Donahue Comes Home to the League
By Julianne Coyne | Thursday, August 26, 2010 10:14 AM
Ashley Donahue
Photo by Julianne Coyne
UIL’s newest employee, Ashley Donahue, administrative assistant for speech and debate, has an almost 20-year history with the League. That’s pretty impressive since she’s only 26 years old.
In second grade Donahue started competing in storytelling and creative writing. It was a rather traumatic first experience with UIL.
“When I first got to the school for that competition, I had to go to the restroom,” she said. “A teacher showed me where to go, but when I came out everyone was gone. They just left me.”
When Donahue finally found some teachers, she realized the competition started without her.
“They forgot about me,” she said. “I started crying so they put me in another room and told me the story. I actually won, but after that contest I would never go the restroom before a competition because I was so afraid they would start a contest without me.”
Luckily, Donahue’s experiences with UIL improved dramatically after elementary school. As a student at Jewett-Leon High School, she competed in nine different events quite successfully. Donahue went to state in poetry interpretation, CX and volleyball, winning state twice in poetry interpretation and once in volleyball.
“In high school, UIL grounded me and gave me purpose,” she said. “It pushed me to do more. Because of my experiences with UIL, I wanted to do more with my life.”
Donahue received a four-year Texas Interscholastic League Foundation scholarship for her success in UIL and school.
After graduating high school, Donahue found another way to stay involved with UIL. She worked as a speech intern from 2003-2007 while attending The University of Texas at Austin.
Donahue said that it’s nice to be at UIL after having student intern experience because she “truly understands the multiple facets of working here, and it’s nice to see a new side to UIL.”
After graduating with a degree in advertising and a degree in public relations, Donahue worked as an account executive at TracyLocke in Dallas.
Then, Ashley taught at Leon Elementary School, her alma mater. At Leon, she coached a multitude of UIL contests — elementary contests; high school speaking events and assisted directed the One-Act play.
Most recently, Donahue taught and coached speech and debate events at Austin Bowie High School where she qualified students to Regionals.
“I’m hoping with the experiences I’ve had through being in advertising and being a speech coach, I can bring a new point of view to my position,” Donahue said.
Jana Riggins, director of speech and debate, said that Donahue’s knowledge and personality will add to the high level of the speech program.
“She’s a tremendous asset because she is a former competitor, so she understands the contestants’ viewpoints; a former speech teacher, so she understands the coaches’ viewpoints; and a former student worker, so she understands the viewpoint of the state office,” Riggins said.
Donahue said her favorite part of being back at UIL is being around the people involved with League contests.
“UIL is truly a second home for me, and now I’m excited to give back to the organization that’s given so much to me,” Donahue said.