Strolling through Huron High School’s hallways, LaMar Ashford towers over his peers at an impressive 6’4″ as he greets them with a warm smile and friendly wave. The seventeen-year-old varsity football player just finished playing the lead role in Huron’s production of Beauty & the Beast. Whether on green turf or illuminated stage, Ashford carries himself with unassuming confidence, and it all began after the worldwide pandemic lockdown. 

Post-pandemic, Ashford, like everyone else, had just spent months trapped at home. 

“Coming right off of quarantine, I wasn’t the most athletically fit man of all time,” he said. “So I was really looking for something to help me get back into shape.” 

At his parents’ suggestion, he tried out football, and has stuck with it ever since. 

“I was in between freshman and junior varsity for the first year… Tenth grade they moved me up to varsity. And that’s where I’ve been.”

As for his musical journey, it was only in his sophomore year that Ashford auditioned for choir, immediately getting into Acapella, Huron’s advanced SATB (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) choral group. Since then, he has also joined the theater community. 

As grateful as he is to be able to partake in both activities, balancing the two is no small feat. Ashford relies heavily on communication. 

“Letting everybody in my circle know where I’ll be is the best way that I can juggle it all, ‘cause there won’t be any miscommunication.”

Unfortunately, Ashford hears the occasional snippish remark about participating in the performing arts.

“With football and choir and theater, at the base of it all, you’re one big family working towards a goal,” he said. “I don’t understand why people can’t understand how similar they are and accept it.” 

Simultaneously, many people assume footballers are not academically inclined. Ashford’s coaches remind him that he is more than just an athlete.

“You just have to be sure of who you are, and what you want in life… People think whatever people think, and that’s it.” 

Ashford’s interests range even further than sports and theater. His real passion is psychology, and would like to become either a psychiatrist or psychologist. He plans on taking DP Psychology his senior year and studying psychology in college. But that doesn’t mean he plans on discontinuing his other activities after high school. 

“Football and choir and acting, they’re… things that I really love to do,” Ashford said.“They help me express me as a person… so I choose to do them as much as I can.”

Many students feel the need to join a clique in high school, but Ashford proves this does not have to be the case. He embraces Huron’s variety of choices, and encourages incoming high schoolers to do the same. 

“Don’t stick yourself in a box,” he said.“The big mistake that a lot of high schoolers make coming in is, they expect that they have to fit into some sort of niche or some sort of group to make it through, but you really don’t.”