Meet Ashley Larson-Read room grades 4-5

By Ashley Larson

My name is Ashley Larson. Although I was born and raised in Lincoln, NE my eyes have been opened to a different side of our city over the past three years. Recently, I graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan University with a bachelors degree in social work. Throughout my life I have had the opportunity to be exposed to numerous urban communities through short-term missions with Jr. high and high school students. In college I did a three month internship with Urban Impact in New Orleans and my heart for urban youth and families was transformed. It took an experience one thousand miles away for me to really question what I was doing in my own community. Therefore, I decided to do my final internship with City Impact, right here in my hometown. God blessed me to serve at City Impact this summer with the Teen Job Club and the Summer Program and I was able to get to know many of the youth, of all ages, quickly.

This fall I came on staff as the Impact Learning Center’s 4th-5th grade R.E.A.L Room and Reading with Meaning Coordinator, in addition to leading the Jr. High Girls Teen Bible Club Classroom. I feel very humbled and fortunate to be working under such a great staff and for all that I have learned since coming on board at CI. My amazing husband, Mark, is a reading teacher and basketball coach at Lincoln High School and together we have loved seeing how God has intertwined our ministries over the past six months. I look forward to watching God transform more kids and families here in Lincoln as CI continues to reach out and strengthen our community.