ASHLEY PESI | PHOTO BY LAURA PETRILLA

Ashley Pesi
Assistant Director, Upward Bound; Penn State University

The Mon Valley is a pillar in Ashley Pesi’s life: Her family is from there, she studied at what’s now PennWest California and her husband is a McKeesport native. Her role at Upward Bound at Penn State University, which supports first-generation, low-income students who express interest in college, covers McKeesport, Clairton and Altoona.

Activities for this program include college field trips; students may participate at no cost. Her influence extends into the classroom as an adjunct instructor at area universities; personally, she’s pursuing her Ph.D. in instructional management and leadership at Robert Morris University.

Pesi is devoted to fundraising and spreading the word about Huntington’s disease, a chronic, incurable and inherited neurodegenerative disease that she has. She is a longtime board member of the Huntington’s Disease Society of America and received an award for her efforts.