Named the Rising Star Teacher at Coggin Elementary for the 2024-25 school year, Ashley Foust will be working with older kids during the coming year.
“I almost fell out of my chair. I wasn’t expecting that at all,” Foust said of receiving the Rising Star honor, which is awarded to teachers with one to five years experience at Brownwood ISD. “To be a music teacher and to get it and not teach a tested subject like reading, it’s especially crazy for me to think I was recognized.”
Being a music teacher has been a lifelong dream for Foust, who graduated from Huntsville High School.
“I always wanted to be a teacher from the time I was in school,” Foust said. “I want to take what I love and give it to kids and watch them start to love it, too. Music just seemed to be the thing I loved the most. I want to be that person for people.”
Reflecting on her teaching influences, Foust said, “My elementary music teacher, her name was Carol Carden, she was amazing. I don’t think I would be a music teacher if she hadn’t started that so early. I did music all throughout school, and my high school director my junior and senior year, his name is Clay West, he’s a Howard Payne graduate and his mother-in-law is Dr. (Elizabeth) Wallace, who used to work at Howard Payne and lives in Comanche now. He made it cool and saw that I had a passion for it and helped me grow there. I still see him all the time.”
Following high school graduation, Foust attained an Associates degree from Lone Star College in The Woodlands, then transferred to Texas Tech and earned a Bachelor in Music with an emphasis in Performance, before finally moving to Duluth, Minnesota where she obtained a Master’s degree in Music.
As for why she choose music over another teaching field, Foust said, “I always said if it wasn’t music it’d be history because I love history. But as a kid you want to do something you’re really good at. I was not sporty, not to the extent to be really good enough at it to play, so I just found something I was good at and that was music, probably from Ms. Carden in elementary school. When I left high school, that was the only thing I could see myself doing, learning more about it – how to sing better, how to do all the things in music theory, so I went that route and met my husband.”
The most rewarding aspect of teaching, Foust said, is, “I love the kids and just seeing their faces light up when we’re working on something that could be challenging or hard. When they nail it for the first time and you see that ‘oh my gosh I can’t believe I just did that’ look. I also just love being the kids’ safe space. They can come in and talk to me and I enjoy being that person for them. A lot of kids need that person. I just love the whole profession.”
Regarding her future as an educator, Foust said, “I’m really excited about moving up from elementary school and going to Coggin 6th and being their choir director. I’ll also be helping out Jennifer Reeves with the high school and junior high programs. I’m really excited to see the program grow even more than it already has. I really want to make Brownwood noteworthy.”
Ashley and her husband Brae, who works at KOXE, have a 3-year-old son, Rhett. She also teaches Voice at Howard Payne University as well.
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BrownwoodNews.com will highlight one Brown County educator per day in the month of July, based on nominations received on our Facebook page, for our Teacher Feature series.