Mount Pleasant is a great place to be a college student. It’s a safe, ideal place for young people to attend school as they are learning how to live on their own.

After a sleepy summer, Mount Pleasant comes back to life in the fall. Every August, when students get ready for fall semester classes at Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant’s population doubles. Roughly 20,000 CMU students move in, flooding campus and the areas surrounding it. Mission Street and the busy streets close to campus become congested and slow with traffic.

Students shop at local stores, eat at restaurants and find other things to do throughout town. Mount Pleasant benefits from CMU students just as much as students benefit from its unique businesses and restaurants.

So we encourage students to get out and explore Mount Pleasant, particularly the downtown.

A lot of students tend to stick pretty close to campus, especially those who don’t have their own transportation, like most freshmen. If they wandered a little further, they would discover some hidden gems.

Mount Pleasant is so much more than Mission Street and Soaring Eagle Casino. The next time you’re hungry, maybe grab a bite downtown from Stan’s or Max and Emily’s instead of Taco Bell or McDonald’s. Lots of people think there isn't anywhere to eat in town that isn't a fast food place or a chain restaurant, but that isn't true at all. There's unique places you probably haven't tried yet. Seek them out. One of them could end up being your new favorite restaurant.

The next night you go out with your friends, try checking out some live music at Rubbles or shoot some pool at The Bird.

Did you know Mount Pleasant has 11 parks, which span over 300 acres of the city's land? They're all relaxing and tranquil places to hang out with your friends and escape from studying and homework for a while all beautiful, and they all have something different to offer.

Located at the north end of town, Island Park, a 50-acre park, houses a Michigan Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, a skate park, a Timber Town playscape, eight horseshoe pits, open shelters, gazebos and more. If you want something a little more laid-back, check out Millpond Park and take a quiet walk along Chippewa River.

If spending time outside isn't really your thing, Mount Pleasant has several indoor activities to keep you occupied. Head downtown to the new Karma Kat Cafe, where you can play with adorable adoptable cats. Or, get creative at Painted Turtle Pottery Studio or Intrigue Escape Games.

The next time you find yourself saying, "There's nothing to do in Mount Pleasant," take another look around you. Mount Pleasant is a college town; it is the perfect place for thousands of twenty-something-year-olds to have fun, explore and figure out what they like to do.

For the last 126 years, CMU has been home to its students for eight and a half months every single year, and so has Mount Pleasant. Without the bustling liveliness of CMU students, Mount Pleasant wouldn't be the same, and without the safe atmosphere and endless opportunities of Mount Pleasant, we wouldn't be the same either.

Mount Pleasant is our home. Decades from now, when most current CMU students have graduated and moved away, they'll probably find themselves missing the easy and leisurely lives they were able to live in their college days in Mount Pleasant.

Take advantage of Mount Pleasant and its small college town charm while you're still here. You will probably be surprised at just how much it has to offer.