Ashley Harkins ’09

Our Class of 2009 Alumnus of the Year recipient is no stranger to accolades, but she never seeks the limelight – she is as humble as the day is long. A Vermont native, Ashley Harkins grew up in Colchester and felt very comfortable calling Saint Michael’s home for four tremendous years.

On September 22 last year, Ashley was back on campus, inducted into the 2023 Athletic Hall of Fame class in recognition of her days as one of Saint Michael’s all-time greatest softball players. With a .426 batting average her senior year, she still holds school records for hits, runs, doubles and triples, and accomplished the rare feat of making the all-conference first team at two different positions during her playing career.

But just over two months later, on November 27, Ashley had just finished her shift as a Connecticut State Police Sergeant and was off duty but responded to a 911 call. A woman in her early 60s had scaled a 10-foot safety fence on the Baldwin Bridge and was sitting on a nine-inch-wide ledge 80 feet above the Connecticut River.

While her fellow sergeant calmly spoke with the woman, Ashley scaled the fence with no safety equipment, and descended the other side to the narrow ledge, scooted a few feet toward the woman, and then maneuvered to have one arm and one leg on either side of her. She gripped the fence and secured the woman to the fence with her body to keep her from falling. Ashley helped place the woman’s foot on her thigh for leverage while she grasped the fence with one hand. Ashley pushed the woman up by her foot so she could climb the fence to waiting officers. The woman was cold from exposure to wind and temperatures in the low 50s but was otherwise uninjured.

This March, Ashley was awarded the Carnegie Medal for Heroism, which recognizes acts of extraordinary bravery, and for those in public safety, those who go above and beyond their line of duty, as Ashley most certainly did.

When she was interviewed shortly after the rescue on the bridge, Ashley was characteristically humble.

“I was glad that, for another day, we all went home.” Well, Ashley, we are so grateful that you came home to Vermont and home to Saint Michael’s this weekend so that we can honor you for your compassion, selflessness and courage. Always a team player, loyal friend, classmate, and colleague, you are an alumna who truly lives out the SMC vision: Do Well and Do Good.

We are so proud to call you a Purple Knight, and today, the Alumni Board of Directors are incredibly pleased to name Ashley Harkins a 2024 Alumnus of the Year. Congratulations!