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Ashly
Hinmon dedicates her life to learning and service
Senior Ashly Hinmon likes to break out of the bubble.
“People are just incredibly busy here. My freshman year I didn’t think I had time for anything. You think you need to sacrifice your outside life to succeed academically at Reed,” Hinmon said.
In her four years at the college, she has learned differently. This semester she is taking a minimum course load just so she can dedicate time to community service, where she says she can apply ideas she has learned at Reed.
Hinmon recently co-organized the fourth annual Students Actively Changing Society conference with senior Teresa Keirns. Held February 21, the conference was designed to unite students in Oregon with a shared commitment to social change. The conference focused on methods of transforming desires for change and justice into everyday actions. This year’s conference had a record number of participants.
Hinmon said, “It’s a unique opportunity to connect with other students interested in social change. Even in early planning stages we were able to connect with a number of other colleges in Oregon.”
In addition, Hinmon volunteers her time to intern for the Reed-Tubman Partnership. She co-teaches an after-school class at Harriet Tubman Middle School that shows students how to use photography and poetry as a means of self-exploration. She also received a McGill-Lawrence internship award last summer to work with the Portland Women’s Crisis Line, where she continues to contribute her time.
“Being able to connect with the Portland community anchors me to something that’s real,” said Hinmon.
She also applies her interests in social change to her academic work. With professor Charlene Makley advising, Hinmon is writing her senior thesis on how the media represents gender roles in India.
Next year, Hinmon plans to travel in India and Nepal to work for a non-governmental organization in development and human rights work. She would like to continue these studies the following year in graduate school.
Through the support of a Luce Foundation grant, Hinmon first traveled to Asia in 2002 while working on a research project, “Pilgrimage in Tibet: An Anthropological Exploration of Intersecting Cultures.”
“All of my opportunities for service work have been facilitated through Reed,” said Hinmon. “You recognize that service is a different and crucial kind of knowledge.”
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Interview by Margaret Boyle ’05, a Spanish major from Los Angeles, California. |
