As an Tennessee Senatorial Intern this last winter and spring and then under an additional internship this summer working directly for Tennessee‘s Governor Bill Lee, the Governor got to know Betty and her capabilities and interests. This association resulted in Betty becoming his (Governor Lee’s) only Tennessee nominee to the 2022 annual National Forge Leadership Summit held again in early August of this year. Once completed, the Summit then further invited Betty to join their prestigious 2022/2023 National Membership Academy. (Please see letter below )
This honored experience is an intensive yearlong set of comprehensive leadership development programs filled with dynamic trainings, professional development initiatives, and far-reaching exposure to renowned speakers and subject matter experts. The Forge literature states that, “Accepted young professional students are selected from across America for being supremely talented and conservatively driven by their demonstrated desire to engage and excel in the three areas of politics, culture, and business.”
(Betty, while not only fulfilling this national year long program – including a government heavy trip to Israel during the Christmas holidays and an additional intensive leadership seminar next spring in Washington D.C. – Betty will also be completing her Senior year at Maryville College where she still is carrying her double major with an “A” average. “RE: A.S.H.A. Foundation”)
Few students have embraced the Maryville College motto to “do good on the largest possible scale” as enthusiastically as Betty Asha ’23. A double major in Political Science and International Business, Asha was fulfilling Maryville College tenets before she arrived.
Despite being tortured and exiled from her village in South Sudan for refusing to marry at 13, Asha helped more than 2,000 of her countrymen and women to escape the tumults of the South Sudanese Civil War. In the spring of 2020, while a Maryville College student, Asha raised money to ship approximately 7.5 metric tons of food to these same refugees.