Ashley Gaston is a 17 year old junior at Westinghouse High School and a Math Literacy Worker in Chicago, IL.

Ashley has remained committed to YPP since the fall 2014 session. Parallel to her enthusiasm for soRball, Ashley greatly enjoys mentoring children. Ashley shares, “The students were one of my reasons for coming back to the program. They even encouraged me to tutor kids outside of the program. Knowing that, I can facilitate and keep the kids engaged in a math game makes me feel great.” Ashley is dependable and always brings a posiNve energy to the group. She is patient with her peers and the children. Ashley’s CMLWs love her amicable character and the maturity she carries herself with at such a young age.

Ashley shares her college and career outlook: “YPP has influenced my future goals and plans because I am now convinced that college is the right move for me. I know that college is the right move for me because we do the planners on what we want our long term goals and short term goals to be. We also have conversations about what we want to do in our near future once we graduate from high school. Those conversations helped me focus on my goals now and later because of how close I am to being in college. I know my strengths and weaknesses and that allows me to set more personalized goals for myself. I am starting to set those goals because I want to be prepared for what the world has in store. In my near future I would like to become a doctor and go to medical school.”