Ashley Trim

Ashley Trim, assistant editor of Front Porch Republic, grew up in rural Southern California (yes there is such a place) just outside the town limits of Pearblossom in a home designed and built by her father.  She studied Government at Patrick Henry College.  After receiving her BA, Ashley spent a year working in Washington, DC, before moving back to California to pursue her MPP at Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy.  There, she had the opportunity to work with Professors Gordon Lloyd and Ted McAllister on a variety of research projects with a strong emphasis on government theory and history. She graduated in April of 2009 and spent a year teaching in the public middle school back in her hometown.   In the few hours a day she spent with students, Ashley attempted to awaken interest in exploring foundational principles the system too often ignores.  Currently she is back at Pepperdine as Research Coordinator for the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership which seeks to support local-level governments in developing legitimate civic engagement processes for residents of the local community. Ashley’s childhood was shaped by road trips with her parents and siblings. Her father is a self-employed house painter, and her mother was a full-time home educator.  When Ashley was growing up, the family had several opportunities to pack the minivan with painting supplies and school books for months at a time while Dad worked on old houses in various parts of the country.  Such excursions furnished Ashley with an early sensitivity to and appreciation for the divergent and often eccentric communities that make up these United States.