Meet the new Silver Wing officers
April 27, 2016
After a grueling three month-long tryout process, the Silver Wings have announced their 2016-2017 officer lineup. Next year’s drill team is expected to have over 60 new members, 38 of them incoming freshman (rookies).
The officer line will consist of one senior, two juniors, and four sophomores, making an interesting mix of experienced and inexperienced officers for the 2016-2017 school year.
Taylor Wilson, Captain
Question: Why did you become a Silver Wing?
Answer: “I honestly never thought I would’ve been a Silver Wing. In 8th grade I had always wanted to be a high school cheerleader. I had friends who ended up being on t
he team and they always talked about how much they loved it, and seeing them perform at football games and their spring show made me realize I want to be apart of that organization.”
Q: What are you hopes for next year?
A: “I think I just really want the team to get more involved with the school and the people at the school. I want people to know what we really do, behind the scenes, and just really connect with everyone around the school.”
Q: What do you bring to the table as an officer?
A: “I don’t have a lot of background [in dance] like the other girls, so I think that really helps with showing that I work really hard to get where I’ve gotten.”
Q: What legacy do you want to leave on the team?
A: “I hope to leave little memories that make you smile when you grow and look back at it. Yeah, if we go to competition and win and stuff, that’s fun, but I think it’s the little things in practice and the little memories that I want to look back on.”
Q: Advice to officers?
A: “I would just say it’s going to be scary, it was definitely scary when I first started. It gets a lot better when you really start to connect with the team members and get to know the new girls and start learning your position and how everything works.”
Q: Advice to a rookie?
A: “It’s a great experience being on Silver Wings, but rookie year is hard because you’re learning a lot … but once you start to get to the end of the year it’s worth it. There’s going to be days where it’s rough, but then there’s time where it’s the best time.”
Katie Ramirez, 1st Lieutenant
Q: Why did you become a Silver Wing?
A: “I’ve been dancing for as long as I can remember. Ever since I could walk my mom put me into dance. At first when I joined the Silver Wings, I hated the idea of the Silver Wings, but over the second half of freshman year I grew so close to all the girls and I loved it. It’s probably the best thing that’s happened to me in high school so far.”
Q: Why did you want to become an officer?
A: “Christine Lathers, who was a first lieutenant last year, told me that I would be a really good officer and I should try out. I took her advice and she helped me through auditions last year and this year, and it was a really good experience and I knew I wanted to do it for the rest of my years here.
Q: What are your hopes for next year?
A: “I hope that we just have more respect for each other. This year we had some issues with that and next year I just hope we can implement that {respect} at the start of the year so it’s not as much as a problem for the rest of the year.”
Q: What do you bring to the table as an officer?
A: “I think I bring a lot of positivity because I can be really silly but I can also be serious too and keep the girls level-headed and be the mediator. I don’t let drama come into play, I just think it’s so silly when it does happen and I just feel like I’m the friend everyone needs really.
Q: What legacy do you want to leave on the team?
A: “I want to be remembered as the girl who made everyone laugh despite the situation, a lot of rough times happen in drill team, and honestly, seeing myself make other people smile whether it be by dancing or making them laugh, makes me the happiest person ever.”
Q: Advice to officers?
A: “I’d probably tell them that they just need to keep level-headed. It gets super stressful at time and super frustrating and you feel like the girls on the team are just beating you down, so I would just tell them to keep their head high and don’t let anyone get to them.”
Q: Advice to a rookie?
A: “I’d probably tell them that it gets better. I know my freshman year, the first couple weeks of camp in the summer, I was so ready to quit. It was so stressful and so tiring, but keep going, it gets better, I promise.”
Allison Rutherford, Junior Lieutenant
Q: Why did you become a Silver Wing?
A: “I’ve been dancing since I was five. So going into high school, I really wanted to continue dancing, but for something bigger than just my studio. I’ve been to all the football games and I loved watching the Silver Wings perform. It was always something I looked forward to and I really looked up to them, so I just thought that it would be the best choice for me.”
Q: What are you hopes for next year?
A: “I would say just on the team, dancing-wise, I want to make sure everyone is keeping up. As a team, I really want to see us bond more and grow closer, I feel like this year there were some times it obviously wasn’t going so well so I just want to decrease that and spend more time with each other.”
Q: What do you bring to the table as an officer?
A: “I would say out of all the officers, I’m the one that’s a people person. My ability to lead is based on my ability to make friendships with people and build relationships with people that are deeper than just being their officer. That and my ability to work hard.”
Q: What legacy do you want to leave on the team?
A: “I just want to be someone that when I leave people still continue to think about me or like officers in the future are like ‘Man, I want to be an officer like Allison was an officer.’ I want to be someone that is followed and someone who obviously leads a very good example to the team, and not just in my dancing, but I think in my character.”
Q: Advice to a rookie?
A: “Honestly, I wish something people told me my freshman year is don’t get discouraged. I feel like your freshman year you come in and you have so much to learn and it’s easy to just look at everyone else and be like ‘Oh my goodness, why don’t I pick it up like them?’ or ‘Why don’t I know it like them?’ I just think it’s important to realize that it’ll come with time, and don’t freak out if you don’t get it right away.”
Holly Bowling, Sophomore Lieutenant
Q: Why did you become a Silver Wing?
A: “Honestly I’ve just been dancing for so long, and the studio I went to you either did ballet or you didn’t go anything, and ballet just wasn’t my thing. So drill team was like, ‘Oh I fit in here.’ I’ve never really had a group like this.”
Q: What are you hopes for next year?
A: “To improve our technique. I think that technique can always be improved in dance. We had kind of a rocky football season so I feel that’s something we can improve on.”
Q: What do you bring to the table as an officer?
A: “I feel like I have really good energy and my positivity will really help the group, not only with [the officers] but with the whole team. I feel like I’ll be good at whenever we get crazy to bring everyone in.”
Q: What legacy do you want to leave on the team?
A: “I’m just hoping that they’ll all remember me as a sweet, positive person and they’ll think ‘Oh my gosh, I loved her, she was so sweet to me, and she helped me so much.’ I hope the team grows, not just because of me, but because of the other officers too.”
Q: Advice to a rookie?
A: “Just enjoy every moment. Looking back, so much has happened this year and I wish I could’ve just stopped and loved every point in the year.”
Hannah Lee, Sophomore Lieutenant
Q: Why did you become a Silver Wing?
A: “I love dance, I’m a dancer. So I’d been seeing the Silver Wings at like football games since I was really young, and I would see them and be like ‘oh my gosh that’s what I want to do.’”
Q: What are you hopes for next year?
A: “Next year we’re going to be going to contest, and so I hope we do really well. We’re also having a lot more rookies coming in next year so I hope we can like really help these girls as they transition from middle school to high school because I know that was super scary for me.”
Q: What do you bring to the table as an officer?
A: “I grew up as a ballet dancer so I know a lot more on the technique sort of sense. So I’m better at kick technique and like making sure you point your toes and tuck your hips in whenever you kick, so I’m better at field routines more so than pep rallies.”
Q: What legacy do you want to leave on the team?
A: “I want to make the team the best we can be, like there’s so much we do well already, but there’s also so much we can improve on. I just want to help out team.”
Q: Advice to a rookie?
A: “Freshman year will be hard and it’s so different transitioning from middle school to high school, so I would say just get through it and definitely ask for help when you need it. I know a lot of people that struggle to balance between grades and Silver Wings and like sleeping and school and that sort of thing, so ask for help. All of the veterans are so open to help.”
Lainey Miksch, Sophomore Lieutenant
Q: Why did you become a Silver Wing?
A: “My sister was actually captain for two years and my other sister was also an officer when she was on the team, so it’s kind of like a family legacy. I just want to continue on the tradition and I really like being a leader.”
Q: What are you hopes for next year?
A: “I really hope that we have a successful year on the football field. We are ranked with every performance so I hope we get a lot of good feedback and I really want the technique to be as good as it can be.”
Q: What do you bring to the table as an officer?
A: “I think I bring a lot of dance experience to the table because I have been dancing since I was two years old. I have a lot of dance and leadership experience just because I teach dance at a studio to younger kids, so I think I have a pretty good balance of everything.”
Q: What legacy do you want to leave on the team?
A: “I really just want to be someone who everyone looked up to. There has been officers in the past who weren’t very good and I want to be someone that everyone likes having as a leader. Someone that’s like funny and knows how to have a good time, but also being able to your foot down and make a good dance.”
Q: Advice to a rookie?
A: “I would tell them to never get discouraged with their dancing or where they are in dances, because everyone starts somewhere and they can only improve.”
Alexis Moisan, Sophomore Lieutenant
Q: Why did you become a Silver Wing?
A: “I’ve been a dancer basically my entire life. I’ve known about the Silver Wings since like 6th grade when I was learning about Hebron High School, and I fell in love with Silver Wings. When I went to the games when I was younger I always watched the officers and I was like, ‘they’re so good and they’re so poised,’ and really just watching them every game made me fall in love with [Silver Wings] more.”
Q: What are you hopes for next year?
A: “We’re going to contest next year, so I definitely would hope we would get high school and you know get first and stuff like that. I would really just like getting to know one another, yeah we’re a team but we all have different groups in the team and I would really like it if we could get to know each other outside the groups.”
Q: What do you bring to the table as an officer?
A: “I love dance and I love technical dance and I like cleaning and making sure everything looks polished and we all look as one and so that’s definitely something I bring.”
Q: What legacy do you want to leave on the team?
A: “I definitely want to leave a legacy of, like I said, the dance part. I absolutely love dancing, it’s the number one thing I want to do when I grow up. I just want to be known as a good leader and still a good dancer, and you know one that really just helped bring the team up.
Q: Advice to a rookie?
A: “I would tell an incoming rookie to keep their head up, they’re given a lot of harder work than the vets and they’re in the back of the dances and everything’s new to them. They just have to soak up all the information and apply it to everything. And no matter where you are or what you do, the directors are always watching, so make decisions wisely.”