Ashley Clark is a senior at Tunstall this year.  She is an avid singer and is in ROTC. She started singing at church when she was three because she liked the way the music sounded and enjoyed singing along.

Ashley has had seventeen solos in competitions such as All-districts, which is a blind audition where the judges cannot see you and you are judged based solely on your voice.

She has also competed in The Bland competition that is held at The Prizery in South Boston. The competitor is given a five month preparation period where you audition for a scholarship. The crowd is over 1,000 people. Unfortunately Ashley did not place last year, but will try again this year.

Ashley is a first soprano and feels most comfortable singing songs from the R&B or soul genres. In addition to all the other competitions, Ashley took part in the Summer Residential Governor’s School. For this competition if you won you received the opportunity to live in dorm for one month at Radford University.

This competition was introduced to Ashley by Ms. Heather Anderson who is the choral director of both Tunstall High School and Tunstall Middle School. “Ashley has been in my class for four years now; I introduced this competition to her because I felt like it would widen her experience and I feel she has so much potential,”  says Anderson.

Many people may love to sing, but Ashley says, “Singing makes me feel energetic, makes me feel loud and happy, I just feel free.”

Ashley is also a dedicated Captain in ROTC. She takes care of all the paperwork, administration, cadet records, and unit reports. When going to competitions they mostly consist of drill meets. Ashley’s squad has won 12 out of 13 competitions they have been in.

Ashley was first intrigued with ROTC in the seventh grade and joined as soon as she could her freshman year. She says, “I feel confident and it’s like my safe haven.” Although she is very dedicated to both Ashley says, “If I had to choose between the two, I would go with singing because it is just more natural to sing.”

Ashley is planning to attend DCC for two years and then transfer to George Mason with a major in graphic design and music history.