A Kalamazoo native and WMU Football alum now leads a new scholarship effort designed to bridge Kalamazoo Promise gaps for students who still face college costs after tuition is paid. This story shows how one student’s journey through public housing, high school, and college turned into community action that supports the next generation.
Kalamazoo Native And WMU Football Alum Scholarship Story
The new Weekley Legacy Scholarship starts with Kalamazoo native Zonterio Weekley, a 2019 graduate of Kalamazoo Central High School. He grew up in the Big Bend Apartments on the east side of Kalamazoo, where many families rely on housing choice vouchers and face tight financial limits.
Weekley always planned to pursue higher education, but he saw how hard it was for classmates to even finish high school. Violence, unstable housing, and lack of money made college feel distant for many of them. This daily reality pushed him to think about long-term support for students from similar backgrounds.
The Kalamazoo Promise changed his own path. With tuition covered, he joined WMU Football as a preferred walk-on in 2019. The team had no athletic scholarship spot for him, yet the Promise removed the biggest financial barrier and allowed him to focus on both football and academics.
From WMU Football Alum To Community Scholarship Leader
Weekley finished his bachelor’s degree at Western Michigan University in 2022, then earned a master’s degree from Michigan State University in 2024. He now pursues a doctorate in criminal justice at Liberty University, with a focus on justice, equity, and community safety.
As a WMU Football alum, he experienced the discipline of college sports and the demands of full-time study. He knows how book costs, housing, and food stress still hit students even when tuition is covered. His own story became the blueprint for the scholarship he later designed.
His shift from student-athlete to community builder shows how one graduate uses his experience on and off the field to redirect attention to those left out by traditional aid models.
How The Weekley Legacy Scholarship Bridges Kalamazoo Promise Gaps
The Kalamazoo Promise pays tuition and mandatory fees for graduates of Kalamazoo Public Schools who meet enrollment rules. Coverage depends on how long a student attended KPS. Those enrolled since kindergarten receive full tuition, while students who joined later receive partial support.
Tuition coverage helps, but students still face housing, food, supplies, and technology costs. These gaps can block low-income students from continuing or finishing college. The Weekley Legacy Scholarship exists to bridge these specific needs.
This local scholarship targets the financial holes the Promise leaves uncovered, so students do not have to choose between rent and textbooks. It turns a tuition-focused program into a more complete support system.
What The Bridge Scholarship Covers For Kalamazoo Promise Students
The Weekley Legacy Scholarship Rising Scholar Award focuses on practical costs. Awards range from about 200 dollars to 1,500 dollars, based on the student’s situation and how funds will be used.
Eligible expenses include:
- Housing near campus for students who cannot commute safely or affordably
- Textbooks and course materials, which often reach hundreds of dollars per term
- Technology needs such as a laptop, software, or reliable internet access
- Transportation costs when students travel between home, work, and school
- Basic living costs that threaten attendance or academic progress
By targeting these items, the scholarship strengthens the impact of the Kalamazoo Promise and builds a stronger bridge between high school graduation and degree completion.
This approach responds to a key question: if tuition is free, why do low-income students still leave college? The answer often sits in these everyday costs.
Eligibility Rules For The Weekley Legacy Scholarship
The Weekley Legacy Scholarship Rising Scholar Award will support 10 Kalamazoo Public Schools graduates in 2026. The scholarship uses a need-based model focused on involvement and responsibility instead of strict test scores or class rank.
Weekley and his board plan to select:
- 2 students from Kalamazoo Central High School
- 2 students from Loy Norrix High School
- 2 students from Phoenix High School
- 2 students from the KPS Virtual Program
- 2 students from the Kalamazoo Innovative Learning Program
Spreading awards across different KPS programs recognizes nontraditional paths through high school, including online and alternative settings where many students juggle work or family care.
Activity And Responsibility Requirements
Applicants must show they contributed to their school or community or carried serious responsibilities. The scholarship accepts several forms of engagement:
- Participation in a club, sport, band, or other school activity
- Involvement in after-school programs or tutoring
- Community service or volunteering with local groups or churches
- Family duties such as caring for younger siblings or elders that limited time for activities
This broad definition respects the reality of students who had to work, provide childcare, or manage household tasks. It values effort and contribution, not only traditional extracurriculars.
The application opens on February 5, giving seniors time to collect references, write about their story, and present how the award would bridge their personal education funding gap.
Funding The Kalamazoo Native’s Bridge Scholarship
As of early fundraising, the Weekley Legacy Scholarship gathered around 7,000 dollars, mostly from founding board members and early community supporters. The goal is to reach at least 10,000 dollars in distributed funds when winners are announced in June.
Individual awards will depend on the type and size of the student’s gap. For example, a student with a stable home but no textbook money might receive a smaller amount than someone facing both housing and transport needs.
Donations to the scholarship can be made through the official website, where supporters track progress and learn about recipient stories. Careful tracking and transparency matter, especially as more donors expect stronger oversight of educational aid.
Why Scholarship Oversight Matters
Across the United States, donors and families pay more attention to how scholarship funds are managed. They want money to reach students directly and trust that awards follow clear rules and fair review.
If you plan to run or support a local program, it helps to study good practices for auditing scholarship funds and improving accountability. Structures like independent boards, public criteria, and annual reports help preserve trust and attract long-term community support.
The Weekley Legacy Scholarship’s early board-led fundraising and defined award rules align with this trend and set a base for growth.
What This Bridge Scholarship Means For Kalamazoo Students
For a student in Big Bend Apartments or a similar neighborhood, the Kalamazoo Promise already sends a strong message about future education. Still, tuition coverage alone does not erase the stress of rent, groceries, childcare, or time away from work.
The Weekley Legacy Scholarship adds a human voice to the system. It tells students from low-income areas that someone who walked their path understands the details of their struggle and respects their effort.
By combining Promise funding with targeted support, the program reduces the chance that a student drops classes after the first year or never enrolls at all. The bridge effect appears most clearly in those first semesters, when many first-generation students feel pressure to leave and work full time.
A Case Example Of Bridging Kalamazoo Promise Gaps
Picture a student like Alex, a fictional Kalamazoo Central senior. Alex qualifies for partial Kalamazoo Promise aid because he moved into the district in middle school. His Promise support covers a significant portion of tuition at a public university, but not all fees. He also needs money for a dorm, books, and a basic laptop.
Without extra help, Alex would need long hours at a low-wage job, likely cutting into study time. A Weekley Legacy award of 1,000 dollars directed toward textbooks and first-month housing reduces this pressure. It lets Alex focus more on orientation, building study habits, and connecting with support services.
This small but targeted scholarship becomes the bridge between Promise coverage on paper and real success in the classroom.
How Kalamazoo’s Bridge Scholarship Fits In The Wider Education Support Ecosystem
The Weekley Legacy Scholarship joins a growing network of local and national programs aimed at closing specific education gaps. Across states, new policies and private programs test different approaches to tuition support, tax-based funding, and targeted awards.
For example, some state residents follow how tax credits tie into educational aid, similar in spirit to programs discussed in resources on the Georgia tax scholarship structure. While the context differs from Michigan, these models reflect a larger movement trying to connect public money, private donations, and student needs.
At the same time, national-scale initiatives, such as large multi-country awards or regional contests, offer examples of how funding strategies evolve and how local projects like Weekley’s might expand or partner in the future.
Comparing Local And National Scholarship Paths
Local programs like the Weekley Legacy Scholarship emphasize direct connection to one community. Application reviewers know the schools, the transit routes, and the housing challenges students face. This leads to context-rich decisions about who needs which type of bridge support.
National programs reach broader audiences and often grant higher amounts, but they require stronger competition, longer applications, and more complex eligibility. Some students from Kalamazoo might explore regional or national options alongside local support to piece together a complete financial plan.
Examples of broader awards include country-specific offers like the structured 10,000 scholarships initiative in Ireland, which shows how large-scale funding attempts to widen access across borders. Local efforts in Kalamazoo fit into this global story by proving how targeted funds change outcomes one district at a time.