Ashley Stotler will travel to China as student ambassador

Berkeley Springs High School student Ashley Stotler will travel to China this summer as a student ambassador for the People to People program.

Stotler, an eleventh grader, was nominated for the program by an unknown teacher. She was notified by letter in October that she had been chosen for the honor.

Stotler's 17-day trip to China is called "The Great Wall and Beyond." She leaves June 22 and returns on July 8. Some 20 regional students from Pennsylvania to Virginia are making the trip. A student from Hedgesville and another student from Romney are the only others going from the area, Stotler said.

They will join with a group from Illinois or Georgia. A total of 50 students along with adult team leaders will make the journey to China.

Stotler is the fifth Berkeley Springs High School student to have ever been selected for the People to People student ambassador program.

Peace ambassador

Stotler is excited to have the opportunity to travel to China and to be a peace ambassador with the People to People organization that was begun by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956.

Eisenhower believed that "if people from different cultures could come together in peace and friendship, so eventually would countries," Stotler said.

On her journey, Stotler will travel to Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, Wuzhen and Hong Kong. In Beijing, she'll see Tiananmen Square and the Summer Palace imperial grounds, explore the Great Wall and the Forbidden City palace and watch the pandas at the Beijing Zoo.

Stotler will also visit Star Boulevard—Hong Kong's equivalent to Hollywood's Walk of Fame, walk Shanghai's Wall Street and see the Peking Acrobatic Show. She'll see silk and cloisonn