Ashley Brock

When she arrived at UNL from Blair, Neb., junior Ashley Brock knew that she wanted to study psychology, but beyond that, she said, “I was clueless!” In a career-planning seminar, she explored the gamut of professions available to psychologist. A fan of shows like “CSI” and “Law and Order,” Ashley was initially intrigued by the field of forensic psychology.

While a student, she accepted a job at Girls and Boys town, and rapidly “fell in love with the idea of working with troubled youth,” which gave her a way to combine her interests in psychology and criminal justice. She currently works with Project SAFE, a group-counseling program for sexually abused children. With funding from a UCARE grant, she has assembled a database of information on siblings of children in the Project SAFE counseling program. She has also worked with graduate students on research papers and posters.

After graduation, Ashley plans to attend graduate school in clinical psychology, hopefully at UNL.

“I know it’s a difficult program to get into,” she said, “but when looking at other schools, I don’t think any others compare to UNL’s program.” Ultimately, Ashley would like to use her education and research experiences to open a foundation or facility in Omaha for sexually abused children.