Aledo graduate will be a contestant on NBC’s ‘The Titan Games,’ hosted by ‘The Rock’

“Dream big and never settle.”

That’s what Ashley Huhn would tell her elementary kids the first day of school. Huhn, who taught sixth and second grade at Wimbish Elementary, graduated from Aledo in 2008, where she was an all-state soccer player for Derek Vierling.

But on your TV screen’s on Thursday, she’ll be a contestant on the new NBC show “The Titan Games,” which is hosted by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson at 7 p.m.

“I’m thankful for this opportunity,” Huhn said. “I promised my sixth graders that I would apply.”

Huhn applied for another competition show on NBC two years ago. She submitted a video, but it got nowhere. Then she got a call last February from a producer about coming on “The Titan Games.”

“I got a call from Los Angeles during my sixth grade class and said, ‘NBC?’ “Everyone’s pencils dropped,” she said.

The premise of the show is that every day people get the opportunity to push themselves in extreme tests of strength, endurance and mental fortitude. These contenders compete in intense head-to-head battles, with the winners battling it out in the ultimate physical challenge on “Mount Olympus” for the chance to become a “Titan.”

In the final round, the Titans face off against one another in the hope of becoming the last male and female competitor standing.

“It’ll be fun to watch,” Vierling said. “Ashley is the ultimate competitor. She’s like third or fourth in all-time goals scored here and she was very instrumental in our 2008 team when we reached the state quarterfinals. Before 2017, that 2008 team was probably our best season. It’s an awesome thing to see her do this.

“She has just kept improving athletically as she gotten older. She’ll come back to our alumni games and just destroy everyone.”

Huhn was in the process of moving to Denver when she got the call to try out. She went to what’s called “The Combine” in the summer and was selected among 32 men and 32 women or, what The Rock calls, his “DJ 64.”

Huhn, 28, was a four-time all-district selection at Aledo. She went on to play at Western Carolina before transferring to Texas to compete in the triathlon. She’s now an avid competitor in the world of CrossFit.

She said she’s always been a fan of competition shows.

“Did I ever think I was going to be on one? No, but I like seeing people get out of their comfort zone,” Huhn said. “My friend was on American Ninja Warrior for two seasons, and he’s been my mentor over the last year. It’s pretty awesome to see normal people getting out there and doing it, and being successful, and that’s what I love about this show.”