Sorcha Ashe

sorcha ashe

Sorcha Ashe, a proud alum of Kirkland House and native of St. Paul, Minnesota, graduated with a concentration in Integrative Biology and a secondary in English. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior, a John Harvard Scholar, and a recipient of the Detur Book Prize, Sorcha marries her scientific curiosity with her passion for the humanities and service. While a Hershel Smith-Harvard Undergraduate Science Research Fellow, she conducted research on the evolution of wing color and color vision in butterflies for her senior honors thesis, which was awarded a Thomas T. Hoopes prize. She mentored her peers as the head tutor of the Harvard College Writing Center, taught poetry to local elementary school students with the Poetry Public Service Project, and volunteered at the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter. She is also an avid musician; Sorcha sang with the Radcliffe Choral Society—serving as the choir’s secretary and assistant manager during her four years with the group—and organized a national youth virtual choral festival during the COVID-19 pandemic. A violinist since the age of three, she also relishes playing chamber music. In her time away from making music, doing research, and reading Irish poetry, she may likely be found enjoying a long run outdoors, embarking on an impromptu adventure through a city, or engaged in hours-long conversation with friends over a home-cooked meal. Sorcha is excited to share many more meals and adventures with the friends she makes abroad while she pursues an MPhil in English Studies as the Governor William Shirley scholar at Pembroke College.