Originally Posted: November 2, 2017
SMU alumna Ashley Park ’17 reads from one of her 2016 “Holocaust Poland” trip journals.
At a recent party hosted by SMU alums Trey Velvin ’86 & Dee Velvin’87 in support of the Embrey Human Rights Program’s new book No Resting Place: Holocaust Poland (slideshow above), 2017 SMU alumna Ashley Park read from one of two journals she kept during the “Holocaust Poland” trip she took in 2016. Somewhere near Lublin, Poland, she wrote:
“[SMU student] Karly Zrake read a poem she wrote and it was really good. It was about the Krepiecki Forest being a place of sanctuary and solace, and how people came and desecrated that. … I can’t believe it’s Christmas Eve today. I miss my family so much. I so wish I could be warm and surrounded by people who love me.
… I’m crying now.”
Ashley says the three undergraduate degrees she holds from SMU – in human rights, English and business – “have proved the perfect mix” for her post-graduation job: As a re-entry specialist for The Securis Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing recidivism rates in America.
“People are sometimes surprised to learn you can earn a degree in human rights from SMU. But everything we do in life involves human rights. Everything.”