Walker moved to Los Angeles in June, and she had been telling people she was going to meet Drake. But it wasn’t something she planned or something at which she worked: She just kept saying it.
Former Springfield High School of Science and Technology teacher Ashley L. Walker poses with rapper Drake in a Beverly Hills restaurant.
SPRINGFIELD – Ashley L. Walker, a former teacher at the Springfield High School of Science and Technology, believes in the power of the spoken word.
She believes in that power so much, in fact, that after a group of freshmen reading/language arts students challenged her to prove she could accomplish anything; she used her words, she says, to help bring about a meeting with rapper and singer Drake.
Known initially for his role as Jimmy Brooks on “Degrassi: The Next Generation,” Toronto native Drake is known for his popular “So Far Gone” mixtape that peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart and won a 2010 Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year.
Walker’s story began about three years ago when her students were behaving poorly in class, talking over her, not following instructions. Out of frustration, she told them she was “done,” and they could use the rest of the class to do whatever they wanted.
Eventually they quieted down, feeling badly for how they had treated their young teacher. A discussion ensued, and they asked her why they should bother with school since they “weren’t going anywhere.”
Walker, 30, who grew up in Monson and earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Westfield State University in 2005, told them they could do anything they wanted; they did not have to stay in Springfield.
“My mother raised me to believe I can do anything I want,” she said.
She asked the students what it would take to prove to them that she could do anything, and after a bit of discussion, they told her to meet Drake, who was popular among them. “Done,” she said. “I’ll make it happen.”
And she did.
Walker moved to Los Angeles in June after falling for area during visits to her brother on the West Coast. "I literally felt pulled here and I knew that if I didn't come, I'd always regret it."
Since June, Walker had been telling people she was going to meet Drake, but it wasn’t something she planned or something at which she worked: She just kept saying it.
“I made that promise before I even thought of moving to L.A.,” she said. “It’s about action for sure, but it starts with the spoken word.”
Now waiting tables in a Beverly Hills restaurant, Walker was surprised when Drake, born Aubrey Drake Graham, came in for a late lunch with a group of people. She approached one of the men with the group – only to learn he was Drake’s father – ;and told him of the Springfield students’ challenge. He listened to her story and then arranged for someone to take two photos on her Blackberry phone of her with the celebrity.
People in the group congratulated her for the lesson she was teaching the students. “Good job,” they said. “Keep telling kids to graduate.”
As soon as she left work that December afternoon at about 5:30, she went home, exhausted and wanting to rest. Instead, she was motivated to go to a coffee shop and write a blog post about what had just happened. She posted the photos and tweeted a link to the blog post, noting her thanks to Drake. “I didn’t know if he’d see it because he gets so many,” she said.
But a few hours later her phone “pinged” to let her know someone had posted something to her blog; it had a link to Drake’s official fan page that had her photo and an article someone else had posted about the meeting at the restaurant.
Back in Springfield, Walker’s former students saw it because she is “friends” with some of them on Facebook, and she had posted her photo with Drake and “tagged” the students to see it.
Their responses made her “bawl my eyes out,” she said. They said she inspired them. One girl asked whom she would meet next. (Walker told her it was her turn.) “They finally understood that if you want something to happen, you can make it happen.”
Karla M. Ibarra, one of Walker’s former students, didn’t at first believe Walker when she told the students they could do anything. “I didn’t think that was possible, but once I saw on Facebook that she really did meet Drake, I figured out everything is possible,” she said.
Karla, 17, would like to go to a nearby college and become a nurse. She’s been told it won’t be possible for her to be a nurse, but because of Walker she believes it is possible.
Walker, she said, was a “perfect teacher” who always helped her students. “She motivated me, told me I was a good writer and a good reader,” she said. “I’m setting my mind to things I want to achieve.”
Walker wants her former students to know that “if you have a big dream for yourself, and you want something impossible, go after it because nothing is impossible.”
But she acknowledges that “it’s a combination of the spoken word and action” that makes things happen, but it begins with the spoken word.
Natasha K. Alvarado, now a junior at the high school, said the events with Walker have had an important impact on her. “I actually do have a lot of confidence in myself now,” she said. She’s determined to graduate and go to college. “Thanks to Miss Walker, I know that’s possible.”
She also would like to meet Drake and Lucy Hale, an actress in “Pretty Little Liars” because, she said, they are “big inspirations” to her.
Natasha said news of Walker meeting Drake “was like the main topic in my school.”
Walker credits her parents, Maureen and the late Everett L. Walker, with giving her and her two younger brothers amazing love, encouragement and support. In fact, she had spoken to her mother by phone earlier in the day she met Drake, and her mother lifted her spirits telling her, “Don’t forget you are capable of anything.”
That lesson was loud and clear though her meeting with Drake, and it’s a lesson that resounded with her students. “My biggest lesson to my kids was my biggest lesson to myself,” Walker said.