Ashlin Walker is a current senior at Rancho Cucamonga High School. She is a committed and determined student that attains a high GPA as well as balances being a dancer on the JV dance team. Walker strives to excel academically and to showcase her skills through dance. Along with being on the dance team at school, Walker also attends a dance studio outside of school as well as running the Dances of the World club on campus.
While Walker said she has to sacrifice dance in order to keep up with her grades, she schedules times where she completes and studies for school while making time for dance. Dance is often an outlet for Walker to de-stress, where she does not need to think about anything at that moment and become immersed in her own world when she dances.
“Dance sometimes can be a stress reliever as I can just forget about school when I am dancing,’’ said Walker.
However, she does feel that as the dance teams get closer to their showcases, requiring more rehearsals to prepare themselves, Walker finds herself feeling more stressed than tranquil. ‘’Dancing can cause more stress more closer to our shows as there are a lot more rehearsals and the schedules get crowded.’’
Music has also been a big part of her life. Especially with the genre K-pop. She had discovered that style of music in 2021 when she grew an admiration for bands such as Stray Kids, Enypen, and Seventeen. This was also her journey down into first participating in the club Dances of the World, where the club consists of dances of all cultures around the world.
Walker’s friends confirm that she is a hardworking individual and makes her efforts count.
“Ashlin is one of the most hardworking and talented people I know,’’ senior Aya Dayos said. Dayos is also on the JV dance team with Walker; she gets to see first hand how Walker deals with more difficult situations, whether that be academic or dance wise.
“She’s incredibly smart and always finds a way to get through things no matter what,’’ Dayos said. Walker had taken many difficult class courses that required her absolute attention. She often studied many hours for tests and quizzes, and even expressed her struggling to master the material. But when the day of the test and quizzes came along, she managed to ace those assessments.
While Walker manages the stress of balancing such a packed schedule, she said she always finds a way to overcome those obstacles. She had never given up on anything without using her best efforts to get to her goal. Walker had always pushed herself to be the best she could be. If she felt she did not try enough, she feels that she would have missed her opportunity to show her full potential.
According to the people who know her, Walker is kind and caring towards others. Whenever someone is needing some assistance whether that be in her club or classes, she is always willing to help those around her. With school work, when she sees individuals struggling with a certain topic, she would always lend a helping hand and explain it to them in a way where they can grasp that topic with ease.
“I’ve seen Ashlin encourage her friends, and she is willing to sacrifice her time to teach members of DOW,’’ senior Kaley Espiridion said.
Despite any obstacles that Walker pushes through, she had always made sure that her friends around her were appreciated. Whenever any of her friends had any accomplishments that they wanted to share, she would congratulate them and make them feel good about their achievements. She would also ask them to go into detail about how they managed to attain that accomplishment.
Walker has proven to many of the individuals around her that she is compassionate, diligent, and benevolent. These are only a few words that describe Walker, but in many ways she has made an important impact for those around and she would continue to do so.
