Ashling is a junior at Ridgewood High School, where she is an member and state qualifier in the DECA business and marketing club, is president of the Self Advocacy Club and is also on the Board of the Ridgewood Junior Guild.
Ashling a two-time and current NAIDF National Champion Irish Step dancer is instrumental in promoting Irish Culture in Bergen County and beyond. Ashling is an instructor at Ridgewood Irish Dance where she hosts workshops on dance and culture. In addition, she founded Camp Rince Nua, a cultural sleep away summer camp.
An author of short stories and dance dramas Ashling hopes to help others feel connected to their Irish heritage.
But perhaps her biggest effort yet has been to immerse herself in the creation and production of a series of DVD's geared towards dancers with learning disabilities. A dyslexic herself, Ashling developed her own method of learning Irish dance steps that enabled her to master routines and embrace the dance she loves. Creating videos to demonstrate her technique was Ashling's next step in bringing the joy of Irish dance to all dancers, and she is hard at work getting the series ready for use.
Ashlings love of the dance was inherited from her mother, Dublin native Susan Daly Stanek, director of Ridgewood Irish Dance.
Ashling will celebrate with the Council of Irish Associations of Grater Bergin County, which sponsors the parade, at an installation ceremony at the Greycliff Mannor in Moonachie on Saturday Febuary 25th. She will join her sister Lindsey, brother Nick to honor the patron saint of Ireland in the Berginfield=
