Going into high school, I had never danced on a team before. When I finally did, it was a really amazing experience. Dancing is an outlet and such a great way to stay active while having fun. After a couple years of dancing on a team, I realize how important it was for me to have that in my life during high school because I didn't have other hobbies. There are so many types of dance that anybody could find a style to try.

Doing tumbling and gymnastics when I was younger kept me really busy, and I couldn't take any other type of lesson at the same time. I tried out for my high school's team, and the first time I didn't make it. I was pretty disappointed, but I got involved in other activities in my high school during that time to make up for it. My high school was small, and the cheer and dance teams were combined into one team. When I made the team the next year, we cheered at basketball and football games and danced at half-time. When competition season came around, we practiced routines for dance competitions, which were on weekends.

Dancing at competitions is hard work, and there is a lot of preparation and practice involved to be ready. Being part of a team that spent so much time together was really important in my life during high school. I spent more time with my teammates than my family for a lot of the year, so working with them and learning to dance was a really amazing opportunity. There were so many benefits of being on the cheer and dance team for most of the year, as well. I learned responsibility, discipline, and met a lot of great people.

During competition, my dance team competed in a couple different types of dance. While I was on the team, we competed in Pom, Kick, Hip-Hop, and Dance. In our Pom routines, we often incorporated cheer-style movements with poms, and we wore our cheerleading uniforms. In Kick-style routines, we incorporated a number of different types of high kicks, kick lines, and other dance styles. My favorite routine we ever did was a Bollywood routine -- I loved the costumes we had! When we danced at half-time for football games, we would dance and cheer in the same uniforms (even though it was freezing in the winter).

I had so many amazing opportunities to participate in when I was on the team. We raised awareness during Breast Cancer Awareness month, we did fundraising for our costumes and competitions, we traveled and even performed in the Sun Dome, located in Yakima, Wash. Dancing on my high school team was an amazing part of my life in high school, and it lead to me dancing a lot more in college.

Even though I was really sad when I graduated that I was going to be leaving my team, and not have the same opportunities to compete, I was happy to continue on to community college. I found more opportunities to dance in classes, a club, and at a studio since then, and have been really happy in trying something I didn't succeed at to begin with. I was proud that I tried my best for the couple years I was on the team, because dancing is now a skill and hobby for me. I recommend dancing to everyone for physical and mental health, especially in the stressful life of a student!