The daughter of a 30-year coaching veteran, Ashley Harrell followed her father’s footsteps into education, a career she has relished for 24 years. The last nine of those years have been spent at Brownwood High, where she has served as the Culinary Arts teacher for the past three years.

“It’s gotten more popular here lately because the kids are seeing the good it does and how much fun we have cooking,” Harrell said. “Most of them like when we do the cuisines around the world and cook something from each continent. I demonstrate something and then they cook it and then we all have to taste everything. From there we write papers, but mostly they love to taste test everything.”

Prior to Culinary Arts, Harrell spent her first six years at Brownwood teaching Life Skills for kids with special needs. She was also head of the Special Olympics program for Brownwood, which is where her original desire to enter the education field began.

“When I was in high school I got to go with my dad to one of his PE classes,” Harrell said. “He had special needs kids in that PE class and I just connected with them and said I wanted to do this and make a difference in these kids’ lives.”

Harrell spent her first 15 years in education as a PE coach in Plano.

“I wanted to be a coach but that changed when I started having kids,” Harrell said with a laugh.

Regarding her shift three years ago from Life Skills to Culinary Arts, Harrell said, “I have a culinary background. I worked as a kitchen manager at the Lake Brownwood Christian retreat for seven years during the summer. I taught many kids during those years and I loved doing it. So when the position came open I applied. I still get some of my Life Skills kids in my class. They absolutely love to get in the kitchen and learn how to cook.”

Now that her PE days are behind her, the most rewarding aspect for Harrell is, “the confidence the kids get coming out of my classroom knowing that they just made something and that they can go home and cook for their parents. They realized they can do things if they put their mind to it.”

As for the impact she makes on the lives of her students, Harrell said, “It shows that I’m in the right place and makes my heart smile. I know that kids can take something out of my program and turn it into something in real life. They have to know how to cook to live, and I know this is impacting real lives.”

Harrell graduated from McKinney High School and Collin College and is currently pursuing another degree at Angelo State University.

She and her husband T.J. have five children ages 16 to 21.