Student of the Week - Ashley Akey

We are very pleased to announce that Ashley Akey is this week’s Student of the Week!

“Ridley Academy has become such an important part of my musical journey.

“I’d wanted to play piano since I was about four years old. I would make up words and songs and sing them all over the house, and I wanted to be able to sit at a piano, play the music I heard in my head, and turn those words into actual songs

“Music stayed with me as I grew up. I learned other instruments, sang, performed, and created in different ways. More than anything, music became a way for me to connect with other people and better understand myself. When I couldn’t always find the right words to express how I felt, somehow I could find them through music.

“Life eventually took me in a very different direction. I joined the Marine Corps at 17 and served for more than 11 years before being medically retired in 2023. The Marines had been such a huge part of my adult life that when it ended, I felt like I had lost much more than just a career. I lost a piece of my identity, a community of Marines who understood experiences that can be difficult to explain to anyone who hasn’t lived them, and a sense of purpose that came from serving my country and trying to make a difference in the world.

“So I had to figure out what came next. And eventually, I found myself coming back to the thing that had been there since I was a child: music.

“I had seen firsthand the hope music could bring while I was deployed. I had seen what it meant to military members far from home and to people going through dark or difficult times. When I really thought about it, I realized there was a common thread running through everything I’d wanted to do with my life — I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to connect with people. I wanted to leave something a little better than I found it and be a light for somebody who needed one.

“Then I saw an ad for Ridley Academy.

“Stephen’s infectious love for music and life immediately caught my attention. I jumped in, and I never really looked back.

“With the encouragement of Stephen, my coach, and the entire Ridley Academy community, what started as finally fulfilling that childhood dream of learning piano became so much bigger.

“At first, I just wanted to learn to play. Then, as I was learning more and more, I started to believe I could play and sing for other people. I started writing my own music. I started sharing it. Eventually, I dared to do something that that four-year-old kid singing made-up songs around the house could only have imagined: I released my own original music!

“One of the biggest things Ridley Academy has given me is the ability to finally connect all the pieces that have always been there. The words, melodies, emotions, storytelling, singing, and love of music were there long before I had the technical skills to know what to do with them.

“Now I do.

“My confidence as an artist has changed tremendously since enrolling in Ridley Academy. I actually have a personal rule now: never walk past a piano without playing it. If there’s a piano at the VA hospital, I play it. If I find a public piano somewhere, I play it. If I walk into a music store and there’s a piano, I’m probably sitting down on the piano bench.

“Playing at the VA has become especially meaningful to me. After going to appointments, I’ll sit down at the piano and play. I’ve realized that it doesn’t just change my mood; it changes the whole room. People stop. They listen. They smile. Sometimes they come over and talk to me. And for even just a few minutes, a hospital lobby feels a little different.

“Those moments helped me realize that maybe I hadn’t lost my purpose after all — how I was going about fulfilling it had just changed.

“Music gives me a way to connect with people, communicate things that aren’t always easy to put into words, encourage others, or simply make a hard day a little lighter.

“Ridley Academy gave me the skills and confidence to take something that had lived inside me my entire life and finally share it with other people.

“And somewhere along the way, Ridley Academy became more than a community. It became a family, too. I love encouraging my fellow Ridley students to play, create, take chances, and share their music. We all have something different to bring to the world, and every time one of us dares to share it, we’re putting a little more beauty into a world that so desperately needs it.

“As for what’s next, I’m continuing to grow as a pianist, singer, songwriter, and musician, and am writing and releasing my own original music. I want to keep creating music that helps people feel understood and a little less alone.

“I joined Ridley Academy because I finally wanted to learn how to play the piano. I’d been waiting to do that since I was four years old. I just didn’t know that learning to play would also help me to use music to make a difference.

“Thank you for letting me share my story and for everything Ridley Academy has given me along the way.”

— Ashley Akey, Ridley Academy Student of the Week, 28 August 2026

Very well done, Ashley! We are so proud of you.