Collegiate Twirler Spotlight - University of Hawai'i Feature Twirler

Hello Texas Twirl Fans!

What a great weekend of College Football. Many great moments, including some awesome field twirling. We loved getting to follow along with this Rainbow Warrior Feature Twirler as she took over our Instastory on Saturday, and now we are excited to have her as this week’s Collegiate Twirler Spotlight.
 
This week’s Spotlight is the University of Hawai’i Feature Twirler, Callyn Marvell!

The University of Hawai’i at Manoa is located on the beautiful island of Honolulu. Home of the Rainbow Warriors, this paradise offers an amazing educational opportunity, as well as the ability to twirl alongside the UH Marching Band. This year, the University of Hawaii at Manoa Feature Twirler is Callyn Marvell!

We wanted to know what brought Callyn to Hawai’i for college, and she said she had always wanted to go there. “I mean, who wouldn’t want to live in Hawai’i!” It was also a bonus to find out that in addition to getting to attend school in paradise, the band program offered a partial scholarship and a stipend for costumes as well. The position is extra fun because Callyn also gets the chance to perform at Women’s Volleyball Games in addition to the football games. 

The interview process was a little complicated due to the distance between Texas and Hawai’i, but thanks to her many years competing in interview, Callyn was ready for it. “The initial audition process was to send in a video. Mine included a full routine on the field, multiple batons, and some competition excerpts. Months later, after I was admitted to the school, I was informed I was one of two candidates, and then we had a Skype video (since this was before the days of Zoom). Later that week I was notified that I was chosen!” 

Some schools have their twirler re-audition each year, and we asked Callyn how UH does this process. “Initially I asked if I needed to re-audition, but because we were in the years of Covid, they have welcomed me back each year with open arms and will until I’m done with my time at Hawai’i.”

The years of Covid did have their effects on her experience in Hawai’i, but she has made the best of it, and has enjoyed some of the changes. “During Covid we lost our stadium, but luckily for me, we now play at our campus, which is absolutely wonderful as it is easier for everybody to get to, but it does limit the amount of people that get to go including students.”

With this year mostly back to normal, we wanted to know what Callyn was looking forward to the most. “Hawaii was a little more shut down than most of the states on the mainland, so what I am most excited about is going back in person with a full capacity crowd at games! We also get to have pep rallies again!”

Callyn Marvell
Callyn is a senior majoring in dietetics, “which does require a master’s degree, so this isn’t my last year of school quite yet”. She is from San Antonio, TX, and has been twirling for 15 years. In addition to being the Feature Twirler, Callyn is also an RA and a sister in the Phi Mu Sorority. 

Fun Facts!

• Favorite Colors – Pink & Yellow
• Favorite Food – Poke
• Favorite Bible Verse – Philippians 4:13

When she is not twirling, she loves to…
“Spend a day at the beach!”

The best non-twirling life skill she has gained from baton twirling is…
“Definitely interview! I do think that it has helped me in being able to make speeches and to earn the Feature Twirler position after my 20-minute-long live Skype interview.”

Advice for future Collegiate Twirlers…
“First, I would say to make sure to start learning your multiple batons early. The second thing would be to remember you can do anything you set your mind to!”

While being out of state comes with its own adventures, it also has its challenges. “I believe the hardest thing about being so far out of state was probably dealing with Covid. When things were just so uncertain it was hard to be away. However, the best way to deal with being out of state is having technology. When I miss home, I just remember that I can talk and text anybody, or even FaceTime like I’m in the next room.”

We want to say thank you to Callyn for sharing her Game Day with us, and we wish her an amazing rest of her Senior year season. Go Bows!

We hope you have enjoyed this blog post. We are always looking for great new stories about Texas twirlers. Do you have an idea or some information we could use to help highlight our sport? Contact us at texastwirlcontact@gmail.com and we would love to hear more about it.