Alternative Breaks
Make a Difference this Spring Break!
Alternative Breaks take you out of the classroom to learn from communities, immersing you in engaging, hands-on explorations of social and environmental issues through meaningful service projects and dialogue with local leaders.
As part of a team of 8–12 passionate students, you’ll take part in impactful volunteer projects and reflect on how your experience expands your understanding of the world and your role within it. Because Alternative Breaks are student-led, you’ll also help shape the day-to-day experience, sharing responsibility for things like meals, groceries, group logistics, and recreation. Every trip also includes time to explore the region’s history, culture, and environment through team-planned recreation and sightseeing activities.
Wherever you go, you’ll return with new friendships, fresh perspectives, and inspiration to create positive change in your own community.
Students can earn academic credit for participating in an Alternative Break trip. To learn more, contact Experiential Learning Program Manager Jenah Mead at jenah.mead@mso.umt.edu
Applications for Alternative Spring Break 2027 trips open November 13! Stay tuned for individual trip info and to find out where we’re going next!
Applications Open: November 13, 2026
Priority Application Deadline: November 29, 2026
Applications submitted by November 29 will receive first consideration. Application review will begin November 30, and trip offers will be made on a rolling basis. Applications will remain open after the priority deadline until all available spots are filled.
Interested students are strongly encouraged to apply by November 29.
2027 Alternative Breaks
Connection and Belonging
This spring break, two Alternative Break teams will head west to explore the connections between people and place. One will trace the Clark Fork toward the Oregon coast, while the other will spend the week learning alongside an island community in Washington. Both trips pair meaningful service with the chance to experience a new place through the people who live there and consider what it means to become connected to a community.
Please Note: Trip costs cover all group travel, lodging, and meal expenses during your service experience. Students are responsible for personal expenses (such as souvenirs or optional activities) and meals during travel days.
Clark Fork to the Coast in the Columbia River Gorge & Oregon Coast
Follow the Clark Fork beyond Montana and see how one watershed connects communities all the way to the Pacific.
Dates: 14–20, 2027 | Cost: $350
Where does our water go? Follow the Clark Fork beyond Montana and discover how the water flowing through Missoula connects us to communities hundreds of miles away.
We’ll begin in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge, where our team will work alongside the Hood River Watershed Group and other local partners to explore how water connects river health, agriculture, salmon, food systems, and the people who depend on them. Then we’ll follow the Columbia downstream to its estuary near Astoria, where the river meets the Pacific Ocean.
Through hands-on service and community learning, we’ll explore how decisions made upstream shape ecosystems and communities downstream, and what responsibilities come with living along a shared watershed.
Lodging: TBD
Mode of Travel: Driving
Sustaining Island Communities in San Juan Island, Washington
See how island communities balance everyday life with the pressures of tourism, affordability, and environmental change.
Dates: 14–20, 2027 | Cost: $400
What does it take for both people and ecosystems to thrive in a place that so many people love? In Washington’s San Juan Islands, small communities are navigating questions of conservation, housing affordability, tourism, transportation, and climate change while stewarding one of the region’s most ecologically significant places.
Our team will stay at the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratories and work alongside Friends of the San Juans and other local partners. Through hands-on service and community learning, we’ll explore the connections between marine and shoreline conservation and the realities of living and working in an island community.
Along the way, we’ll consider what it means to belong to a place and the responsibilities we have to the communities and environments we become connected to.
Lodging: University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratories – https://fhl.uw.edu/
Mode of Travel: Driving and Ferry Boat
Read about one of our previous Alternative Breaks here. On this trip, 23 incredible UM students traded their beach towels for work boots and chose to use their spring break to make a difference by embarking on two life-changing Alternative Breaks through ELCS’s Career Days initiative. These service-learning trips took students beyond the classroom and into communities in Seattle, WA and Point Reyes, CA, where they combined hard work with deep learning, connection, and adventure.