Hello Texas Twirl
Fans!
I know we are all
counting down those hours until midnight, but we wanted to post our final
Twirler Feature of the year. Each season our high school senior twirlers are
having to make tough decisions about where they want to go in the Fall. Through
our Collegiate Twirler Series, we have spoken to many in state twirlers, and
many twirlers who have come from out of state to Twirl in Texas, but we wanted
to end the series for the year by talking to a Texas born and raised twirler,
who chose to go out of State.
For today’s Collegiate
Twirler Spotlight, we are talking to University of Arkansas Twirling
Line Captain, Michaelah Reynolds!
For those that are not familiar with the University of Arkansas Twirlers, we will fill you in really quick. At U of A, they have both Feature Twirlers, and a Twirling Line. Many talented twirlers from Texas have filled spots in this group, and we were all excited to see Michaelah be a part of it. Plus, this year she was named as one of the two Captains of the line. What a great way to wrap up her senior year twirling for the Razorbacks!
Our first question for
Michaelah was, of course, why did you choose to go out of state? “I never
inherently made a decision to go out of state. When looking at colleges, I knew
that I didn’t really want to stay in San Antonio because I felt that I wouldn’t
get the true college experience if I stayed at home. I also wanted to make sure that I chose my
college based on what was best for my education, and if that school had
twirlers, it was an added bonus. I
visited the U of A because we knew a twirler, Stephanie Lampman, who was on the
line at the time. Since the trip was on a whim, I didn’t think I would love it
as much as I did, but Fayetteville quickly captured my heart. Arkansas’s
Communications program fit me better than any of the other colleges I had
visited, and it felt like the university truly cared about what I wanted rather
than just trying to sell the college.
All in all, Arkansas fit exactly what I wanted in every aspect that was
important to me so there was no other choice!”
It is always such a
great experience when you find that school that makes you feel like you found your
home away from home, which is also right in line with Michaelah’s advice to any
potential future Collegiate Twirlers. She told us the number one thing she
would tell a future twirler was to make sure and “pick the college you feel is
best for you. If you want to choose based on your major, that’s great. If you
want to choose it based on twirling, that’s great too. Just make sure you’re choosing what will feel
like home to you”.
We know going out of
state had to be hard. We wanted to know what Michaelah felt was the hardest
thing about going out of state and she said it was, of course, “being far away
from my family. When I left for college, my niece and nephew were very young,
and I really hated not being able to see them all the time. The majority of my
immediate family lives in San Antonio, so it wasn’t fun to see pictures of them
together. Luckily, Facetime helped a lot, and I have tried to stay in touch as
much as I can”. Yes! Technology can help fill those gaps distance can create,
but we know with all the band practice, individual twirling practice, and, oh
yeah, studying, we bet Michaelah barely had any time left to worry about it too
much!
Now that we know a
little more about why Michaelah went to school out of state, let’s learn a little
more about her!
Michaelah Reynolds, Senior
Competition Level: Advanced/Collegiate
Michaelah is a
Communications Major, with a Marketing Minor, from San Antonio, TX. She has
been twirling for 6.5 years as a member of the Alamo City Strutters, coached by
Pat Montgomery, and has received additional instruction from former Razorback
Feature Twirler, McKinsey Ogden. The competition title she is the most proud of
was when she won the 2016 Collegiate Miss Majorette of the Mid-South title. Her
favorite competition trick is a toss with a calypso leap underneath, and while
she doesn’t necessarily have a favorite field trick, she loves whenever the
twirling time does two and three baton. In baton twirling, she has been
inspired the most by Karissa Wimberly and McKinsey Ogden. In addition to being
on the Razorback Twirling Line, she is also is many other organizations,
including, being a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority, the Co-Public
Relations Director of Lambda Pi Eta (National Communications Honor Society that
was founded at U of A), and President of the Student Advisory Committee at the
Walton Arts Center (regional theatre in Northwest Arkansas).
Michaelah just
graduated a few weeks ago from University of Arkansas. Now that she is on to
the next step, she is planning to head to Graduate School to get her Master’s
in Communications. “I would like to eventually move to New York and become a
Marketing Director for a Broadway theater!”
Fun Facts!
Favorite Color =
Burgundy
Favorite TV Show =
Gilmore Girls
Favorite Movie =
Dogfight
Favorite Music =
Anything Broadway related\
Favorite Quote = “The
future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams” – Eleanor Roosevelt
When she is not twirling she loves to…
“Spend time with the
girls on the line. We are honestly like a family, and it’s always a great time
when we can have fun that doesn’t involve twirling.”
Something people might not know about her is…
“I’m a huge Broadway
nerd. I could probably sing every part from at least 20 different musicals from
start to finish if someone asked.”
Most memorable advice from her coach…
“McKinsey always
reminded me to ‘Just Have Fun’. A lot of the time, it’s really easy to get in
your own head before you perform, but if you go into your routines wanting to
show your love for twirling, you’ll be able to do it to the best of your
ability.”
Best life skill she has learned from baton
twirling…
“Definitely the interview
portion from pageants. Especially now
that I’m getting ready to interview for jobs, I feel very blessed that I have
gained the skill to speak eloquently, even if I’m extremely nervous”.
Being a part of the
University of Arkansas community has been four year of amazing experiences for
Michaelah, but she said nothing will ever beat that first game! “My favorite
moment has been the same since my freshman year at Arkansas – at the beginning
of our pregame we do the famous Hog Call on the field. That Hog Call at my first game freshman year
felt so magical with the whole stadium in unison doing this beloved
tradition. It made me feel truly at home
with the Razorback Marching Band and with the University of Arkansas”.
Pre-Game is such a big
part of the Razorback game day, and if you have ever been to a game you know,
it is a contagious spirit. “All of our pregame is very traditional and amazing
to take part of, but the best hands down is forming our Big A and moving it
across the field! The crowd goes crazy every week and the feeling in the
stadium is absolutely electric”. Everyone on their feet cheering for their team…
even someone that isn’t a Razorback fan can get sucked in (and I can vouch for
that!).
While Game Day is what
the hard work is for, the band has a great time getting ready to call in those
hogs every week. They have a ton of fun and create just as many memories during
practices. One of the best Razorback band traditions, according to Michaelah,
is the spirit stick. “During our band’s early week, we always have a spirit
stick competition every day, and whichever section gets the stick, passes it on
to another section the next day. The
twirlers always try (and succeed J ) to get the spirit stick, and we have a chant that we do
several times a day the whole band participates in. We yell “the twirlers are what?” with the
band answering back “EXTREME!” in a high pitched voice. It’s honestly hilarious, and makes us feel
included and loved by the band!”
Being a part of the
band is special, but the best moments come from the time the twirlers spend together.
During my sophomore year early week, the last day was very peculiar because for
some reason the coaches couldn’t be there and we had 2 girls gone because of
Preference Day for sorority recruitment.
There were only about 5 of us at our individual practice and things got
very loopy. By that point in the week,
we were all physically exhausted and we had only gotten about 3 hours of sleep
because of something we had to do for band that morning. While we promised we would go over our new
halftime routines, we ended up goofing off the entire time and talked about
funny twirling memories. I can’t
remember a time during that practice where we didn’t stop laughing!”
Such great memories
for this now graduated twirler. We want to thank Michaelah for participating in
this interview and congratulate her on four amazing years representing the
Razorbacks and baton twirling. We cannot wait to see what comes next for this
talented young lady. We know she will achieve great things. Whooo Pig!
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