There has been plenty of snow in Ames all winter — but that hasn’t kept Tyler Feisel from getting excited about seeing more of it during Spring Break.

As president of the ISU Ski and Snowboarding Club, Feisel says the group will go to Colorado this year for its annual spring break trip.

The trip, Feisel says, is different from the club’s annual winter break trip because it tends to be a smaller trip.

But that won’t stop the group from having a good time together, he says.

“The Spring Break trip is more of an ISU trip than our winter trip is,” Feisel says.

“This trip is better for the ski and snowboard community, as a community, because it’s a closer-knit group, which makes it easier to socialize.”

Instead of hitting the sunny beaches of Cancun or Daytona Beach, students like Feisel have decided to spend their weeklong vacation in places far different from the party atmosphere of beach resorts.

Although the members of the ski and snowboarding club will be using their break to hit the slopes, another group of students will be spending its time in service to others.

St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church campus minister John Donaghy says two groups of students will head to both Williamsburg, Ky., and Denver as part of a service trip sponsored by St. Thomas Aquinas, 2210 Lincoln Way, as well as St. Cecilia Church, 2900 Hoover Ave.

Donaghy says the trip to Williamsburg is one that has been sponsored for many years through the Appalachia Committee, a group that works to organize service projects to the Appalachian region, and will consist mostly of home repair throughout the area.

In contrast, he says the Denver service trip is a first-time project in which students will be working primarily with the poor and homeless in the inner city. Donaghy says the service trip has had extremely positive results in the past.

“Many people who go on these trips say that it is a life-changing experience,” Donaghy says. “The students who go are really impacted by encountering people doing challenging things in a situation that is very difficult.”

Along with these, Donaghy says a program through the church will also send students on a “Monastic Spring Break” in which those in the program will live the lives of either monastic monks or nuns for a week.

He says those who go on this program have generally returned with a stronger faith than they left with.

“Most of the students who go on this trip find that it was very helpful in their spiritual lives,” Donaghy says.