Ashley derringer
Education Programs Manager, Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center
Maxville, OR
September 18th, 2025
As we sit in the last standing building of Maxville, a historical logging-town-now-archeological site, each of us crafts a drawing of the roots of a tree. Some are very literal, with a maze of tree roots reaching down into the ground, while others are metaphorical, and represent the ideas that ground that person, such as a wave to represent their connection to water. Ashley Derringer is guiding us through the Seeding Hope and Healing program, a trauma-based healing program that she teaches at Maxville. Ashley is the Education Programs Manager at Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center. These roots that she has instructed us to draw represent our own roots. Ashley shared with us the roots of Maxville, as well as some of her own roots. She is from Wallowa County, where her family has lived and logged for generations. This root has brought her here to Maxville. We then shared our roots that brought us to this space.
The culmination of the Seeding Hope and Healing program was a list of community agreements. With Ashley’s patience and encouragement, we thoroughly discussed difficult and sometimes sensitive topics to create a list of agreements to better our community. While this process was strenuous, it gave us the space to think about what the Semester in the West community means to each of us, and how we can continue to grow together. Ashley pushed us out of our comfort zones and into an introspective zone. In this zone, we explored more about ourselves, our community, and the communities like the Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center that we are so thankful to have been a part of.
by Lucy Brown