Westminster School senior Ashley Rees has earned approximately 1,500 community service hours in her high school career.
She volunteers at her church, Christ Journey. She does a wide variety of projects with the church, including Vacation Bible School. Plus, she’s gone on several mission trips to the Bahamas, Ecuador, Colombia and Nicaragua.
She went to the Bahamas twice, in seventh and eighth grade.
“In addition to my global mission, when I got back from the Bahamas. I was feeling frustrated, so I took upon myself to go to the Chapman Partnership for the Homeless to volunteer,” she says.
She was familiar with the Chapman Partnership because her father has performed pastoral duties there for twenty years.
“I took it upon myself to work with him,” she says. “But instead of working with the adults, I started a youth group.”
She still goes there every Sunday morning.
“We color a Bible sheet,” she says. “I’ll take care of the kids and they (the parents) can go inside and enjoy the Sunday service.”
When she started the youth group, they’d attract four or five children. Now she works with 15 or more. Her grandmother works with her and the youth group.
She went to Nicaragua her freshman year, and Colombia last year with plans to return in late March.
“On each trip we worked on a different manual labor project,” she says.
They worked with children in the morning and did the manual labor in the afternoon, doing projects like painting churches, paving sidewalks, gardening and building a wall.
In Bogota, they worked with teens aged 14-18 at a high school.
“This year we are planning to return and we will be working at an elementary school,” she says.
Going on the trips has taught her how to grow as a person and see things from other points of views. She is amazed at how happy, loving and compassionate the people are, despite the extreme poverty and hardships they endure.
The next trip will be during spring break. Until then, Rees has been fundraising to pay for the trip. She’s contacted friends and family asking for donations.
“The mission work has influenced what I want to do in the future,” she says. “Since I’m a senior I’m going to college. My plan is to double major in international relations and public policies.
I want to work with developing companies in changing governmental policies.”
She’s particularly interested in combating corruption in government.
“My dream job would be to work at the United Nations,” she says. “To help impoverished children. I really want to help other people.”
Rees has already been accepted to the University of Virginia, Florida State, Pepperdine, Florida International University Honors College, the University of Central Florida, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Miami Honors College.
She’s waiting to hear from the University of Florida, American University, George Washington University, Georgetown, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Duke and Wake Forest.
At Westminster she participated in several varsity sports. Swimming was her sport her sophomore and junior year. She played varsity tennis her sophomore year and this year she tried out for the newly formed lacrosse team and was named captain.
Rees is involved in seven honor societies. She’s an executive officer for the English National Honor Society, activities coordinator in the National Art Honor Society, former vice president of the National Honor Society, National Science Honor Society, the National Foreign Language Honor Society, Rho Kappa, the social studies honor society, and chaplain for Mu Alpha Theta.
Linda Bernfeld Rodriguez
