- Hannah Rockwell

People Change

       Twelve hours on a plane, 21 days traveling in vans, 79 other people, 13 books, and zero social time. Ashley Smith went to Alaska as the girl who read all of the time and didn’t socialize but she came back changed for the better. The Alaska Great Lakes Project changed Ashley’s personality and her perspective on her future. “It (going to Alaska) has made my life different.”

       When Ashley went to Alaska for the first time as an eighth grader she was so shy that she read 13 books on the trip. Now 18 years old, the athletic looking high school senior is leaving for college in about two months. Spending time in Alaska learning about herself and having to work with other people has changed Ashley from someone who would sit in the corner and stay to herself to someone who socializes and tries to make friends. “When I first went to Alaska I was really shy,” she said, “afterwards I learned to come out of my shell and talk to people.”

       When Ashley went to Alaska she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with the rest of her life but what she saw and experienced in Alaska helped guide her to the right decision. “I decided to become a biology major because of what I saw in Alaska... I just would really like to live there (Denali National Park) and I’ve always loved animals so it seems like a pretty good combination.”

       Most students who are going to Alaska this summer don’t see how three weeks can make a difference in their lives but fir Ashley this three week trip changed her entire life. Ashley had only one thing to say to people who don’t think they’ll go, “Why wouldn’t you want to go, it’s an amazing place, you meet so many new people and make so many new friends.”