Ashley Ragland, a Stephenson high graduate and Lithonia is one of eight cast members on BETs College Hill. Photo by Travis Hudgons
Lithonia resident on reality show
by Brian Egeston
be@brianwrites.com
When a college student calls home and says he or she is going to be on a reality TV show, some parents may cringe with the thoughts of the world seeing their son or daughter in compromising positions. Ashley Ragland, a Stephenson high graduate and Lithonia resident isn’t worried about what her mom will see. “I don’t think my mother is going to be surprised,” said Ragland “There may be a moment or two when she says, ‘Ashley why did you do that or why did you say that,’ but I don’t think she’ll be surprised.”
Ragland, a Georgia State University senior, is one of eight cast members on BETs College Hill, which was shot in Atlanta during the fall. The students attend area Georgia colleges and lived in a mansion on West Paces Ferry for two months while cameras filmed their every waking–and sleeping–moment.
Ragland said her parents were supportive of their daughter’s appearance on the show, despite the reputation of some reality shows such as Flavor of Love. Ragland’s mother currently works at Georgia State and is pursing a college degree along with her daughter. Ragland’s father graduated from South Carolina State.
The series explores the students’ lives as well as their academic and career goals. The obtrusive cameras also try to explore the co-eds love and sex lives as well as friendships and personal trials and tribulations.
The cast gets to work with the Ludacris Foundation and work with students in London, England. When that gets boring, there are jaunts to Atlanta nightclubs and scenes in the infamous hot tub. “My dad will probably laugh when he sees what I do in the hot tub. He knows I’m an adult and at the end of the day, it’s a reflection on me and how I was raised.”
Ragland was obviously raised to fend for herself and never back down. In the second episode, the cast members indulge in a game of hide-and-go-get. Drew Hunter, a mass communications major at the University of West Georgia, held Ragland in a playful headlock. When Ragland had trouble breathing, she started biting. Drew quickly let her go and Ragland, looking like a freed mad woman, proclaimed to the house that she’d proudly taken a chunk out of her captor.
Ragland said she’s been in the entertainment industry since age 17 working as a model and on other projects. She attended Redan Elementary, Stephenson Middle School and graduated from Stephenson High School in 2004. Her parents still live in her childhood home.
The marketing major is anticipating graduating from Georgia State in May and said the College Hill show has given her a chance to see how things work in front of the camera. If given the choice between working as a cover girl with Trya Banks or being a marketing executive, Ragland knows exactly which path she would choose. “I would have to say I would go with Trya. I don’t see myself as a nine-to-fiver. I told my momma I was never going to get a job. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to work. Having a corporate job, I’ve never seen myself doing that. What I love to do is entertainment. I just have to stay grounded and remember how I was raised.”
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