Columbus Valley - In The Game High School Sports Magazine

Columbus High School’s Asha Owens says that serving others in the community is something that has come naturally to her.  The Blue Devils senior lacrosse player has been involved in community service since childhood.

“Helping others and service in the community is a big deal in my family,” says Owens. “I got involved in community service as a child as my entire family worked on various projects. It is something that has just come naturally to me, and once I got to high school, it afforded me the time to sort of find my way and figure out what I like doing to help the community.”

The Owens family has been involved in a wide spectrum of service projects over the years. “We have worked in church-sponsored activities, community activities, and it has sort of been across the board with a number of different types of service. That has given me a lot of diversity in what I am able to see, and in what I have seen while working in the community,” she says.

The wide array of activities Owens has participated in has allowed her to narrow her focus into what she feels is really important - helping children. Her service work has led to her CHS senior project. “For my senior project, I am working with local elementary-age students using exploratory teaching methods.  This is a method to promote learning outside the classroom, and also to take what they are learning in the classroom home and carry it farther to learn even more,” says Owens.

Owens is working on her project with students at Dawson Elementary. She says this project is her favorite of all she has worked on in her life. “This activity and project is my favorite because it involves learning and education. I feel like these are most important in the lives of children and I have always been taught the importance of learning as much as possible in my family,” she says.

Owens says that her family traditionally becomes very active around the holidays. “We do something every year, whether it is going out into the community to give gifts to families, or to provide food to families who are in need,” she says.

Owens has truly learned a lot from her experiences. “I have been able to gain a better understanding of the people around me. My current project with the schoolchildren has taught me a lot about myself. I have learned that not everyone is the same and there are big differences in the way people live everyday, even here in our own community. “

“Working with these children and talking to them and just listening to them and seeing how much they care and appreciate that someone is taking the time to care and to listen to them has been very big for me. It had never really dawned on me just how important it is to just spend time and listen to people. Their appreciation for that has taught me a lot and given me a new perspective,” she said.

Owens came to Columbus High from Midland Middle School and was not involved in athletics at all. She first heard about lacrosse at CHS open house and wasn’t interested until she met some of the team members. She says she decided to get involved and has fallen in love with the sport and hopes to continue playing.

CHS coach Joe McDaniel truly appreciates the efforts of one of his top players. “Asha is a four-year player for us and is truly a team leader on and off the field. She averages three goals per game and has numerous interceptions and has great stick skills. She leads our off-season conditioning workouts and helps younger players improve their skills. She is an outstanding student with a  4.375 GPA and is an exceptional person with unlimited potential,” he said.

“I started pretty late in lacrosse and athletics, but what I have learned is that you truly get out of anything what you put in. That lesson applies not only in lacrosse, but also in my everyday life. The harder you work, the more it shows in your grades, and the harder you work off the field in athletics, the more it shows on the field,” she said.

Owens was Most Improved as a freshman, earned the Coach’s Choice Award as a sophomore, and was Most Valuable Offensive Player as a junior for the Blue Devil team.

Owens is the daughter of Ingrid and Vincent Owens and has one sister, Ariel, a volleyball player at Northside High. After graduating at CHS she plans to attend a leading research institution as an undergraduate and then go to medical school to earn an MD in neurology and go into research and practice.