ANN ARBOR—Twenty-seven children from four different seasonal migrant camps around the Lansing and Jackson areas recently attended a week-long summer camp sponsored by the University of Michigan Project SERVE and Lansing Community College. Nine U-M students volunteered for this first ever Alternative Summer Break Program.

The children, all between the ages of 6 and 14, enjoyed a week of activities that included trips to the State Capitol, Impression 5 Hands On Museum and Michigan State University.

“Through Project SERVE’s Alternative Summer Break Program, we could expose these children to a multitude of activities that they may otherwise not experience,” said Lindsay Lorraine Smith, a U-M student and one of the coordinators. “It was wonderful seeing that many of them became aware of the accessibility of higher education, and its benefits to their lives.”

At the Julian Samora Research Institute at Michigan State University, the children learned about their history and their contemporary Mayan derived names. “The speaker even fascinated the 6-year-olds and, I think, gave them the sense that there is a lot to be proud of in their history and cultural background,” Smith said.

The Alternative Break Program provides U-M students with the opportunity to give back to communities at various times throughout the school year. While students have participated in approximately 150 Alternative Spring and Weekend Breaks at sites across the country, this was the first Alternative Summer Break.

The summer program was partially funded by a donation from former U-M student Mona Kumar of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., who was one of five recipients of the national Howard R. Swearer Student Humanitarian Award last spring.

Project SERVE is part of the Office of Community Service Learning (OCSL), and is coordinated by the SERVE Board and its committees, which are composed entirely of students. Project SERVE’s stated mission is “to foster, through community service and social action, a student movement at the University of Michigan that thoughtfully addresses the challenges that we face as a society.” The OCSL offers credit and non-credit opportunities for U-M students to be involved in community service and social action.

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• Mona Kumar