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CAROLINA TROPHIES www.shelbyinfo.com Our 41st Year • Issue No. 7 • February 15, 2024
12/24/24
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GWU student, former soccer coach honored for their volunteer work By Jean Gordon A Gardner-Webb University (GWU) student and a former children’s volunteer soccer coach in Cleveland County, was tapped as Youth Volunteer of the Year for 2023. Encouraged by her GWU adjunct professor John Miller, Ashley Wilson began volunteering at HOPEWorks in Rutherford County, a free after-school program for middle and high schoolers. Soon Ashley developed a passion for HOPEWorks as students need encouragement and hope. “HOPEWorks is unlike anything I have ever been a part of,” said Ashley. “HOPEWorks is a unique experience. These kids are so strong and resilient...Our motto is meeting the kids exactly where they are, and when they are, for who they are. These kids give me so much joy and so much life,” she said. “They teach me more than I think I teach them. Being a part of this program is so rewarding and is something I feel like God has called me to do for all of the right reasons. I see so much of who I used to be in them all the time, and that helping them is like giving me the advice I wish I had.” HOPEWorks is a program under the nonprofit Blue Ridge Hope, currently offering an after-
school program for middle and high schoolers who receive tutoring and mentorship within a safe space. In addition to volunteering with HOPEWorks, Ashley also volunteered as a soccer coach for the Greater Cleveland County Soccer Association (GCCSA) for two years. She stepped away from volunteering this semester, hoping to return in the fall. A heavy class load, volunteering at HOPEWorks and other responsibilities at GWU gave her a full schedule. “I am hoping and praying that I will be able to return in the fall,” she said. “I have had a love for soccer since I was a little kid. I always knew I needed it to be in my life in some way, so when I got here (GWU) it was one of the first things I looked for,” she said. She volunteered between six to nine hours each week and had two and half hour practices a week plus one or two games each Saturday. She coached U14, anyone from ages 11/12 to 14. Before coming to GCCSA, she spent one year as a volunteer coach at Kernersville Soccer Association where she lived before college. “Coaching was not only a way for me to stay in the sport, but to also provide young players with a
Coach Ashley Wilson with one of her former GCCSA teams.
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coach,” she said. When Ashley joined GCCSA they were understaffed in coaches and needed help for the young children to be able to even have a soccer season. Growing up playing soccer, Ashley said she had aggressive sound coaches who wanted to provide a fun-loving and technically strong environment for Volunteering with HOPEWorks across the county line in Rutherford. the kids to learn (Photos contributed) and grow not only as players but as people. For Coach Ashley her best days of coaching was seeing the development of the players at the end of the season. “The amount of growth I saw in so many of the kids was heartwarming. From getting better grades in school, to growing in their watch them become better team- is a faith-based school. It was technique and becoming a well-rounded player. mates, and to know that I had a not necessarily something I was My kids will tell you that I asked part in that is the best thing about looking for in a college, but since being here I have grown in my them how school was every day. coaching,” Ashley continued. Ashley played soccer in mid- relationship with Christ signifiI asked them if they learned anything and how their classes were dle school and three years in high cantly. I could not be happier with school but an injury her junior my choice of school,” Ashley said. going,” she said. After graduation Ashley will Ashley said soccer provides and senior year of high school teamwork and interpersonal skills, prevented her from playing GWU attend Physician’s Assistant school, hoping to specialize in but not every kid is going to get a soccer. “I was always ‘eat, sleep, soc- Pediatrics/ Emergency Medicine. scholarship to play soccer. “I am obviously looking at “Yes, I wanted them to be good cer’ so coaching was a no-brainer applying here at GWU and also players, as a player and as their for me”Ashley said. Ashley loves GWU and the at North-Greenville University coach, of course, I wanted them to win games. But, that does not atmosphere and “the quiet.” She and a few others. Being in health mean anything if they are fail- said she always wanted to go to a care is something I have had my ing in school, getting detention, small school and after touring the mind set on since I was in the 8th grade,” she said. or getting into fights. To see the GWU campus, she was hooked. She works at Caromont “This place feels like a home progression of the kids, to hear Health as a night shift CNA in the away from home. I enjoy the from their parents that they are doing better in school, and to professors and the small ratio Progressive Coronary Care Unit. See GWU, Page 4 of class sizes. I also love that it
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