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Andrew Ashbacher
Andrew Ashbacher, Co-Advisor of Student Ministry
Midway through the month of August about eight tenths of the way through the twentieth century, a baby took his first breath. And shortly thereafter, from the shear sight of him, his sister vomitted. That was Andrew's entry into this world. Not long after his legs started walking, his curiousity began to get the best of him with antics such as dismantling cabinets with electric screwdrivers and locking himself in a car trunk in a valiant, not to mention successful, effort to clench victory during a game of hide-and-seek. Skipping ahead a few years finds him enchanted by the world of fourth grade science and until dinner time every day, exploring canyons beyond the limits of his street. Several more years in the future, just after receiving his Eagle scout award, his adolescent rebellion made its debut. He continually challenged his parents' Catholicism and often entered arguments as a mere contrarian.
The fall of 2000 took him to Bozeman, Montana for his first stab at college. While the university would have been amply conducive to learning, the changing of the seasons and new-found freedom diverted his attention from his studies. Thus began the first four (or five) years of college for Andrew, bouncing between Montana State University in Bozeman and the community colleges in San Diego. A third and final stint as an undergrad in Bozeman proved sufficient to rectify his track record while bringing his total units earned to just 2 units fewer than the maximum allowed in order to sign a Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) with UCSD. For the six months prior to admittance to the university, during which he was unable to take classes due to the aforementioned credit limit, he gained employment as an electrician, learning many things, electrical and otherwise.
Winter 2005 was his first quarter at UCSD, studying biology. Four-sevenths of the way through that quarter, he was introduced to a very lovely community on campus which very lovingly welcomed him. This community was the Newman Center Catholic Community at UCSD. Within this safe haven, his faith journey greatly accelerated. One quarter later, he was given the opportunity to be a student minister. During that year as a student minister, he celebrated the sacrament of confirmation, finally taking ownership of his faith. As that year wrapped up, he was given an additional opportunity to serve as a co-advisor for the student ministry. He is now in his second year as co-advisor and one week after graduating in June 2007, he began employment at the Salk Institute working in the Laboratory for Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology.
