonzalez in 2024

Germany Alumni and Friends Trip with President Jorge G. Gonzalez

The Germany Alumni and Friends Trip with President Gonzalez is full!

Greetings, Kalamazoo College Alumni Traveler!

Are you ready for a new Hornet adventure? Kalamazoo College is excited to once again provide alumni travel opportunities after a few years’ hiatus. Suzie and I invite you to join us as we retrace study abroad locations in Germany that have served Kalamazoo College throughout history and today.

Our journey this May will offer an opportunity to connect with other K alumni while reminiscing past study abroad adventures and experiences. Along with visiting various study abroad sites from Bonn to Münster to Hanover to Erlangen, the trip will be comprised of many opportunities to (re)discover the culture of our German connections.

It will be a memorable trip, beginning May 14, 2024 and concluding May 24, 2024 and the tour is full!

Suzie and I look forward to traveling with you throughout Germany!

Sincerely,

Jorge G. Gonzalez President

Forward Progress

Kalamazoo College President Jorge Gonzalez used a conversation with Midwest alumni to emphasize a fact as beautiful as it is vital: In these challenging times K is moving forward because of the entire K community. These days that community is different…and the same. Different in the matter of diversity: this year’s first-year class (2024), for example, includes 36 percent domestic students of color; 30 percent students from low-income families; and 25 percent students who are the first in their families to attend college. And yet the same in the matter of motivation: the class of 2024 (384 strong and the most diverse in K’s history) cites these reasons for choosing K: study abroad, academic reputation, and outstanding professors who teach small classes. Sound familiar? They are the very reasons students have chosen K for decades. Nor is diversity an end. Rather, it is an indispensable condition for the goal of inclusion. Gonzalez defines inclusion as the effort to make K a place where every student feels the institution belongs to them—not guests, family members! And he shares his plan to get there. In this time of pandemic, climate change, and the persistent ill effects of systemic racism on all, it requires the entire K community to move K forward. Example: the story of Marco, class of 2019 who matriculated to K from Tijuana, Mexico, and is currently a graduate student in the department of entomology at Kansas State University. The trajectory of his undergraduate education depended on, among others, K alumni and their largesse on behalf of the way financial aid opens doors; a very special K biology professor who understands the nuance of inclusion when it comes to opening the doors of summer research apprenticeships; and a K alumnus in KSU’s entomology department who opened his door to Marco and his Senior Individualized Project.

Spain Trip with President Gonzalez in 2019

Kalamazoo College alumni and friends enjoyed a 11 day tour of Spain with President Jorge G. Gonzalez and Suzie (Martin) Gonzalez ’83 on May 4 – 14, 2019.

Trip highlights included:

  • Touring the monumental 18th-century Royal Palace in Madrid.
  • Visiting Toledo, a UNESCO World Heritage site and capital of medieval Spain until 1560.
  • Traveling to the Moorish city of Cordoba and embarking on a walking tour of the Mezquita.
  • Viewing Columbus’ tomb in Seville, taking a walking tour of the quaint old Santa Cruz quarter and enjoying an authentic flamenco show.
  • Journeying through the peaceful Sierra Nevada to Granada and touring the world-famous Alhambra, an immense hilltop palace.
  • Visiting the bustling central market, a 13th- century Gothic Cathedral and the City of Arts and Science in Valencia or having a “paella experience” which features a boat ride on the canals, going to a traditional fisherman’s home and an authentic paella demonstration and lunch.
  • Enjoying an in-depth look at vibrant and lively Barcelona, one of Europe’s most beautiful and exciting cities.