Spring means more than gorgeous flowers and nice, cool days to La Joya High’s Jewelettes. Competition season started this month and our dance team headed to South Padre Island’s Convention Center to compete against schools from all the Rio Grande Valley. Titles such as overall Grand Champions, and Division Winners for our Kick, Military, and Pom routines were bestowed on us. We were more than pleased with the results. The Kick routine, consisted of multiple kick sequences, combined with advanced dance technique; the Pom required pom-poms as props, and the Military routine conveyed more drill team movements than the other two.

The next competition will be held in Sea World, Texas in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, the LJ dance room is our home away from home, and practice starts every morning at 7:00, sharp. The intensity that dominates our every morning can’t be found on any other part of the campus.

Senior year drifts near the end and my teachers scurry to inform me of every possible opportunity to better my college experience, i.e. scholarship opportunities, and college-life tips. It’s a La Joya High School’s tradition for counselors to bring motivational speakers to address the graduating class. As previous years, motivational speaker known to all as “Happy”, visited to assist us in our transition from adolescence to adulthood. He was entertaining, and inspiring, reminding us “to never give up.” My English and Government classes are most rewarding – my instructors like to be blunt in what we’ll face in college.

Nerves are beginning to dominate the sense of excitement that I portray. A sort of finalization is settling in.