Ashley Young hopes her passion for the environment, combined with a numbers-heavy economics degree, will help her steer corporate or government policy in a more sustainable direction.
Young, a transfer student to USF, let her environmental passion drive her during the three years she spent at Hillsborough Community College earning an associate degree. She founded a chapter of Students for the Environment and ran the club as president, planning a yearly Earth Day event and installing water bottle filling stations around campus to cut plastic waste. In addition, her active membership in Phi Theta Kappa earned her a nomination to the All USA Community College Academic Team, where she was selected as one of the top 20 community college students in the nation – and the top student in Florida.
At USF, Young has continued those early achievements by joining the Corporate Mentor Program, which paired her with a program director in the Social Responsibility Department at Jabil.
She also is a member of the Student Environmental Association and Tampa Bay Association of Environmental Professionals and has maintained her membership with the HCC Sustainability Council. Young plans to be the first person in her family to earn a bachelor’s degree.
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