Orland Park student pursues love of marine life in Hawaii
Originally published June 7, 2015
Follow your dreams, wherever they may take you — even Hawaii!
When then-7-year-old Ashley Horvath visited Florida, she took part in a Dolphin Adventure. As any 7-year-old will attest, it was the coolest thing ever. She told her parents, Geoff and Kelly Horvath, that she was going to work with marine mammals one day.
Happy she enjoyed the experience, Ashley’s parents attributed her enthusiasm to the enjoyment of the trip and assumed she would soon be on to other interests, as young children often change their minds about what to be when they grow up. The sky is the limit when you’re 7.
Fast forward to Sandburg High School freshman Ashely. Her love of aquatic life was still as strong as ever. After a family vacation to Hawaii, she couldn’t think of a more perfect place to go to college. “I just loved it there,” she said. “I couldn’t think of a better place to (get) 24-hour ocean access.” She thought her dream was outrageous, but as she explains it, it was doable. Really!
As a high school junior, Ashley visited Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium. She again professed her love for marine life. A flier posted at the Shedd detailed a high school program where students learned in a classroom setting and got behind-the-scenes access for two weeks. Then, students boarded a boat and became part of a research crew in Bimini, Bahamas, for another week. Onboard, they applied what they learned at the Shedd. Ashley signed up.
“It was a life-changing experience that encouraged me to continue work within marine science. We got to pick a project, conduct the study — mine was a Nassau grouper — and you focused on snorkeling, taking surveys, taking pictures, as you studied the behaviors of the selected species for the project. When you came back to the Shedd, you coordinated the data and findings, and presented it to family, friends and others at the Shedd’s auditorium. I was asked to give the end-of-year speech!”
The program lasted five weeks and she would highly recommend it to kids who are considering that kind of career. There are a number of different studies such as lake ecology. Ashley said she has a lot of respect for the Shedd, and offered that is well known, even in Hawaii, where she attends school today.
Now, at 21, Ashley has gone from Orland Park resident to senior at the University of Hawaii, Hilo, and lives on the big island of Hawaii. She is studying marine science, working more with the biology aspect of marine mammals.
“This semester, I was very lucky and worked with humpback whales that came from Alaska! Humpback whales are my favorite — they are so intriguing. We conducted research through photo ID and log databases and often tracked mother-calf pairs. Usually, humpbacks travel in pods as a mom, calf, and an escort. We studied mating behavior, and we even have some GoPro pics! The whales come right next to the boat — we have a special permit to get up close.”
So how did she get from Orland Park to Hawaii? The summer Shedd experience gave her an advantage. Classes taken at Moraine Valley Community College were a great way to get her general education courses fulfilled before heading off to pursue her passion. But Ashley said the key is to just follow your dreams. Everything is doable; you can make anything happen. Make your own dreams come true. She did her research on schools, and found a few, but most were as costly, if not more so than Hawaii, and they didn’t have the programs she was hoping to pursue.
Her concentration now is to work with marine mammals with a focus on conservation, rescue, and educating people on extinction — and getting the population numbers back up. She hopes to stay in Hawaii, and wants to get to work in the field after completing her degree. She would like to work on Maui at the Pacific Whale Foundation.
Reflecting on Hawaii, she said, “Everybody should visit Hawaii. It is different. The people are wonderful, very cultural, the language is beautiful. People are so inspiring. They conserve; there is no littering — no litter going into the ocean.”
She said that we, in the Midwest, do make an impact on the oceans. For example, changing car oil and dumping it in the sewer has a huge impact on the oceans. Ashley hopes that one day the mainland will follow in Hawaii’s footsteps by eliminating the use of plastic bags that can cause harm to the environment.
To this day, her love of aquatic life this has not faded. She added, “Parents should listen to their kids — sometimes they know what they want to be at a very young age!”