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LEAPS

Living and Learning

Live and Learn Together in Detroit

As a LEAPS student, you spend your first year living and learning with your classmates at the Marygrove Learning Community in Detroit. Together, you take courses, explore the city, work on projects, and build relationships that will last throughout (and even after!) your time at Michigan.

Living in Detroit is an intentional part of the LEAPS experience. It gives you the opportunity to experience a major U.S. city not simply as a visitor, but as a member of the community.

A group of students stand in a circle outside smiling and talking.

Why Detroit?

Detroit gives students an opportunity to study change while participating in it.

Detroit is a city shaped by transformation, creativity, and possibility. Across the city, new cultural attractions, businesses, housing, and neighborhood investments are creating new opportunities and reshaping how people experience and contribute to Detroit. For students, that makes Detroit more than a place to study, it is a place to engage with a city in motion, learn from its communities, and be part of its future.

That creates an unusually rich environment for questions like:

  • How do communities change?
  • Who benefits from investment?
  • How do communities shape their own futures?
  • What makes neighborhoods thrive?
  • How do organizations respond to changing needs?

Detroit isn't just a place to learn.

It's a city writing its next chapter right now.

Detroit Culture

Detroit has an enormous cultural footprint. The city is internationally known as Motown and has a deep tradition of music, visual art, theater, design, and creative expression. It also offers museums, galleries, murals, theaters, festivals, four major professional sports teams, and cultural events throughout the city.

That means your learning doesn't have to end when class does. A Tuesday night can mean seeing live music. A Saturday can mean exploring a neighborhood, visiting a museum, attending a festival, or discovering a local artist.

  • student stands next to a Detroit Lions mascot in a furry costume
    View A student poses with the Detroit Lions mascot
    student stands next to a Detroit Lions mascot in a furry costume
  • Two students look at a large painting.
    View Two students look at a large painting in a gallery
    Two students look at a large painting.
  • Three women sing into microphones with a large colorful screen behind them.
    View Three women sing into microphones in front of a colorful screen
    Three women sing into microphones with a large colorful screen behind them.
  • Four male students look toward the camera in the stands of a Detroit Tigers baseball game.
    View Four students in the stands at a Detroit Tigers baseball game
    Four male students look toward the camera in the stands of a Detroit Tigers baseball game.
  • A male student stands with his arms outstretched in front of the Motown Museum sign. A bike is in the foreground.
    View A student with arms outstretched by the Motown Museum sign
    A male student stands with his arms outstretched in front of the Motown Museum sign. A bike is in the foreground.

Your Home at Marygrove

The Detroit Campus at Marygrove is a place designed for learning, connection, and community.

LEAPS students live together in the newly renovated Florent Gillet residence hall. Shared spaces give you plenty of opportunities to study, cook, play games, watch movies, work on projects, or simply spend time with your classmates. One cohort even started a band!

Faculty and staff also share the Marygrove community with students, creating opportunities for informal conversations and easy access to advising and support.

At a university as large as Michigan, it can sometimes take time to find your people. LEAPS starts with a community from day one.

  • Residence hall room in Florent Gillet. Blue bead lights outline the wall, two beds and two desks fill up the space with small rugs on the floor.
    View A two-person room in the Florent Gillet residence hall
    Residence hall room in Florent Gillet. Blue bead lights outline the wall, two beds and two desks fill up the space with small rugs on the floor.
  • Five students with instruments stand next to a sign that says Leaps N Sounds.
    View Five students with instruments beside a Leaps N Sounds sign
    Five students with instruments stand next to a sign that says Leaps N Sounds.
  • Aerial shot of large, stately collegiate hall called Madame Cadillac.
    View Aerial view of Madame Cadillac Hall at Marygrove
    Aerial shot of large, stately collegiate hall called Madame Cadillac.
  • Five students sit around a dinner table in a courtyard talking and smiling.
    View Five students talk around a dinner table in a courtyard
    Five students sit around a dinner table in a courtyard talking and smiling.
  • A woman throws a bean bag in a game of bean bag toss. Two men stand on either side of her.
    View A woman throws a bean bag in a game of bean bag toss
    A woman throws a bean bag in a game of bean bag toss. Two men stand on either side of her.
  • In the foreground, five students recline in colorful chairs outdoors. In the background, other students are gathering.
    View Students relax in colorful chairs on the lawn
    In the foreground, five students recline in colorful chairs outdoors. In the background, other students are gathering.
  • Students play some kind of game where multiple people have their hands raised and other students cheer them on.
    View Students raise their hands and cheer during a game in a lounge
    Students play some kind of game where multiple people have their hands raised and other students cheer them on.
  • Two women cook together in a kitchenette.
    View Two women cook together in a kitchenette
    Two women cook together in a kitchenette.

Find Your People

LEAPS is built around a cohort experience.

You begin college with a group of classmates who will share many of your courses and experiences. You learn how to collaborate with one another, solve problems together, and support each other through the transition to college.

Your classmates become more than people you see in class. They become teammates, study partners, friends, and eventually a professional network.

A Different First Year…By Design.

Living in Detroit means your first year will look different from the typical Michigan experience.

LEAPS operates free shuttles between Marygrove and Ann Arbor for classes, activities, special events, and other opportunities. LEAPS students take classes in Ann Arbor two days a week so there is opportunity to enjoy both campuses at every stage of the degree program.

When you begin living in Ann Arbor for your sophomore year, you'll have access to the full range of Michigan's campus activities while bringing the relationships and experiences you developed during your first year with you.

The result is a first-year experience that is different by design, and one that gives you something few Michigan students have: the opportunity to make both Detroit and Ann Arbor part of your Michigan education.

Your First Year is Just the Beginning

Living and learning together creates the foundation for everything that comes next in LEAPS.

You'll build relationships with your classmates, develop connections across Detroit, and learn to see communities from multiple perspectives.

Then you'll take those relationships and experiences into your coursework, community partnerships, and future career.