Year-in-Review
Freshman Year
The summer before Ashley’s freshman year taught her a lot of important things. Unlike many of her future classmates, Ashley spent her last summer before college in the Edward N. Prather Summer Bridge Program (to learn more about this program, click here). Leaving home for the first time and being on her own made her make some serious decisions about the person she wanted to be. She learned time management skills, how to navigate between her likes and dislikes and about the type of people she wanted to surround herself with. Her first semester of college was easier since she spent her summer at UC.
At the end of the fall semester, she realized college was not as easy as high school. She learned juggling relationships, community engagement hours, scholarship requirements and school were a struggle. Luckily, she gained many supporters and mentors from her school’s Office of Inclusive Excellence and Community Engagement (IECE) to help her get through college. To this day, she still stays in touch with IECE and seeks guidance from them. She earned a 3.27 GPA and she was not satisfied with her performance. She knew she could do better during the spring semester.
Ashley started her spring semester with a total of 20 credit hours. It is rare a student will encounter this many credit hours in one semester. This semester was a very stressful one and she debated switching out of Engineering. But, with the help of her friends and family, she stuck it out and survived. Her GPA took a beating, but she knew she would be able to improve it during the summer.
That summer, she became a Precalculus Teaching Assistant for the Bridge Program, took two calculus classes and managed to be accepted into Mechanical Engineering (she did not have an official engineering major her freshman year; she was a part of FEP/EASE).
The most important thing Ashley learned her freshman year was to surround herself with people that will believe in her and will support her, even through the hard times. She exited her freshman year with a 3.24 GPA, growing resume and many loving and caring people in her life.
Sophomore Year
Ashley accomplished a lot during her second year in college. At the beginning of the fall semester, she obtained a position in her school’s learning commons as a peer tutor. She tutored in subjects such as calculus, chemistry, precalculus, and college algebra. She found herself struggling to help others at the beginning of the semester, but as time went on, she was able to help many more people than she believed she would. Most of the semester, she would tutor in college algebra, and now and again, she found herself helping students in the other subjects. Ashley benefited from this experience because it allowed her to assist others in their learning and create a way to navigate different people’s learning styles.
Throughout the fall, Ashley was heavily involved in UC’s chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers. She planned on joining the organization her first year, however, she decided to adjust to college and then search for extracurriculars. Ashley gained many friendships and an appreciation of the black community at her school. She feels as if NSBE is a safe place for her that she can be herself in. Ashley has noticed there are not many black engineers at her school, and she believes NSBE allows her to talk with others that may understand her struggles to a more extent. She found a community she could confidently call a family. The members of NSBE look out for her like a little sister, and she appreciates every member.
At the end of the spring semester, Ashley sought to become part of the NSBE Executive board. She found herself befriending more E-board members than the general body, and she was able to get an inside look at how NSBE functions. This intrigued her, and Ashley set her mind to make a positive change in the organization. Once E-board positions opened for elections, she held herself back, scared no one would want to vote for her. Luckily, no one nominated themselves for the position she wanted, and Ashley took the chance of applying to the position. She was appointed Secretary of the University of Cincinnati’s Region IV National Society of Black Engineers for 2020-2021. She was incredibly proud to accept the position, and she looks forward to a wonderful year. Ashley believes she will be able to make a change, not only in the organization but for the black community itself. She noticed black engineers are not common, and she wants to inspire those that seem discouraged to put their fears aside and follow their dreams.
At the beginning of the spring semester, Ashley started her first co-op rotation at GE Appliances, A Haier Company in Louisville, Kentucky. Ashley worked as a Quality Improvement Engineer Co-op in the Dishwasher department of the plant. She learned many skills and gained professional assistance from her coworkers. She also joined the African American Forum at GEA, which was like a NSBE away from home. This organization works with the black community at GEA to emphasize inclusion and diversity. Sadly, her experience was cut short due to COVID-19 causing the plant to shut down. She had to come home and live with her family for the rest of the semester. Ashley was disappointed about the situation because she had many plans had she stayed at GEA. However, like most people during COVID, she had to accept that the world is out of her control, and she had to do the best she could to stay safe and healthy.
The most crucial thing Ashley learned her sophomore year was not to let the little things in life be taken for granted. She enjoyed learning from every experience she encountered this past year. Some of Ashley’s goals for the next years will be to continue to create products for her hair care line, maintain a GPA of 3.4 or higher, grow her network continue to work hard and inspire others.
Pre-Junior Year
Ashley accomplished a lot more during her third year in college. At the beginning of the fall semester, she started working at GE Appliances for her second co-op rotation. She worked as an Advanced Manufacturing Engineer Co-op and participated in the launch of the new assembly line. Ashley benefited from this experience because it allowed her to see the beginning stages of a project and the end result. Due to COVID rising again, however, Ashley had to leave her co-op early. Luckily, she was able to work from home for the rest of the semester!
Throughout the fall, Ashley was heavily involved in helping create a new organization. The Association for Women of Color in Engineering or AWOCE, pronounced awoke, is an organization for Women of Color in Engineering to feel welcomed and like they have a place in the field. She along with her fellow co-founders, Priya Modgil and Jeanette Kootin-Sanwu, tirelessly worked on creating the perfect place for their members. The first meeting, AWOCE had over 20 members attend. This was a great achievement for the organization.
At the beginning of the spring semester, AWOCE became a real organization and held its first meeting. Ashley, Jeanette and Priya were excited to have so many people join their organization. They were even more proud to have had the organization approved.
During the rest of the spring semester, Ashley took many classes for her major, but she also started nurturing her journey to becoming fluent in American Sign Language. She enrolled in the beginner’s ASL class and learned a lot about the language. This inspired her to get involved in UC’s ASL club so she will be officially joining that organization in the fall. Ashley hopes to become fluent in ASL, Italian and Spanish before she turns 35.
In the summer of 2021, Ashley was employed at Regal Beloit in Florence, Kentucky for her third co-op rotation. She is currently working in the Gearing Department and loves what she does so far. Ashley also ran for President and Vice President for NSBE. She was elected President of UC’s chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers and hopes to improve NSBE this upcoming school year.
The most crucial thing Ashley learned her pre-junior year was that time management is an important skill to have. It was a challenge taking 17 credit hours and holding important positions in two underrepresented organizations. She is happy to have made history at her school and hopes to keep breaking down barriers for the people she represents. Some of Ashley’s goals for the next year will be to continue her journey in learning new languages, keep researching information on how to form her own hair care line, maintain a GPA of 3.3 or higher, grow her network, continue to work hard, and inspire others.
Junior Year
Ashley accomplished even more during her fourth year in college. At the beginning of the fall semester, she started a tough semester of classes at UC and a Front Desk Assistant job at the Learning Commons. Ashley also started her Presidency with NSBE and Co-Presidency with AWOCE. This was the first year AWOCE was an organization that held meeting in person and the community was strengthened. Ashley benefited from this experience because it allowed her to manage two groups of people and learn the importance of work delegation. By the end of her fall semester, Ashley was able to pass all her classes, stay in good standing with the honors program, and complete her first semester of dual presidency.
Both NSBE and AWOCE grew immensely due to the efforts of their respective Executive Boards. Ashley was able to meet new people and establish better relationships with the members she already knew. She created bonds with her co-founders and helped the general body members of each organization understand the importance of support and community.
At the beginning of the spring semester, Ashley started her long awaited co-op experience at Ethicon Endo-Surgery (EES) as a Packaging Engineer Development Co-op. She knew since she was in the Summer STEM Bridge Program in the summer of 2018, she wanted to work there. She connected with two of the engineers at the facility and they inspired her to believe a Black Female Engineer could make it in that industry. Once she started working, she made it a point to connect with those two individuals and thank them for the impact they had on her life.
Towards the end of the spring semester, Ashley learned the importance of staying present in her organizations even when she was on co-op. She helped plan her chapter’s trip to the NSBE National Convention, and AWOCE was able to make their first round of merchandise for the organization. She also made a point to start to attend more meetings in person, so she did not lose the bonds she had with her Executive Board members.
In the summer of 2022, Ashley continued to work at EES for her fifth, and final co-op rotation. She is still in the Packaging Development Department and has taken more leadership in her projects. Ashley also ran and was elected for Membership Chair for NSBE, and she is continuing her Presidency for AWOCE. She was also nominated for homecoming court for the following year so she is deciding on how she would like to move forward.
The most crucial thing Ashley learned her junior year was trying to take on everything alone does more harm than good. It was a challenge being president of two organizations, taking extremely difficult classes and managing her jobs at the Learning Commons and EES. Some of Ashley’s goals for the next year will be to graduate (of course), help NSBE and AWOCE exponentially grow, and help as many people as she can during her last year at the University of Cincinnati.