Finding Belonging Through Service: Ashley’s Story

When Ashley Joran Cabrera moved to the United States at 13 years old, she felt like she was starting over once again.

She had spent most of her childhood in the Dominican Republic, moving between schools and communities, never fully feeling like she belonged anywhere. Moving to the Bronx meant leaving behind the life she knew and stepping into another unfamiliar place.

Then she found buildOn.

What Ashley’s Story Shows

Ashley’s journey reflects the power of service and community in molding young people into true leaders.

In this story, you’ll see:

• How Ashley’s experiences in the Bronx shaped her passion for helping immigrants and families facing food insecurity.
• How going on Trek to Nepal expanded her understanding of community and leadership.
• The journey that led her from feeling alone to becoming a national award-winning student leader.

Today, Ashley is graduating from high school, preparing for college, and leaving behind a legacy of service in the Bronx.

Finding Community in the Bronx

Ashley first joined buildOn in 2022, shortly after moving to the Bronx. At the time, she was still trying to find her footing in a new city and school system.

“I was scared I would have to start over again,” she shared in a speech at buildOn’s 2025 Gala. “And that I’d be alone again.”

At first, buildOn seemed like it was just a community service club. But it quickly became much more than that.

“buildOn gave me a community. It gave me friends. It gave me people who believed in me.”

That sense of belonging changed everything.

Ashley began showing up consistently for service projects across the Bronx, eventually contributing more than 370 hours of service through buildOn.

But more importantly, she began to see herself differently.

“buildOn gave me a community. It gave me friends. It gave me people who believed in me.”

Ashley Joran Cabrera

Service Changed Her View of Leadership

One of the experiences that impacted Ashley most deeply was serving meals at Part of the Solution in the Bronx.

There, she worked directly with families facing food insecurity, an experience that reshaped how she understood community need.

“I’ll never forget the day a mom and her little daughter came in,” Ashley said. “It broke my heart to see a child in that situation.”

The experience stayed with her long after the service ended.

Instead of feeling powerless, Ashley began looking for ways to help people more consistently. On her way to service projects, she often encountered people experiencing homelessness but didn’t always have food or money to give. So she created her own solution.

Ashley began researching food pantries and community resources across the Bronx and New York City, creating pamphlets she could hand out to people in need.

“Leadership can be defined in so many ways,” she explained. “One of them is by identifying an issue and taking action.”

That mindset eventually helped earn Ashley buildOn’s highest student honor: the 2025 Jim Parke Constructive Leadership Award. This award recognizes students who embody empathy, courage, resilience, passion for the possible, and solidarity, values championed by early buildOn supporter and longtime board member Jim Parke.

Trek Expanded Her Understanding of Community

Ashley’s experience with buildOn didn’t stop in the Bronx.

As a junior, she was selected to go on Trek to Nepal, where she helped build a school alongside local community members in the village of Museti. The experience transformed the way she thought about leadership, generosity, and connection.

“I saw people who didn’t have a lot, but they shared everything,” Ashley said during her Gala speech. “It showed me that the most powerful thing you can have is not money. It’s each other.”

The experience gave her a new perspective on what community can look like.

She listened to families describe how lack of education had impacted their lives and how buildOn schools were opening opportunities for future generations.

And she returned home with an even stronger sense of purpose.

“The most powerful thing you can have is not money. It’s each other.”

Ashley Joran Cabrera

Building a Future Rooted in Service

This summer, Ashley will be leaving the country again, this time traveling to Denmark for a study abroad program.

After she returns to the U.S., Ashley will attend SUNY Oswego, where she plans to study Human Resources Management.

For Ashley, the decision reflects the same values that have guided her service work: supporting people, creating opportunity, and helping others feel seen.

She also plans to continue volunteering in college and hopes to one day start a nonprofit supporting immigrants and families navigating the challenges of starting over in a new country, just as her family did.

“Helping people and supporting others goes a long way,” she shared.

And she’s already proving that.

More Than a Student

Ashley’s story is about much more than one student graduating.

It’s about what happens when young people are given opportunities to lead, serve, and discover their own potential.

“When I joined buildOn, I thought I was joining to help other people,” Ashley said. “I never imagined that buildOn would help me even more.”

Today, Ashley leaves buildOn not only as a graduating senior, but as a leader whose impact has already shaped her community.

And as she said in her Gala speech:

“We are more than students. We are leaders. We are community. And together, we are buildOn.”

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