During a week when many college students go to warmer climates, 50 Wayne State University students will spend spring break in Detroit making a difference. The students are participating in a full immersion, service-learning program called Alternative Spring Break Detroit (ASBD), now in its sixth year at the university.

ASBD participants volunteer for five to six hours each day at nonprofit organizations. They eat at culturally-themed restaurants each night, stay in a downtown church and attend educational sessions that focus on the environment, crime and blight, arts and cultural awareness and hunger and homelessness. The ASBD program helps students let go of negative stereotypes and increase their awareness about issues affecting the city. It also gives them a connection to Detroit beyond what they experience at Wayne State. The program inspires students to become active members of the community. Many past participants have formed new volunteer organizations to continue the work they started during spring break.

ASBD is sponsored by the Dean of Students Office and the Detroit Orientation Institute.

For more information, call the Dean of Students Office at (313) 577-1010. 

Media is invited to cover the event.

Wayne State University is a premier institution of higher education offering more than 350 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to more than 31,000 students.