Ashleigh Ward
Class of 2012
Our “Alumnus in the Spotlight” this month is Ashleigh Ward who was Guest Speaker at Cashmere High School’s recent annual Achievers’ Evening (Sports and Arts prizegiving). Ashleigh’s words were an inspiration to all who had the privilege of attending this event.
Tell us about what you’re currently doing? Where are you on your career journey? When you left school, was this the path you expected to be on?
Tell us about what you’re currently doing? Where are you on your career journey? When you left school, was this the path you expected to be on?
If you ask my PE teachers what I would end up doing they all would have said a PE teacher and that is exactly what I am now doing. I took a roundabout way to get there which included a stint in the USA on a soccer scholarship, studying sports science here in Christchurch and moving to the UK to teach and play soccer. I have now returned home and am teaching PE and Health in a local high school.
Is there such a thing as a typical workday for you? What does it look like?
Typical work day looks like getting to school early, making sure all equipment is ready for the day, having my morning cup of tea, teaching a variety of practical and theory lessons throughout the day, then either coaching or managing co-curricular sports teams after school.
What have been some of the highlights of your career to date, and some of the main challenges?
Highlights include helping students find their passion for being physically active. Some of the challenges I have faced are balancing my own sporting commitments with teaching commitments and finding a way to make PE and Health engaging for all.
What/who are some of your influences? And how do you find inspiration and motivation?
I have been heavily influenced by the supportive PE and Health teachers that I had while at Cashmere High School, their enthusiasm and passion for teaching PE and Health inspired me to do the same. I hope that I can have the same impact on my students as they had on me.
What’s ahead for you in 2025 and beyond?
Continue teaching here in Christchurch and get back into playing touch rugby and gaelic football.
What do you enjoy doing with your free time?
I love spending time with my family and 2 puppies, playing touch rugby and gaelic football. I have just bought a pop-top caravan and am excited about exploring the South Island in it over summer.
What do you look back on as the highlights of your time at CHS?
School football was a massive highlight for me, I loved the tournaments and the lifelong friendships that I formed. Now being a teacher myself, I see how lucky I was to have such a supportive school at CHS who gave me time off to travel to Auckland every Friday in Year 11 for NZ U17 Football training, and supported me with long distance schooling when I moved to Auckland in Year 13 for half the year again for football.
Was there anyone at CHS that left a lasting impression on you – was inspiring or motivational?
Mr Squire and his family! All the PE staff (I spent most of my time in the PE office) have influenced my teaching style in some way and Mr Kuze is one of the loudest and biggest supporters I’ve ever had on the sidelines.
Do you have a favourite or funny story about your time at CHS?
I remember when we were up at football nationals in year 11, the team tried to pull a prank on me and leave me at the fields. Instead of staying there I saw another school about to leave that were staying at the same place as us. I asked for a ride back with them only to find out that CHS came back for me. The coaches were a little stressed that they could not find me – after players contacted me they realised I was back at the hotel waiting for them. Turns out the school bus I got on ended up having some future New Zealand Football team mates on. We still laugh about it now how I just got on their team bus.
Best piece of advice to students looking to pursue a similar path.
The biggest thing I have learnt is that balance is key – love what you are doing but know that you are more than an athlete, artist, musician or scholar and make your own opportunities. They do not always come to you, sometimes you have to go knocking/looking.
Is there anything else you’d like to include, or messages you’d like to send to current students, staff, parents or the wider CHS community?
I loved my time at CHS, it gave me a chance to learn, grow and find my passions. High School is a chance to try everything and anything and soak up the opportunities on offer. Kia kaha, kia māia, kia manawanui – be strong, be brave, be steadfast and most importantly be you!
Cashmere High School was privileged to have Ashleigh as Guest Speaker at the annual Achievers’ Evening (Sports and Arts prizegiving) in October.
Sophie Harris
Class of 2019
Tell us about what you’re currently doing? Where are you on your career journey? When you left school, was this the path you expected to be on?
At this very moment, I am making the exciting (and terrifying) leap into performing full time. I am playing Sophie Sheridan in the Showbiz Christchurch season of Mamma Mia, was one of the four singers in the Ovation show “Divas!” from mid-September and have my first full-time profession show coming up at the end of the year.
It’s hard to know where I am but I certainly hope it’s just the beginning!
Cashmere was the place I learnt how much I loved this. I did my first major musical (The Music Man), and it was love at first show!
You get warned a LOT by people that this career can be pretty difficult but, at Cashmere, they constantly gave me the support to keep going!
I’ve been ready to give up and settle with “performing for fun” many times but the support and endurance placed in me by EB, Ussher and my parents, is the reason I’ve been able to keep going. I owe them big time. “
Is there such a thing as a typical workday for you? What does it look like?
Every day is pretty unique!
For unpaid amateur shows, we rehearse Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings with long days scheduled on Sundays where we end up running the show once or twice. On Monday’s, I have to meal-prep most of my food for the week and get all my boring jobs done – you’ll be shocked how easy it is to go through a drive through before rehearsal… that is, until you get to the end of the week and you’re $150 short.
Full time professional work is a little more forgiving on the schedule but harder work. We rehearse 10am – 4pm Monday to Friday. During the season on show evenings, you rock up a few hours beforehand to sort out your hair and make-up. With just over an hour to go before the show starts, you’ll do a “lifts and intimacy call.” It’s a designated time on the stage for you to run all the lifts in the show with the people involved, check in with your intimacy partner (which can be as simple as a “you good?” “yeah, I’m good, you good?” “Yeah, I’m good” *fist bump*) and it’s just good to connect as a full cast.
Show begins, you shoot through it and then head home. It can take some time to wind down after doing such an energetic show with lights in your face and your adrenaline pumping but the good news is, if you’re in show season, your workday doesn’t start until 4pm ish the next day so you have plenty of time to sleep in.
Personally, I am an early bird, but I love a good show-season-sleep in.
Sometimes, you get random gigs on weekends and weeknights, so you just organise around those as you go. It’s all very exciting and stimulating. “
What have been some of the highlights of your career to date, and some of the main challenges?
I’ve felt pretty blessed to be able to have had the experiences I have had! A huge mix of different people, costumes, theatres, scripts etc.
I got to work on “Dark City: The Cleaner” when it was filming here in Christchurch. Those 6 days on set were some of the most exciting days of my life! It was quite literally how you imagine it in the movies. Trailers for you to sit in, lovely people running around and getting you food and coffee and seats and covering you in a dressing gown when it starts to get cold. Gosh, it was just incredible.
As a whole, one of my biggest personal challenges has been embracing my singing. Dancing from the age of 3, I understood the language of dance, felt comfortable doing it but singing felt like a cold plunge. I thought I was rubbish and there was no way to fix it. I’m still on a journey to embrace my voice but I have a much larger love for the artform than I did a few years ago.
My biggest challenge to date was definitely learning a lead in 2½ days. On a Sunday evening at 10pm, I was asked to head to Invercargill, learn the role of Sophie Sheridan in Mamma Mia and be able to perform their opening weekend while their Sophie recovered from an injury. At 4am, we got up and drove down. By 1pm, I was in the studio jamming choreography, staging and intimacy in my brain. I would head back to the hotel and make my boyfriend run the dialogue with me over and over and over again until I had it. Tuesday evening, I had a run through with the cast and Wednesday, we were running the whole thing off book with quick changes, no stops, and a whole lot of adrenaline.
What/who are some of your influences? And how do you find inspiration and motivation?
Gosh… so many people. I am so genuinely inspired by the people around me every day. Inspiration is easy to find when you’re surrounded by the incredible talent Christchurch has to offer. My motivation totally comes from the artform itself. I love it. I live for it. I adore any opportunity I have to go to a dance class, have a singing lesson, or have a rehearsal! I just adore it. It is everything to me and it gives me so much back.
My all-time favourite actor is Tim Conway. I used to watch clips from The Carol Burnett Show on repeat with my mum and Conway made us laugh uncontrollably every time. There’s something magical about watching those classic skits.
What’s ahead for you in 2025 and beyond?
Hopefully more work but I’m taking each day as it comes! I have some secrets lined up for next year and thanks to my boyfriend’s support, 2025 is the year I am dedicating to giving this career a real go!
My boyfriend is incredible and he’s going to support me so I have the time to pursue every audition, self-tape and gig I can find! I am so grateful for him and hopefully I’ll have a year of work lined up to show for it. I’m so ready to put the work in and if nothing comes from it, I would have enjoyed every step along the way. (I think my dog will also be stoked since I’ll be home more often to take her for walkies hahaha)
But for now, I look forward to wrapping this year up with a bang 🙂
What do you enjoy doing with your free time?
Me, my boyfriend, and my dog are always up for an adventure. When we have a spare weekend (outside of show seasons), we often spend our days walking around big beaches and reserves. Bonnie is a border collie, so she has lots of beans to burn and it’s a great excuse for Eli and I to get outside in the sunshine and get some exercise in! We’ll often try to rope my siblings into it too!
On quieter days, I’ll often sit inside with a movie or YouTube video playing and do some form of crafts. Crocheting, latch-hooking, writing music, painting, drawing, building, and making random little nick-nacks, you name it!
I come from a creative household (my mum is insanely talented at basically anything creative she gets her hands on) and so my brain is always busy with the next fun thing I can obsess over and fidget over.
What do you look back on as the highlights of your time at CHS?
Every single performance, musical, show quest, lip sync etc. I have really fond memories of all those extracurricular activities I got involved with and I remember making great friends with so many different people! People I may not have met otherwise whether they were in a different year group, different social circle, or we had no classes together.
I also so distinctly remember my first drama class. The best way I can describe it was like a spiritual awakening. I remember hearing Shaun describe what mine was and how to execute it properly. Something in my brain was like “YES YES YES! HE GETS IT! HE’S SPEAKING IN A LANGUAGE I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND.” Hahahaha it sounds silly, but it really did make an impact! I still think about it often and refer back to the techniques I learnt when I’m teaching my own classes.
Was there anyone at CHS that left a lasting impression on you – was inspiring or motivational?
I mean… EB and Ussher are two people that have made such an influence in my life. I’m 23 years old, I graduated 5 years ago, and I still go to them for advice about my career, my jobs, what song I should sing for an audition, life advice. I feel as though after I graduated, I had formed a real genuine friendship with them.
I consider them true friends of mine and I just feel so honoured to have been taught by them both. If it weren’t for the support of them, I don’t know what I’d be doing right now. I wish I had the ultimate string of words together just to try explaining how much they mean to me and how much their support made such a difference in my life.
For someone who gets up on a stage in front of 1300 to sing and dance, I’m pretty riddled with insecurities and anxiety. In high school, I was even worse. EB used to sit with me in the drama office and help me through anxiety attacks. The tools he guided me with still help me today when I’m feeling overwhelmed.
That kind of love is not taught to teachers yet all the staff at Cashmere seem to possess it. There is such a pure and genuine love and as students trying to navigate their adolescence, it was a nice feeling like the staff weren’t against you but were there to help guide you.
I have a lot of love and school pride for Cashmere.
Do you have a favourite or funny story about your time at CHS?
Gosh so many little silly stories hahaha. We used to get up to all sorts of stupid stuff at lunch and morning tea. I remember EB once split his pants trying to do a dance move during one of our show quest rehearsals and when Ussher found out, he laughed so hard, he nearly cried. We all were absolutely wetting ourselves. EB had to wear costume pants for the rest of the rehearsal.
I have plenty of silly stories like that. Often, I forget about them until I have an old snapchat memory or Facebook post pop up and I’m sent into a fit of nostalgic laughter again!
Best piece of advice to students looking to pursue a similar path.
This is such a classic thing that I totally rolled my eyes at and got frustrated with whenever my mum would tell me but… it takes time! Trust the process. Trust in the work and dedication you put into it. This industry tests you and pushes you to a breaking point unlike any other! You’ll get to a stage where you want to give up but persevere and it will pay off. Sounds stupid but something that stuck with me was the dog vs chocolate story.
The theory goes that when your dog sees you eating chocolate, it wants a piece so badly! It begs and whimpers, cries, and barks and doesn’t realise it is so desperately begging for a food that is poison. No matter how much the dog thinks they want that chocolate, we know it’s poison for them. I don’t know about you but if my dog behaves really well when I’ve said no to something like that… she’s getting a treat later.
The universe has a way of looking after you. Every no you get, every role you miss out on, every show you don’t get into, is preparing you for something great for when you’re ready.
Is there anything else you’d like to include, or messages you’d like to send to current students, staff, parents or the wider CHS community?
Just a huge thank you. I find it’s rare to find someone who reflects and says they really enjoyed their time at high school and felt the support of the staff but I, at 23 years old, still have Cashmere staff that support me. Whether they taught me once, twice, my whole 5 years or even just knew me through the school community, it genuinely makes a difference.
I’m so grateful for it. “
