Beth Montes Memorial Internship & Outreach Fund's First Recipient

Ashley Christensen, SOHO's 2008 summer intern. Photo by Sandé Lollis

This summer Ashley Christensen interned for eight weeks with us. This was made possible solely through the generous donations made to the Beth Montes Memorial Internship and Outreach Fund.

Ashley grew up in Escondido and from a young age has had a love for historic buildings and an interest in their preservation. She has been a member of SOHO for the last few years and was excited at the chance to work more closely with us.

After a semester in London her love for architecture and her understanding of the need for historic preservation flourished. Excited to get involved in the preservation of America's heritage, she seized the opportunity to apply for the Beth Montes Memorial Internship and Outreach Fund.

Ashley is currently working on her bachelor's degree in interior design at Philadelphia University while getting her minor in historic preservation. She is now looking to get her masters in historic preservation some time in the near future.

While at SOHO Ashley was truly the intern extraordinaire. She worked on the historic designation program of South Park under the tutorial of Janet O'Dea, attended Historical Resources Board meetings, preservation action and other important meetings, she helped with events as well and immersed herself in "the ways of the historic preservation world," as she phrased it.

A quick study, the office staff were all sorry to see her leave as they found themselves being able to depend on her for any number of things.

We hope this fund will continue to grow and thrive and ask that when you consider your yearly donations that you keep this very significant fund in mind.