Ashley Lepse

Ashley Howell spent 1 year in Washington's foster care system. It took Ashley Howell three years, five cities and six placements before she landed in the house that she will forever call “home”. Ashley was ten years old and met her mom and dad who would help turn Ashley into the woman, mother, wife and volunteer that she is today. In May of 2014 she will become a college graduate, holding a Bachelors in Social Work. Armed with this degree and her personal story, Ashley will bring wisdom, hope and inspiration to as many youth from foster care that she possibly can. She will work to advocate in her community/city/state and to be a voice that foster youth feel they may not have. Experience on the board of Passion to Action, a non-profit that helps the Children’s Administration with policies regarding foster youth, will contribute to Ashley’s resume as will her many years as a volunteer mentor to foster youth in college. Ashley knows her own success story is powerful yet limited and so she encourages youth: “I can give a voice as to my experiences in care and hopefully help the system improve, but mine is only one story out of thousands so its important for all youth to tell theirs.”