(Kalamazoo, Mich., May 22, 2025) – Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency opens its doors to the new Career Connect Campus, charting a new vision for education for the Greater Kalamazoo region. DLR Group’s design for the new Career Connect Campus creates a modern, dynamic learning environment constructed to empower students for high-demand, well-paying careers. The building is a culmination of community, educator, and student investment over the last six years.

By integrating classroom learning with real-world experience, KRESA’s Career Connect programs provide students with a powerful head start toward career success. Local businesses also benefit by tapping into a pipeline of skilled, job-ready graduates. Whether a student’s dream involves building a prototype in a high-tech manufacturing lab or caring for patients in a simulated medical setting, the Career Connect Campus aims to nurture tomorrow’s workforce and propel the local economy forward.

DLR Group and Wightman teamed to bring the vision for the new Career Connect Campus to life. The 162,000-SF future-ready facility reflects the KRESA student and staff vision for a sustainable building. For structural support, a hybrid of steel and mass timber introduces alternative materials that can reduce carbon footprint. Through design, the building’s innerworkings are put on display. Mechanical systems are intentionally exposed to showcase the viability and workability of these integrated systems. Information technology labs feature exposed server racks viewable from the commons to help students grasp the tech guts of a building and to see how conduit connects technology from one side of the facility to the other.

The building supports career tracks in high-demand fields like agriculture, food and natural resources, architecture and construction trades, culinary arts, design, health science, human services, IT, manufacturing, transportation, distribution, and logistics. The Career Connect Campus is a learning building, designed to deliver education via immersion. Through hands-on and active courses, learners earn industry-recognized credentials and certificates to prepare them for their futures.