Ashley (Morford) O’Brien is a 2006 Marshalltown High School graduate. She said she is thankful of all of the opportunities she had at MHS.
Story written by Samantha Edwards, volunteer writer
“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”
Ashley (Morford) O’Brien, a 2006 graduate from Marshalltown High School, uses the quote to explain how sociology classes at MHS benefited her.
Her first career choice was to become an art teacher, and she said the art classes she took at MHS might have been superior to other high school art classes.
“I like the diversity of classes that were offered, especially in art,” she said. “We had a really, really great art department, which we were really fortunate to have.”
All the extracurricular activities at MHS also strongly impressed Ashley, and she was in several involving: a volunteerism association called KEY club, tennis, cheerleading, art club, Spanish club, Educational Talent Search and even an assistant in Special Olympics bowling.
“Students could be involved in [activities] that spark their current interest or may spark interest in something they didn’t know much about,” she said.
Ashley works at a leasing company located in Cedar Rapids with the title as a sales support person.
“Basically, I support our sales reps. Our sales reps call our office equipment dealers and try to build a relationship with them. I try to build that relationship too. I try to make deals work and benefit both my company and the dealer,” she said.
Other duties include processing documents, problem solving, the financial aspect and answering phone calls.
“Essentially, we’re kind of like a bank,” she explained.
Her main job is at the leasing company, but her passion is photography, and primarily she takes pictures of families. Ashley started photography in college, and now is the manager of AO photography. She was happy to say that she took a college-credited photography class at Marshalltown High School.
