Ashley Blank was chosen as the 2008 Milken Intern by the Lowell Milken Center in Fort Scott, KS. She will serve the internship in the summer of 2008. The Lowell Milken Center (LMC) Internship is designed to provide graduate students and early career educators with an opportunity to learn firsthand how projects teaching respect and understanding can make a difference in the world.

Ms. Blank teaches 5th grade at Ogden Elementary School, USD 383 Manhattan/Ogden School District. She is in her second year of teaching. Ashley received the 2002 National State Teacher of the Year Family Scholarship for her work at Kansas State University. She holds the position of the Science LEAD teacher for her building. Ashley has also spent time creating new programs for Ogden Elementary. The program Ashley is the proudest of, is titled "Mission Possible: Future College Grads." After beginning her first year of teaching, Ashley was confronted with an issue that many of her students were not going to college due to money and interest. To change that perspective, Ashley started this program to excite her students about the wonderful possibilities that a college education can provide for a student.

Ashley's principal and 2004 Milken Educator, Jim Armendariz, describes her as having "youthful optimism and enthusiasm, plus initiative, creativity and an excellent work ethic."