Ashlyn Davis Has Memorable Experience at FBI National Academy

(ASHLYN DAVIS)

An Effingham High School student is still interacting with friends she made a year after a memorable experience at the FBI National Academy.

Ashlyn Davis is the daughter of Kurt and Jami Davis and she just completed her junior year at EHS. She qualified last summer for the FBI National Academy Associates Youth Leadership Program. 

The program started in 1998 and is designed for those ages 14 to 16. Ashlyn's dad is a graduate of the FBI Academy, but she said that doesn't mean that her qualifying for the program was a certainty.

Ashlyn said that a typical day at the academy starts at 5am with team building events and physical activity, then time to clean up before heading to the classroom. Tours of the FBI facilities and other sightseeing in the area around Quantico, Virginia were a part of the leadership program. The "Yellow Brick Road" was a part of the activities, which involved runs and an obstacle course.

That typical day that began at 5am usually wrapped up about 10pm.

Ashlyn said that 1500 people applied for the program, and only 62 were accepted.

Our Greg Sapp had the opportunity to talk with Ashlyn Davis. Here's their conversation...

Asked what was her favorite part of the experience, Ashlyn said there was not a certain thing, but getting to meet and know the other participants. She said there were students from across the nation, as well as four international students.

A conference for graduates of the program is coming up in Kansas City in July, and Ashlyn plans to attend to renew acquaintances and deepen friendships.

When she was asked whether her participation in the conference might sway her career plans, she said she's looking at Accounting and mentioned that forensic accounting is a career pursuit in the FBI.

Several members of the Davis family are or have been involved in law enforcement. Ashlyn is the great-granddaughter of Illinois State Trooper Layton Davis, who was killed in the line of duty while making a traffic stop north of Effingham along I-57 in the 1970s. Her father, Kurt Davis, is Deputy Chief of the Effingham City Police Department.