Drew Ritzel is just one of hundreds of UK students who have participated in an Alternative Spring Break trip — either a weekend excursion or a weeklong adventure — to volunteer.

Ritzel, a junior biology major from Dayton, Ohio, went on his first ASB trip as a freshman and since that experience, he’s been hooked.

Special Thanks to Casey Smith of Wildcat Student TV for video from the trip to Nicaragua.

Through a National Science Foundation program called Research Experiences for Undergraduates, 10 students from colleges across the country spent 10 weeks studying suburban ecology and invasive species at or nearby UK's Ecological Research Facility.

This video appears courtesy of Reveal: University of Kentucky Research Media research.uky.edu/reveal/index.shtml