Meet the New LAUNCH Program Manager: Ashley Anderson

The new College LAUNCH Program Manager, Ashley Anderson, tells us what she’s most excited for in her new position, and reminisces about her own time as a College LAUNCH Scholar.

“Hi! I’m Ashley Anderson, the new Program Manager for the College LAUNCH program. I’m so excited to be a part of a program that gave so much to me when I was in high school! I was lucky enough to be a part of the LAUNCH program in 2015 (back when it was just a Charlotte cohort), and the Leadership Immersion program. Even though quite a bit has remained the same- the location, some of the staff, and our overall mission and goals- so many things have changed! Something that stuck out to me was the YPAR projects that our scholars just completed and presented at their graduation. There were so many interesting topics covered by our scholars- the rising cost of higher education, fast fashion, housing insecurity, food insecurity, and quite a few others. I had only known our scholars for around a month at that time, but watching everyone present their topics that they had worked so hard on gave me a good glimpse into who our cohort was beyond the surface. I can only imagine the amount of work that went into deciding topics, performing research, and creating presentations. 

I also want to give a special shoutout to our LAUNCH alumni who came back for their senior signing day this month! We were able to celebrate our seniors and all of their amazing accomplishments- so many people were eager to share the colleges they were attending and the scholarships they received. Just another sign of the amazing people in the LAUNCH network!”