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 2025
Student Leadership and Involvement is excited to host two Alternative Spring Break
trips in Spring 2025. Details about each trip will be highlighted in the drop downs
below when the locations are decided.
Applications for the 2025 Alternative Spring Break trips will open in Fall 2024.
"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
In 2024, Student Leadership and Involvement coordinated two alternative spring break
trips. The domestic trip focused on hurricane repair and shoreline cleanup in St.
Joe, Florida. The team of nine students worked alongside several local parks, including
TH Stone Memorial, St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, and the Rish Recreation Area.
The international trip was in collaboration with the Community Collaborations International.
The team of ten students travelled to San Juan, Puerto Rico to work with community
organizers on issues such as home repair, forest recovery, and youth development.
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.
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.
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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. |
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.
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.