Ashley Levesque

A 2018-2019 Phillips Alumni Scholar

2018-2019 Phillips Alumni Scholar (Messiah College ’22) Ashley Levesque graduated from Maine’s Scarborough High School in 2017, where she was active in Key Club, Student Council, and several sports teams. During her junior year of high school, she participated in a mission trip to Nicaragua and there met fellow missionaries who were participating in the World Race Gap Year program: a nine-month international mission trip. She felt herself drawn to follow in their footsteps, “escaping America’s mold in order to pursue the road less traveled.” She said, “As time passed I began to get a deeper urge and ambition to go. Consequently, on September 9^th, 2017, I stepped off of American soil onto a plane to Cambodia.” The trip continued to Thailand, Honduras, Guatemala, and Ethiopia. She was teaching English at Buddhist schools, counseling victims of human trafficking, assisting patients at community hospitals, contributing to construction projects, and more.

This experience was deeply faith-confirming for Ashley. In her own words, “Throughout my trip, the thing that got me through the hard times, the good times, and the times where all I wanted was a pair of clean socks, was God’s love. It was in the midst of the scenery around me or the little toddler that gave me a smile and a wave or the widow who washed my feet.”

Since returning to the United States and moving on campus at Messiah College, where she is a member of the field hockey team, Ashley has continued to live a life that is grounded in her faith. “Transitioning from serving God in the bush of Africa to a turf field in America has opened up my eyes to see that I can have a radical impact wherever I go,” Ashley said. “The truth of the matter is that love is all around us and even in us, wherever we find ourselves in the world.”