Alternative Spring Break | Student Leadership and Involvement

Alternative Spring Break (ASB) is an experiential learning opportunity that promotes service-learning and community building. Students participate in education, direct service, and reflection in order to become life-long active citizens.

Student Leadership and Involvement, as well as some of our student organizations, host Alternative Spring Break trips each year. If you, or your student organization, are planning an Alternative Spring Break trip please let us know how we can help!

ASB through Student Leadership and Involvement is open to any student in good academic and conduct standing at the University. You do not need previous experience in service or on campus to participate. Each trip seeks to have students from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences.

In the future, we are looking for new and unique opportunities to combine the spring break experience with service learning. If you have an idea for what our next spring break trip should entail, or you are interested in attending an alternative spring break trip, please let us know by emailing huskyhelpers@mtu.edu.

Alternative Spring Break 2024

Student Leadership and Involvement is excited to host two Alternative Spring Break trips this year. Details about each trip are highlighted in the drop downs below.

Applications for the 2024 Alternative Spring Break trips are now open and will close November 12, 2023.

Apply now!

Hurricane Repair - St. Joe, Florida

This year's trip to St. Joe, Florida will be focused on hurricane repair and shoreline cleanup. The group will work alongside several local parks, including TH Stone Memorial St. Joseph Peninsula State Park and the Rish Recreation Area.

This trip will depart early on Friday, February, 23 in a Michigan Tech 15-passenger van. Participants will stay in an Airbnb near the volunteer site. Most meals will be prepared and provided by the group itself. Immersion experiences, educational opportunities, and group reflection will be incorporated throughout the week. The group will depart from Florida on Saturday, March 2nd and return to campus the following day.

This trip can accommodate up to nine students. Due to support from the Student Activity Fee, this trip will cost $400 per student which includes all food, travel, accommodations, and program materials.

Housing and Resilience - Puerto Rico

In collaboration with the Community Collaborations International, this alternative spring break trip will travel to San Juan, Puerto Rico to work with community organizers on issues such as home repair, forest recovery, and youth development.

This trip will depart early on Saturday, February 24 to drive to Marquette and fly to our destination. Both lodging and food will be provided by our host organization. Cultural immersion experiences, educational opportunities, and group reflection will be incorporated throughout the week. The group will depart from Puerto Rico on Saturday, March 2nd and return to campus late that evening.

This trip can accommodate up to ten students. Due to support from the Student Activity Fee, this trip will cost $1,200 per student which includes food on-site, travel, accommodations, and program materials.

"Whether or not you think you will enjoy the service, you should still go! You will make so many good memories, and learn so much, that it will all be worth it in the end!"Lucy Straubel

Past Alternative Spring Breaks

ASB 2023

In 2023, Student Leadership and Involvement coordinated two alternative spring break trips. Our domestic trip was focused on Indigenous Sovereignty and Horticulture in collaboration with the Highland Support Project and Partners in Service. The team of nine students traveled to Pinetop-Lakeside, AZ to work with the Apache Nation on the White Mountain Apache Reservation. Our international trip traveled to Sanloqui, Ecuador in collaboration with Manna Project International. The trip was focused on community development and projects varied throughout the week.

Students on the Arizona trip pose with a waterfall

Arizona participants work on building garden beds at a local school

Arizona participants building garden beds

Liv, a participant on the Ecuador trip, smiles in excitement at O'Hare Airport

Ecuador trip participants walk to the days volunteer site

Ecaudor participants prepare and enjoy a family meal with local fruits

Ecuador trip participants and our site contact, Abby, take a break at a local monument

Arizona participants pose with the garden beds they built

ASB 2022

Michigan Tech partnered with One Heartland in Willow River, Minnesota for our 2022 Alternative Spring Break trip. Since 1993, One Heartland has been creating life-changing camp experiences for youth facing social isolation, intolerance, or serious health challenges. Their camps provide a welcoming, bully-free environment where children, youth, and young adults can feel completely accepted for who they are—often for the first time in their lives.

I love being able to help people, and I felt like I did that on this trip. We could see the improvement and the impact we were making daily, and that was really nice to see. I also loved all the tasks we did, building things, painting walls, moving wood, and cleaning are all very fun and helpful.

Claire Nicholas

The group smiles as they ride in the van on the way to One Heartland

ASB participants on an outing in Minneapolis.

Claire and Vanessa stack firewood to be used at camp

The group poses in front of the One Heartland fireplace

Three participants build lockers for the staff lounge

Some major takeaways I had from this trip were to be apart of more service and volunteer opportunities in the future, the True Colors camp and everything that it embodies (free space for LGBT+ children and the importance of that in today's communities), the impact people can have on you from spending just a week with them, how big the Mall of America actually is, and to take advantage of all the opportunities that may come to you even if they may be nerve-racking.

Riley Krause

ASB 2020

Michigan Tech partnered with NetWork Volunteers and Long Way Home to send students to Houston, TX and Comalapa, Guatemala over Spring Break.

Students traveled to Houston, TX to engage in urban gardening and revitalization. They worked with Plant It Forward Farms, Westbury Community Garden, and Target Hunger with their weeding, planting, and preparations.

The students that traveled to Comalapa, Guatemala to further the building of an off-the-grid earthquake resistant home utilizing green building techniques.

ASB 2019

Michigan Tech partnered with NetWork Volunteers and Long Way Home to send students to New Orleans, LA and Comalapa, Guatemala over Spring Break.

Students traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana spending the week working on various projects from garden beautification to musical revitalization. During their time volunteering, the group was able to deposit over 100 bags of mulch, move over 200 pounds of recycled metals, plant 15 trees, and sort 1 TON of Mardi Gras beads to be reused.

The students that traveled to Comalapa, Guatemala spent their time constructing an off-the-grid earthquake resistant home utilizing green building techniques.