About

NELP is a University of Michigan academic program that takes place off campus during the Spring half-term. UM faculty and other instructors teach the courses, and students earn regular UM credit.

The program takes place at a traditional sleep-away camp on a big lake in New England. For six and a half weeks, 40 students and 13 UM instructors live and work together closely, reading New England authors, writing, and exploring the New England countryside, its people, culture, and history.

In addition to formal academic work in literature and writing, instructors and students offer non-credit instruction in canoeing, camping, art, and nature studies. Students teach or co-teach classes as part of their NELP experience.

NELP also includes trips to places of natural and cultural interest, including several three-day hiking and camping trips. We climb at least three mountains during the program. These climbs are physically challenging for most people, but can be accomplished by nearly everyone with the right frame of mind.

Camp facilities are simple though there are showers and toilets. Cabins are unheated, but a heated area is available for reading and classes. The weather is cold when the program begins, but by the time NELP ends in mid-June, the weather is warm, and summer has started.