Readying to play her pink guitar, senior Ash Foster has no care in the world, and no idea what her life will bring her. All throughout high school, Foster experienced everything ranging from costumes, honor societies, school competitions, and getting accepted into college. Photo Courtesy of Ash Foster.

If there’s one person who does the things no one would ever think to do, it’s senior Ash Foster. Ranging from being gifted in the arts with welding, drawing and even fashion, while dressing up for holidays, going all out all while being Hello Kitty’s number one fan girl.

Foster has been making and altering clothes since the COVID-19 pandemic. Without even taking the Fashion Design class, she has a Depop account to sell her altered clothes and always wears the most fashionista designs. For Christmas, she dressed up in an LED Santa costume and even handed out gifts and candy canes. She also dressed up for Saint Patrick’s Day and Halloween, and would occasionally show up to school dressed as a pirate.

“I have a unique sense of style,” Foster said. “I think some people are scared to dress how they want to dress and I don’t really care. People feel a lot of joy when there are unexpected happy things like [when I give them gifts]. I remember a lot of people would be inspired and others were mean, take pictures and post on private stories to make fun of me. I’m doing it for myself and if it brings me joy, it doesn’t really matter what they think, they’ve got their own issues.” 

Next fall, she’ll attend Texas A&M at Corpus Christi to major in biology with a pathway into marine biology. She hopes to work with environmental conservations helping to find breeding grounds for sharks and preventing fishermen from these grounds. 

“I like sharks, I feel like they’re an underdog and they’re misrepresented,” Foster said. “They’re actually a really important keystone species for other environments.”

To help bring this message forward, Foster has a dream of starting her own fashion line and writing children’s books. With her experience in art and her unique style, Foster wants to get the word out.

“I think fashion would be a good way to get that message out,” Foster said. “One of the main things is destigmatizing sharks, so many people are afraid of sharks without ever seeing one. Sometime in my future I want to do some type of illustrative book of some sort, maybe with marine biology.”

Foster started her art career her freshman year, which was online due to COVID-19. She initially didn’t like art, but overtime the hatred turned into a hobby.

“I just liked a challenge,” Foster said. “I definitely was not naturally gifted at drawing and I kind of liked the challenge since I’m pretty good at academic stuff, but trying to get something from your head to a piece of paper and make it look how you want it to look. It’s definitely a really good tool for challenging yourself, but also kind of calming and meditative to do.”

Alongside art class, she is the treasurer for Art National Honor Society. Last semester, the honor society had a fundraiser with Mojo’s Coffee, in which they ended up raising over $300.

“Overall we provide a really fun space for people to come and meet people and draw, we play a lot of fun games like gartic phone,” Foster said. “We’ve been working on painting library cards and then for a little we painted pizza boxes for a competition with Marcos Pizza.”

Continuing her art journey, Foster took the welding class with teacher Mr. Russell. She quickly got the rhythm down and decided to take the class for a second year. 

“It was completely different and building a project was actually crazy,” Foster said. “I got it done and there was definitely a very satisfying feeling of getting the project done. Sometimes as students we get stuck on the whole academic vibe of everything and just worksheet, worksheet, worksheet, but to have a class like that where it’s not typical, it’s refreshing.”

From August to February, she spent her time planning, building, and painting a purple planter that she designed herself. The planter comes with a shelf on the bottom, a hanging compartment on the top, and a drainage system. The planter now sits comfortably in her backyard.

“I think there was a mindset of me not realizing how much work it would actually be.” Foster said. “I thought since it was a planter it would be simple, and then you actually get into all the details and how difficult things are. All the measurements aren’t simple numbers, they’re down to the littlest thing and they have to be perfect. That gets really frustrating if they’re barely off. It’s a different type of frustration you have to get used to, but as far as coping, taking breaks and breathing, and just mainly remembering that this project is my first project and it’s for me and my mom so we can have a little thing to do together.”

Foster took her project to different competitions and earned blue ribbons at both the San Antonio Rodeo and the Houston Rodeo, which is the highest ribbon one can get at these types of competitions. 

“I was honestly really shocked,” Foster said. “When you get there you don’t realize how much culture is around it. I was not expecting a blue ribbon, especially because of the judges, they’re not mean, but they’re not going to be super nice to you. It was a moment of really intense happiness. The work I put in, it isn’t just for me. I remember on the first competition, the judge complimented my welds on the bottom of the planter and it was such an interesting thing, they specifically detailed what was so good about it and I felt so recognized.”

Since Foster is involved in welding, she is also a part of FFA. She has done competitions revolving around agricultural advocacy, entomology, and environmental science alongside three other teammates. 

“I think FFA offers a lot of skills that you can use outside of school,” Foster said. “Sophomore year I was not good at giving speeches or even talking. It helped me to be able to breathe and give a speech. I think that’s a really important skill, especially for college, for presenting and wanting to be able to talk to someone and make those connections.”

She currently works at a Smoothie Paradise in the Lakeline Mall and plans to have a job while in college. Foster is paying for college by herself and is looking into work studies because they offer scholarships.

“I worked really hard for four years,” Foster said. “When I applied I got automatic acceptance and I got a $12,000 scholarship. Everything I’ve worked for for the past four years actually meant something. Me crying trying to get work done turned into something. Getting myself out there [was one of my biggest accomplishments]. When I was a freshman and sophomore I didn’t do clubs or hang out with people. My junior and senior year I was out there, getting myself involved and doing things I’m passionate about and helping the community.”