Sophomore Ali Aserlind, a member of the University of Connecticut women’s swimming and diving team, isn’t spending her spring break in a way many college students do.

The pre-medicine major has headed for Haiti to work at the University of Miami/Project Medishare tent hospital performing volunteer work in the country as it continues efforts to recover from the earthquake of Jan. 12.

Aserlind has been assigned to the pediatric tent, where her duties include transporting patients, assisting the physicians and nurses, and “play therapy” aimed at diverting the attention of children from their injuries and illnesses.

Aserlind, a native of Coral Gables, Fla., currently carries a 3.7 grade point average at UConn.

Her mother, Dr. Cathy Bernwait, is one of the leading pediatric surgeons in Florida and the southeastern United States. She was interviewed on NBC news from Haiti, after the earthquake happened while she was there as a volunteer. Bernwait returned to Florida in the meantime, but made a second trip to Haiti with her daughter.