My name is Zehra Imam and Alternative Spring Break is my answer.

In the fall of 2005, I was part of a unique but necessary project. Randy Dillard, Student Activities Supervisor, and three other UM-D students (myself included) were part of a beginning. We were on the planning committee to address the absence of a volunteer department at the University of Michigan, Dearborn. I'd reached a stage in my life where I was impatient with the tiny steps being taken by those around me who were generally apathetic towards social and economic injustices. I was angry with situations that never seemed to change, but I was passionate because, at that point, I continued to believe even though I couldn't see where all of this was leading.

By 2006, we had launched "Volunteer Dearborn" but pessimism was still in the air. "That's a noble thing you're doing," some would say. That frustrated me because, to me, it wasn't noble. It was simply a way of life.

By 2007, I was transformed by my environment. I became the most optimistic pessimist there ever was. I volunteered but at the same time, I began to hate Detroit. I began to hate its rundown buildings, its potholed streets, and its corrupt police department, its school districts that were failing, its segregated communities, and its dichotomies on every level.

But, just when I was at my wits end, about to turn my back on all of it, Detroit was chosen as the first urban region for Alternative Spring Break 2008.

If that isn’t an answer, I don’t know what is.

I look forward to meeting everyone. I hope that by the end of this blessed opportunity, I will be transformed again by my environment... this time, by all of you who are going to help rebuild a glorious city with your positive energy -- a city that I have come to love in my last semester of college.