Meet Ashley Rhodes-Courter. Ashley was born in North Carolina in 1985, Ashley entered foster care in 1989. Over the next nine years, she lived in fourteen placements before being adopted at age 12 by Phil and Gay Courter of Crystal River, Florida. Ashley is also the recipient of Eckerd's Trustee Scholarship, the Florida Bright Futures Medallion Scholarship, the Florida Resident Access Grant and several other national and local scholarships. At Eckerd, Ashley serves as a residential advisor, student public relations spokesperson and speech coach. She spent her January 2006 winter term in South Africa working with a children's literacy project. Ashley is one of 20 undergraduate students to be named to USA TODAY's 2007 All-USA College Academic First Team and Glamour Magazine named Ashley one of Top 10 College Women of 2007. In January 2008, Simon & Schuster published Ashley's first book, Three Little Words: A Memoir. She is currently speaking at events around the country, telling her story and advocating on behalf of America's foster children.

Ashley is just one of our amazing students who are as interesting as they are diverse, representing 48 states and 33 countries and bringing with them strength of character, unique talents and countless accomplishments. While here at Eckerd they have incredible opportunities to develop those strengths whether through studying abroad, serving and volunteering, being active in their chosen major or any of the hundreds of other unique Eckerd experiences.

• Browse through our most recent Dean's List for a sense of how many of our students are earning a 3.75 or above.
• Read our 2006-2007 Service Learning Annual Report, our students donated more than 59,216 community service hours to the Tampa Bay community and beyond.
• Challenge our students to an ethical debate, but be prepared to lose as the Eckerd College Ethics Bowl Team has won the Southeast Regional Ethics Bowl three years in a row.
• Scan through our award recipients from the 2005, 2006 or 2007 commencement ceremonies for a sense of where our students have been, and where they are going.
• And these examples just scratch the surface!

NOAA Hollings Scholars

Since its inception in 2005, 17 Eckerd students have been named Hollings Scholars - more than any other college or university in the U.S. - topping Cornell University (12), University of Alabama (11) and Penn State University (11). This impressive number of recipients is a testament to the fact that Eckerd is one of only a handful of colleges in the country that support research opportunities for its first year students. The Hollings scholarships, awarded in honor of Senator Hollings (South Carolina-D) who championed the creation of the NOAA and was among the most vocal of ocean advocates during his 36 years in Congress, are awarded annually to accredited college or university students interested in oceanic and atmospheric science, research, technology and education. You can read more about our four 2005 recipients, five 2006 recipients and eight 2007 recipients.

Learn more about our students through photos, videos and blogs:

Winter Term
2006 Winter Term in Argentina
2006 Winter Term at Sundance Film Festival
2006 Winter Term in Tanzania
2005 Winter Term in Antarctica

Choir Tours
2007 Choir Tour of China
2005 Choir Tour of Italy

Service Learning
Winter Term and Semester Service Archive
Spring Break Service Archive