Making Your Own Path

How Harvard Became the New Homefront for One Louisiana Scholar

By Vicky Roe

With graduation season coming to an end, most high school seniors are looking toward their next step, and Ashley Johnson is no different. What does make her unique is the fact that she was a part of the mere 3% of applicants accepted to Harvard University, a record low acceptance for the Ivy League institution. So how does one go from being a senior at Zachary High School to being accepted into Harvard? Well, it didn’t come without some lessons from the school of life.

It’s a journey that started with a young Johnson, who says she’s always been the type of person to get good grades almost without even trying. So, it should come as no surprise that she accomplished as much as she did in her senior year of high school. Not only did Johnson maintain a full load with seven AP classes, but she was also a Drum Major, Student of the Year, and Valedictorian to name a few.

While college was always in the plan, Johnson thought she would be taking her talents to LSU to play in the Tiger Band. But once the time came to apply for schools, Johnson ended up casting her net a little wider. “I applied to as many schools as possible. I ended up applying to 18 schools.” Johnson said.

What about all of the application fees? Well, Johnson says she worked over the summer to save money for them and also applied for application fee waivers. While Johnson was able to apply to all of these schools, she wasn’t able to partake in a normal part of the pre-college process of campus visits. A lot of incoming college freshmen faced this same obstacle due to the ongoing pandemic. “There were a lot of emails sent, there were a lot of zoom calls. I was doing my very best to get a feel of what each school had to offer,” Johnson explained.

Even with all of Johnson’s accolades, applying to Harvard was still something she did without thinking there was a real chance of her getting in. “When I initially applied, it was one of those things where I was like, I don’t know if that’s even a possibility, but I was like, ‘I’m just going to shoot my shot, we’re just going to see what could happen.’ The more interviews I had, the more research I did, the more I talked to the admissions office, the more I realized this could be an opportunity for me...this is an option, but it seemed so far off but it truly wasn’t. It was well within my reach, and I didn’t even know.”

Then, Ivy Day came. The day that Johnson would find out if she got accepted into Harvard. While this was a huge moment for Johnson and her family, she laughs recalling the fact that she and her mom needed space that day. “My mom is the type of person that gets overly excited, so I planned it out. If I get in or if I don’t get in, my mom is going to be full of emotion so I’m just going to leave the house,” Johnson said. After going for a swim at a friend’s house, Johnson stepped out of the pool to get ready to dive into what could be the beginning of the rest of her life. “I checked the decision on my phone and the first word that I saw was ‘congratulations’. I paused for two seconds and then I just started crying. It literally felt so unreal.” Soon after, Johnson called her mom to give her the news they’d all been waiting on. Johnson’s mom said she was so nervous about answering the phone, that she simply didn’t. After calling her mom three times, Johnson finally sent her mom a loaded, one line text, simply saying, “I got into Harvard.”

The shock and excitement hadn’t even worn off by the time Johnson realized one very important detail she had missed. “I definitely had the attitude of ‘it’s Harvard, I’m going’ but I hadn’t finished my financial aid application because I was like, this is a waste of time, I’m not even going to get in. So, once I got in, I was like yay but wait, financial aid.” To put things into perspective, it costs an estimated $85,000 a year to attend Harvard. After getting into contact with financial aid, Johnson said she got an email with even more shocking news than getting into the Ivy League. “I was looking at it and it said parent contribution $0.00, student contribution $0.00, so I essentially received a full-ride scholarship and then I also had a startup grant that’s going to help me with plane tickets and getting all of my stuff out there.”

While the realization of getting into an institution like Harvard comes with an extreme amount of happiness, it also could not have come without sacrifice. “It was really a validating experience for me because I’ve been called crazy and stupid and all of these other things for so long because people were like, ‘you could be getting out of school at 12 o’clock every day, why did you decide to take 7 classes and you have an online class, you’re crazy for doing that, you’re crazy for taking all of these AP classes, you’re crazy for not going to this party’ but all of this hard work meant something. Focus was definitely the key: focus and discipline. It’s so easy to be distracted, especially being a teenager in this world. There were moments when I was off track. Just because I reached some type of success doesn’t mean it was a straight shot. There were definitely some zig zags in there,” Johnson said. In addition to sacrifices, Johnson knows the road to Harvard was also paved with a few other bricks she couldn’t have laid herself. “I recognize that I didn’t solely do this by myself. Without my teachers, without my parents, my family, it wouldn’t have happened.”

It’ll be late August by the time Johnson has to step foot on campus, but she already has her goals in mind. Johnson plans on majoring in Government and Public Policies with a minor in African American Studies; she’s also looking at possibly getting a second minor in Women Gender Sexuality.

Johnson hopes that she can encourage students who may not typically see themselves in institutions like Harvard, to actually go for those types of opportunities before counting themselves out. “For African American students, for women...I understand that representation is important, but you don’t have to see someone else that looks just like you to do something that you want to do. You don’t have to follow in someone else’s footsteps, you can walk that path on your own, you can make your own path. That’s something a lot of people don’t realize; you don’t have to look up to someone else for inspiration, you can be your own inspiration,” said Johnson.

With Vicky Roe, you’re getting the best of both worlds - born and raised in New York City but growing up in Charlotte, North Carolina gives her the Concrete Jungle hustle with a solid serving of Southern Hospitality!

After numerous opportunities, including working for “American Idol” during their stint in Charlotte, to interning for the “Rachael Ray Show”, to becoming a Television News Reporter in Alabama, she ultimately made her way back to Charlotte where she worked as the Executive Producer for a Morning Radio Show. The experience both behind the scenes and on the mic, set her up to be the next powerhouse on Q95.5 in Lafayette, Louisiana, and now contributing writer for 337 Magazine.