by Mat George |

For the months of January and February, the Sapphire team has been mainly focusing on their two upcoming competitions: regional and state.  On January 28, the team is traveling to Lee’s Summit West to take part in regionals and then on February 25 they will go to Lee’s Summit North for state.  The team has performed at many other events to prepare for these two events which include football games, basketball games and assemblies.
“My favorite part of being on the team is being able to perform in front of everybody.  You get to show off what you’ve been working on at practice,” junior Kelsey Buehler said.
Although the squad has many unique things about them, one that stands out the most is the fact that the girls get to choreograph some of their own dances.
“We all choreograph dances.  Seniors did Homecoming and the juniors are doing the  Courtwarming dance,” senior Jordan Siegfried said.
Being in a senior position, there are a lot of responsibilities that rest on one’s back.
“The seniors choreograph a lot of the dances and they’re usually the dances that the team likes the most.  The seniors also help out a lot, especially with freshman,” sophomore Haley Klein said.
With three of the four seniors being captains of the squad, there is one that has a very different job title.
“I’m the public relations rep.  I do things like the interviews,” Siegfried said.
Some people try out for things during freshman year.
“I tried out for Sapphires my freshman year.  I decided to try out because I enjoyed dance overall and I wanted to do some sport in high school. I also did it just because of the fact that I love performing,” Klein said.
Others wait until their senior year because they don’t want to miss out on anything.
“I didn’t join the squad until senior year.  I decided to join it because I knew I would regret it if I didn’t, so I went for it.  I worked hard to get a place on there and I’m glad I get to be a part of it,” Siegfried said.