Ashlyn Brown gets it honest.
Winner of this year’s D.J. Everett III Memorial Scholarship through Cadiz Rotary, she’s always been around news, journalism and sports.
Always.
Her twin brothers, Darrin and Micah, starred at Trigg County and went on to play baseball for the Brescia Bearcats in Owensboro. And her father, Scott, has a lengthy list of coverage credentials — one of which includes a quite credible career with WKDZ and Your Sports Edge.
It’s here where Brown has grown and thrived, under her dad’s careful eye, while she turned hers to a camera and the action.
Brown is now a freshman at Murray State, where she’s hoping to connect with Racer Athletics leaders in Dave Winder and Parker Griffith — looking to build and improve her journalistic aptitude. She also has plans to apply for The Murray State News — the college’s longstanding, student-run newspaper — in order to push outside of her comfort zone.
Would she rather shoot photos or write? That’s an easy question for her.
Pops hasn’t been the only reason she’s taken to photography. She said she’s always been interested in sports, but nature and travel also have her attention these days — and there’s a dream of one day working for National Geographic.
Forensics and crime scene investigation are interests, too, because she thinks those facets help open her eyes to other concepts.
Taking photos for Cadiz, Trigg County and other parts of the Pennyrile has also alerted her to the needs and desires of the community. She enjoys feeling welcome along sidelines and in the press box, and appreciates how thankful families have been of her work.
It’s this colloquial kindness that has her wanting to return home after a college degree in journalism and photography — at least for a little while. Shooting Racer Athletics, west Kentucky high school sports and starting her own small business in Cadiz are goals over the next five years.
And this scholarship award can help put her on that path to success.
