Dunbar Dance

I remember practices were sometimes a dreaded event. It was only thirty degrees in the ice arena and it’s hard to practice with your coat on. The warm up lap was the worst part of it all, because no one liked to run. I remember we would slip and slide while trying to field grounders and cringe if we missed

We could go outside after school but had to make sure we did our homework and had to be inside by a certain time every night. On the weekends, we looked forward to playing with our friends. We went to church every Sunday as a family. Sometimes we would walk to church or went in the car.

The next seven minutes could determine what my 7th grade year will look like. 11 other girls, competing for seven spots on the JAJH Cheer Team. My hands were shaking, and I was so nervous inside. What if I don’t make it? What if I make myself look like a complete fool? Falling on my face, tripping, doing the wrong cheer, all of these factors were racing through my mind. But I had to plaster that smile on my face, black shorts, white shirt, bow, tennis shoes, I was ready. Routines rushing through my head, one after the other, over and over. Five, six, seven, eight, one… Three days of practicing and learning the material for those next seven minutes.

I waited weary in anticipation of what name would break out of the happy-go-lucky collegiate cheerleader’s boisterous mouth as he was announcing the two lucky 2017 National Cheerleading Association All Americans out of all 4 Belton cheer squads. I replay this moment in my most vivid dreams, feeling the excitement of the halcyon moment grow greater and greater as the nerves and emotions grew stronger and stronger. A moment as imperative as this showed me in the most transparent way that hard, continuous work and growth pays off in many more ways than one.

I’ve been able to travel to places I’ve never been before, to bond with ladies who share the same passion as me, and of course to grow as a dancer. One of my most memorable dance experience’s was competing in my first national dance competition my sophomore year in high school. I was able to compete with thousands of teams from across the United States and even a few teams from other countries. I love the competition atmosphere and the moments I have to bond with my teammates. There’s nothing that can compare to dancing in front of thousands of people underneath those stage lights. The adrenaline rush I get is indescribable and to know that I’m sharing the dance floor with thirty-four other ladies that have the same goals as me is unbelievable. One of the best moments at the competition was walking away as third runner up overall when we competed against over 200 teams. Another memorable dance experience was when I went to dance camp at Oklahoma State university my senior year. I remember the very first day of camp they ran out of food and we had to order pizza to our dorms. The worst part about this was that we had to be performance ready within an hour and try to eat at the same time. It was extremely frustrating and stressful but at the end we performed and received our bid for nationals in Orlando, Florida. I honestly believe that the most excellent

I refused to cheer too much because I know it would drive my focus away and it was best to stay humble. I reminded the offensive team this because it would be our hubris if we let our victories envelope our heads. By the end of the final quarter, we had won our game by only a 2-point conversion. The cannonade from my chest was still lunging towards the outside world. Throughout the game I feared failure, yet I overcame it. Realizing that my role was more influential than I known previously, I adapted to the pressure. I reflected on my own performance and knew I could do better. There was so much I could improve on and I was determined to be the

It was my final moments as a Chelsea High School cheerleader. My final banquet had quickly approached. It was then that I realized I was not ready for the season to be over. I stood in front of my friends, fellow cheerleaders, and their families as they watched and waited for me to recite my last words as the season came to an end. It took hours for me to write about what my teammates and my coaches meant to me. I did not want to sound too nostalgic since I’m not the emotional type, but I also did not want to come across as indifferent. It was a difficult task, but I knew I could accomplish it.

Each time we were recognized, we were ecstatic. It was this tiring bonding experience that made our team one of the strongest in Anacortes High School’s history. Taking home first place in a majority of the competitions and the first gold ribbon awarded meant all our hard work had paid off. One of my proudest moments was almost dropping a trophy while attempting, and failing, to hold them all for a picture. To me, the trophies didn’t mean we were better than the other teams, they meant that in those three days, we proved we were a team worth watching, even though we were relatively small and came from a 2A high school. They meant we had survived and made the best of camp as a

Imagine winning a world competition for cheerleading. You deserve this. You and your team have been training and practicing for countless hours into days and nights. A few days later you are back in school, with nothing but pride on your face. Then you hear it.

Our coaches had told us since the beginning that the months and months we would spend preparing for one particular day would all be worth it in the end. Taking place at New Castle Fieldhouse in early March 2015, I competed in the IHSDTA Dance team competition with my fellow teammates and members of the NHS dance team. We walked into the vast, expansive Fieldhouse knowing that it was the largest High School Fieldhouse in the Nation. The anticipation in the air was electric and full of excited chatter of girls who had been preparing for months for this one day… actually for these two minutes.

He told us there was no question about it. Everything felt like a whirlwind as we made our way up to the stage in front of thousands of people. As I nervously stood on stage, I took the time to look at each of my speech kids, sitting there celebrating their success. This was definitely a team accomplishment. I thought about the 104 students who participated in sixteen groups this year and all of the students who have touched my heart in previous years. I also thought of my time serving as an assistant coach to an amazing head coach, Joel Stauffer. I smiled as I thought about all the times Todd McDonald made me laugh aloud during practices this year. I reminisced about my time working with an awesome coach, Tracy Jacobsma. I realized how blessed I am to have the opportunity to work with such wonderful students, parents, teachers, and

It all started when I was in 6th grade. My friend Lyric and I decided that we wanted to try out for the competitive dance team at our studio. We had been in dance together for two years prior and we thought we were ready to try out. As the day of the try out approached the nerves started ascending. The level of talent on the competitive team was so advanced. I remember my coach saying that even some of the people on the team that year were on the limb of making the team again, people that I thought were amazing dancers.

The team was ready, we had been working extremely hard for the past seven months for this. We were all in great shape and very rested. A few of the returning players were meeting me at my house to carpool to the final game of the state championship tournament. Everyone knew that the hard work had paid off when we won the semi-final game the preceding day.

Honey bees also use two types of the waggle dance to direct others to food sources closer to home. The round dance is a series of narrow circle looking movements that alerts their family to the existence of food within 1968.5 inches of the hive. This dance only communicates the direction of the prey, not the distance. The sickle dance is a wrench -shaped pattern of moves that alerts workers to food supplies within 50-150 meters from their hive.

I remember every day in summer my brothers and I would play with our neighbors and do lots of fun activities outside. The kids that we hung out with were older than me but they still included me as if I were one of them. I wouldn 't always join in their activities just because they were all