This Is Ashley, Deal With It, Accept It, Love It.

Ashley Jackson is a 21 year old Senior at Frostburg State University. She is a Mass Communications Major with a audio concentration as well as a public relations minor. After graduation, Ashley hopes to become an artist representative, or a talent scout, someone who goes out in search of musical talent for record companies. Close to the end of one chapter of her life, Ashley can say that she is grateful for a few substantial things; she is established at 21, she has very close knit relationships(friends, boyfriend), and the fact that she is not a floater(thinks about life rather than just taking life day by day), “I am just grateful for the place that I am in my life right now.”

Unfortunately, life for Ashley growing up was harder than most. She grew up in Shadyside, 10-15 minutes outside of Annapolis with her Mom and Dad. She is her moms only child, but the middle child from her father where she has 2 older sisters and a younger brother. She never really got the chance to enjoy a good family relationship with her father, brother and sisters, yet she was forced to put on a daily facade that they were a perfect, happy family. Her imbalanced family dynamic caused Ashley stress, and one way she dealt with that stress was drinking mass amounts of cough syrup in middle school and sporadically through out high school. She said it was her way of coping, “A reality escape, everyone has them if they be TV, a book or whatever, that was just mine.” Aside from her strained relationship with her father, Ashley has a very good relationship with her mom, and admitted that her mom is her biggest influence.

Despite what people may think of her on first impression, Ashley is a very dedicated and driven student. She knows that some of her teacher may think that she is a slacker based on the way she carries herself, but her main motivation is to stray away from what people expect of her and to prove them wrong. Ashley likes to make an impression of people, if it be the way she dresses, the music she listens to(or even sometimes creates), her artwork, and even her 400+ stuffed animal collection, she just doesn’t want to be that normal, cookie cutter type girl that everyone forgets eventually. “I like being different, even if i'm that quarky person. I just want to be remembered.”