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The 2024 Highlights team at band camp
The Highlights are a dance team that performs with the marching band at football games and band shows. Fans love to see their smiles and fun, unique performances.
They are required to attend all practices, performances, and band camp. The Highlights spend hours memorizing and perfecting their routines whether that is knowing where to march on the field or memorizing kicklines and dance moves.
There are 12 girls on the team this season: freshmen, Hannah Baskind, Ava Burr, Olivia Derekskey, Audrey Dowell, Olivia Frye, Chloe Kennedy; sophomores, Ella McCune, Maddie Peters; juniors, McKenzie Kaplan, Erin Snyder, Ava Worman; and senior, Audrey Peters. The team captain is senior Audrey Peters who has been a Highlight for all 4 years of high school, and her co-captains are Mckenzie Kaplan and Erin Snyder who have been on the team for 3 years.
Something that has come as a challenge for many new team members has been managing their school workload along with their Highlights schedule, clubs, and other extracurriculars. Because the Highlights are required to attend so many practices, it can be difficult to maintain their grades and to get their work done on time. Many members of this team are involved in AP classes, honors classes, various electives, and clubs. Freshman on the team, Olivia Derecskey explains, “Balancing practice and a huge homework load was initially challenging, but I eventually found a system that worked for me.” When asked, other Highlights agreed, saying that managing their assignments along with their practice and performance schedule is challenging. As the season progressed they were able to get used to it and develop habits that helped them manage everything they have going on.
The practice schedule for a Highlight includes 2-hour after-school practices on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, along with 3-hour Wednesday night practices with the whole band, and Friday night football games. Captain, Audrey Peters says, “My favorite part of being a Highlight is Wednesday practices. During Wednesday practices, we finally get to see all our hard work pay off on the field. It is very exciting to get a sneak peek at what the halftime show will look like Friday night!” Some of the other team members say their favorite aspects of being a Highlight are performances, becoming close friends with their teammates, and choreographing routines for the team.
With every performance and new routine that the team learns, each member has an opportunity to grow as a dancer and performer. Juniors Erin Snyder and Ava Worman both explain that a lot of their growth as a Highlight has come from making mistakes during performances and learning how to fix them as the season progresses. Ava Worman states, “During one of my first times performing ‘Treasure’, I started marching at the wrong time due to the fact that I was focused more so on the moves. I learned from this that I need to use the time we get practicing on the field to make sure I have completely memorized the drill, and use after-school practices and any free time I have to perfect the moves.”
The freshman Highlights
Several of the freshmen mentioned that one of their biggest inspirations on the team is the captain, Audrey Peters. They list various reasons they look up to and respect her so much. Hannah Baskind mentioned, “Audrey is an extremely caring and understanding and an amazing captain.” Another freshman, Olivia Frye states, “She is a very hardworking teammate and has a lot of dedication to this team.”
Some of the goals the captain and co-captains have for the team this year are incorporating new moves and unique choreography. They collectively agree that important qualities for a Highlight to have are collaboration skills and a good work ethic. Audrey Peters specified, “We are looking for girls who get along well with others and take responsibility for their understanding of the routines.”
Being a part of this team requires lots of hard work. Be sure to watch all of it pay off on Friday night under the lights!
By Maddie Peters
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