2007 Gateway Young Achievers

Teen runs babysitting like a business

Fourteen-year-old Ashley Heryford has turned her neighborhood babysitting into a full-time job this summer. She's been working five days a week.

And her detailed planning for each job gives a good indication of how she organizes her busy life year-round. She excels in just about everything she does in school, sports and her community service activities.

Ashley Heryford

Her accomplishments earned the St. Charles teen one of ten 2007 Gateway Young Achiever awards. The awards are given to elementary, middle and high school metro-area students for their all-around accomplishments.

The Young Achiever winners receive a $1,000 savings bond and a chance to compete for national Young Achiever honors.

(Young Saint Louis.com covered the announcement of the 2007 winners last May. Then, starting in June, YSL.com is creating a series of individual profiles on the elementary and middle school winners.

(For previous YA coverage, click on Past Stories and visit May, June and July profiles. Similar profiles will appear monthly through December.)

Ashley started her babysitting over three years ago. Now, she's a regular babysitter for seven families with a total of 10 kids.

She said, "It's been full-time this summer, five days a week."

Before taking on a babysitting assignment, she meets with the parents to learn the routine the kids are familiar with in their family. "I stick to the schedule that the parents want," she said.

Asked if the schedules always work out, Ashley said, "Pretty much, except maybe for naps." As usual, kids oftentimes have a different idea of when a nap is needed.

But, she said, "I haven't had any crises so far."

She said she feels the role of a babysitter is to "show compassion, respect, responsibility and honesty to both parents and kids."

With school starting soon, her babysitting will cut back to nights and weekends.

But, she's going to be busy with classes, sports and a different type of service.

Ashley won her Young Achiever award for her accomplishments at Francis Howell Middle School. This fall, she will be a freshman at Francis Howell High School.

She plans to continue her work at the Retirement Home near her school. She began visiting senior citizens in 6th grade and continued all through her middle school years.

Kids who volunteer at the home help the seniors with arts and crafts and serve refreshments. One of the fun activities is Bingo.

"Some of the seniors will have as many as four Bingo 'mats' going at the same time. They get very competitive," Ashley said.

Another part of her service is to have conversations with the seniors. She said they often compare life for youngsters now with the way things were when they were young.

Asked about differences, Ashley said, "They talk about gasoline at 10 cents a gallon."

Ashley will be in the honors academic program in high school. She was on the honor roll all three years in middle school. She won awards in math and communication arts.

Her academic achievements have earned her a place in Duke University's Talent Identification Program (TIP). As a part of that program, she's taken the ACT test early.

She was also a member of the Character Council all three years. That included serving as a "peer mediator" when there were student disputes. Asked about her toughest "case," Ashley said it involved a fight after one student accused another of stealing his IPod.

She said the "case" ended when the first student discovered the IPod at the bottom of his own backpack. Ashley said, "The other student wasn't very happy."

Ashley is playing on select soccer and basketball teams. Her soccer team is schedule to play in Detroit, Mich., late this month. She's a center middle fielder.

She said she plans to go out for her high school soccer and basketball teams. "I also may apply to be a manager on the boys soccer team," she said.

Ashley said she wants to go to Kansas University Medical School in Lawrence. She's planning to be a surgeon but hasn't picked a specialty as yet. She's looking forward to participating in science experiments that involve dissections.

(To learn more about the Young Achiever program, visit www.youngachievers.us.)