Originally published on January 06, 2020.
When Ashlee Humphries was a junior at Enterprise High School in southwestern Utah, she took a sports medicine class and immediately knew she had found her future career. From that moment on, she made plans to attend SUU — graduating summa cum laude in 2019 — and is now an athletic training graduate assistant at Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Ashlee’s athletic training responsibilities include cheer, dance and mascots. It’s a big job because she cares for 60+ student athletes that can have up to five games per week, plus practices and competitions, and even travel to games and tournaments. On top of all of that, Ashlee is a student at Virginia Tech working toward her masters of science degree in athletic training.
“I love the relationships I get to build in my job, not just with coworkers and athletes but with staff from other schools and professionals in our community,” she says. “I enjoy learning from my mentors and supervisors; they teach me so much.”
Each day is a success story for Ashlee as she watches her student-athletes make progress in their rehab and healing processes, as well as excel in their academic and life goals. “I’m grateful to be a part of it all,” she says.
Her experience on our campus was a success story too, and she credits hands-on experiences as an SUU athletic training student, along with impactful clinical rotations, for making her transition from the classroom to real-world practice an easy one.
And she is quick to thank mentors like Mckay Jones, Ben Davidson and Nate Slaughter, among many others, for contributing to her success as an athletic trainer.
“They taught me to trust my education, but to also trust my gut,” she says. “That advice has helped me significantly in my career.”
Ashlee also credits SUU for providing her the perfect setting to prepare for her professional career, and although it did not prepare her for every single challenge she will face in the future, she says SUU gave her the skills to confront adversity with confidence.
A legacy student (her mother Amber Jones Humphries graduated from SUU in 1996), Ashlee comes from a ranching family with whom she loves spending time. She also enjoys riding horses, dancing, reading, and traveling.
Learn more about SUU's Athletic Training program.
