IMG_3874Ashlyn Kilby McClure.

If you know that name, that means you’ve been paying attention to what happens in this building, and to the people who make those things happen.  Because it’s by no means a household name, but I’d be willing to bet you’d know exactly who I was talking about if I were to point the girl out in a hallway.

That’s because Ashlyn, in her way, is the everywoman, in that she seems to have a hand in almost every possible activity here at school, to be present at every possible event, and to perhaps be one of the more famous anonymous people in the school.  She’s close to being everywhere, and everything, that there is.

Ashlyn is the daughter of James and Amanda, sister of  Dalton, and beloved play-pal of five dogs.  She’s a grade twelve student at St. Joseph’s High School in Renfrew, Ontario, where she goes about her business quietly, without too much hype or fanfare, but nevertheless contributing mightily to a full range of activities, sports, and interests.  She’s one of those people who seems to be everywhere you look, but for some reason people don’t make the association between the girl they see and the name they hear on the morning announcements.  Which is sort of odd, because everything Ashlyn does, she does well, in good spirit, in good humour, and without any negativity.  She just shows up on time, does her thing, and enjoys herself in the doing of it.

Ashlyn hails from Douglas, Ontario, a quaint little place situated at a crossing of the roads, some twenty minutes away by car from Renfrew.  There’s another high school up the road a piece, but she made the decision to attend school at St. Joe’s, despite the fact that one of her heroes, Canadian Olympian Melissa Bishop, attended that school up the road.  And while Melissa Bishop is rightly looked up to by a lot of Canadians, Canadian girls especially, she has importance to Ashlyn because Ashlyn herself is a long-distance runner, one who happens to own several distance running records as a Jaguar.  Which is no small feat given St. Joe’s has fielded some very good distance runners in recent times, among them Kathryn David and Janessa Linton.  True to form though, Ashlyn always watched that record board, year after year, to keep an eye on the athletes and their record times.  It’s one of the reasons why, last year, she decided she was going to step out of her zone and take a crack at a sheer, full-out sprint, and challenge for the record at a distance of 100 metres.  And true to form, she pulled it off, keeping the people who run the leader board at school busy, changing names, swapping pictures, and recording new times.

So, just to set the table for the discussion of Ashlyn as an athlete, she runs cross-country and track.  She was a starting guard in Junior basketball, and was a guard last year again in Senior.  She spent a season on the junior girls volleyball team, and successfully snagged a spot on the senior girls team last season.  And not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but another season of senior volleyball may well be in the cards, depending upon decisions that she might have to make with respect to training for her running season.  Add to this her play for the school’s soccer, tennis and badminton teams, several trips to EOSSAA, and all those late taxis home to Douglas, or late rides home from games.

It’s hard to imagine a young lady like this having any time to do much of anything outside of her athletic interests.  Which makes the story somewhat more remarkable, given the stuff she’s part of outside of sports.

She sings, plays the guitar, and plays the ukulele.  She was a contestant in the Miss Teen Ontario East Pageant in 2017, coming away with an award for her efforts in the talent category, where she step-danced her way into the hearts of the audience.  Yes, she’s a step-dancer as well, and a good one at that.  But not simply satisfied with recognition for that talent, Ashlyn’s decided to take another crack at the pageant in 2018, taking advantage of the experience gained last time around to mount another run at the prestigious crown.

And if there’s any time left over after her involvement in all of these activities, Ashlyn seems to find time to head into work, pumping gas at Pikwakanagan Fuels, some twenty minutes in the other direction from Douglas, in Golden Lake, Ontario.

What’s absolutely refreshing about this is that there is no conceit in any of it on her part, no boastfulness, nor any feeling of being better than anyone else.  She just goes about her thing, on an even keel, and with a ready smile for anyone who happens to cross paths with her.  She has her friends, is loyal to them, and they depend upon her for things, as she depends upon them.  And you could talk to her for an hour without her bringing up any of her exploits, or achievements.

I do know this.  Ashlyn is a strongly-motivated type.  She seems to set her mind to goals, and then goes about achieving them.  In an exhibition game just the other day, in girl’s basketball, there was a clearly defined sequence where she just stepped up and owned the floor, both ends of it.  Forcing turnovers or picking up loose balls on defence, and carrying the ball deep into the other end before dishing and heading to a hard area to receive the return pass and convert for a basket.  And then go back and force another turnover. To me that’s called basketball, and she was playing it, and playing it hard.

Like I said, you could see her in the halls and not know her name.  And you could hear her name and not associate it with the person.  But if it’s pointed out to you, then it all comes together, and it all makes sense.