Alternative Spring Break

Proposal open date: September 1
Proposal close date: November 1
Project timeline: U-M spring break (late February/early March)
Project duration: 1 week
Number of projects needed: 10-15

Description

During the Alternative Spring Break (ASB) program, small teams of students complete information projects onsite at host organizations during University of Michigan’s spring break. This annual service program is an opportunity for students at UMSI to leverage their skills to provide capacity-building support to nonprofit, civic, cultural or social impact institutions. For these immersive, short-term projects, UMSI students will travel to you and complete 28-35 hours of on-site project work such as:

Organize and analyze information systems
Assess, update and redesign websites and internet tools
Gather, manipulate, analyze, and visualize data
Establish and maintain internal library systems or archival collection

Participating in Alternative Spring Break is free to host organizations! We encourage host organizations to provide accommodations such as meals or discounted lodging to support students’ participation in this program, but this is not required.

Deliverables

Deliverables will vary by project and be based on the client needs and project scope. Examples may include:

Recommendation reports
Process mapping
Data collection, cleaning, analysis and retrieval
Usability evaluation for websites or other digital tools
Archives and records management
Digitization plan
User testing
Focus group analysis
Survey creation and implementation

Client Requirements

Client is a part of a nonprofit, civic, cultural or social impact institution
Client has the ability to oversee student work during U-M’s spring break
Client can provide students with an in-person workspace during the duration of the project
Client can provide students with access to any systems or tools necessary to complete the project

Project Examples

Read more about the project outcomes from 2024 UMSI Alternative Spring Break projects completed in Washington, D.C.; Columbia, South Carolina; Dearborn, Michigan; and Alpena, Michigan.
Read more about project outcomes from previous UMSI Alternative Spring Break projects completed in Chicago and Detroit.

Client Testimonials

Here’s what previous participating organizations have said about the benefits of UMSI’s Alternative Spring Break program:

“UMSI students have specialized skills that can be matched with projects, and the concentrated week-long format allows the host to make a large dent in a project quickly and for the student to gain a deeper understanding of the project.”
"All UMSI students I've met have been amazing: they not only are smart but their ethic of work and professional approaches are impeccable."
"We find that each student we've hosted has brought a new wealth of information. They are always great to work with and really inject life into our work."

Contact us

Engaged Learning Office | [email protected] | (734) 763-1251