Impact Player

As a two-time Conference Player of the Year and a 2014 inductee into the University’s Athletics Hall of Fame, Ashley Hilton ’08 came to the Chargers’ rescue on a routine basis. Ten years after graduating, not much has changed.

Hilton has devoted much of her professional career to post-disaster relief, working first for the Red Cross and today for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). As a Red Cross caseworker in New York City, where she lives, she helped countless people after Superstorm Sandy crashed ashore in October 2012. Three years later, Hilton moved to FEMA, the arm of the United States government responsible for responding to all manner of natural disasters — from tornadoes in Oklahoma to flooding in Colorado, from landslides in California to hurricanes in the Caribbean.

As at the Red Cross, her work initially focused on Sandy survivors from all five boroughs. In a city largely defined by water — the Long Island Sound; the Hudson, Harlem, and East rivers; the Atlantic Ocean — it was grim work. "You heard a lot of really sad stories," Hilton says. "It was very intense to go into the homes. I saw a lot of tears. I gave a lot of hugs."

In October 2017, Hilton received a new assignment: Puerto Rico. Hurricanes Irma and Maria had just unleashed a collective wrath that left nearly the entire island without electricity. Hilton had visited Puerto Rico five months earlier, staying in Ponce, on the southern coast. But what she encountered upon her return looked nothing like what she remembered of an island known for vast stretches of tropical vegetation. "I knew obviously it was badly damaged," she said, "but even the grass was not green."

You always want your leaders to be extensions of the coaching staff, and she was exactly that. She was the ultimate example of what a captain should be and a leader should be.Daynia La-Force, Women's Basketball, Former Head Coach

At first, Hilton worked seven days a week, up to 15 hours a day, collaborating with local authorities from an office in San Juan. On her rare days off, she’d venture across the island. "I haven’t seen the worst of the worst," she says. "I know a lot of my colleagues have. They would come back from the field and look exhausted."

Working under a FEMA program that finances projects designed to reduce the impact of future disasters, Hilton supervised four teams of FEMA workers, most of them local residents. It is not a stretch to suggest that her leadership under duress harkened to her basketball days at the University of New Haven, when she led the Chargers to two consecutive conference titles and a four-year record of 87–33 while amassing 1,637 career points.

During her junior year, when New Haven qualified for the NCAA post-season tournament en route to a 27–7 season, Hilton’s role as captain smoothed the way for new head coach Daynia La-Force, now the coach at the University of Rhode Island. "You always want your leaders to be extensions of the coaching staff, and she was exactly that," La-Force recalls. "She was the ultimate example of what a captain should be and a leader should be."

I fell in love with the people so much, I had a strong desire to help in any way I could. I knew I had an opportunity to make an impact, and I wanted to make sure I did my part. Ashley Hilton, '08

When Hilton returned home from Puerto Rico in June, she brought with her a profound esteem for the island’s people. "Even at the beginning," she says, "no one complained when they didn’t have a hot shower for months. Everyone comes to work with a smile on their face."

Yet Hilton concedes the work took its toll. "Given the circumstances, I’ve been challenged, I’ve been pushed — mentally, emotionally," she says. "I fell in love with the people so much, I had a strong desire to help in any way I could. I knew I had an opportunity to make an impact, and I wanted to make sure I did my part."