The Lake Highlands Wildcat Wranglers demonstrate their support for their school and community as they presented Principal Walter Kelly with a check for $3,600 to be used for academic improvements at Lake Highlands High School. Read the full story at:
If you love to watch the Lake Highlands Wildcat Wranglers, there has been no shortage of entertainment venues lately! These talented juniors and seniors spend hours rehearsing and delivering a little bit of Lake Highlands and a great big helping of Texas to all they entertain! Most of our Wranglers are leaders on sports team, drama, service organizations and active in the community.
The Texas State Society mentioned the Wranglers FIRST on their web page thanking all who contributed to the success of the Black Tie & Boots Inaugural Ball! Wranglers are also mentioned in one of the quotes from news coverage on the first page of the TSS site.
Five members of the Lake Highlands girls' soccer team witnessed history, and now they are trying to make history.
Lake Highlands (Dallas, Texas) entered Friday's district clash with Creekview undefeated, ranked in the top 10 of the ESPNRISE.com FAB 50 and eyeing a first-ever state title.
However, that hardly compares with what Wildcat seniors Avery Atkins and Kate Pumphrey and juniors Grace Devaney, Gina Gossett and Nena Rubin experienced last month as members of the Lake Highlands Wranglers country-and-western dance team. The Wranglers performed in front of 11,000 spectators at the Black Tie and Boots inauguration ball, and then, on three hours of sleep, braved the cold weather and massive crowds to witness President Barack Obama's swearing-in ceremony.
"It was overwhelming," Gossett said. "I can't believe I was there, witnessing history being made. ... I took a lot of pictures."
"It was so packed, I was on tiptoes the whole time," Atkins added.
The Lake Highlands Wranglers had inauguration tickets that allowed the group to be within a couple hundred yards of the ceremony, a close location considering the magnitude of the event. Atkins said that she and a friend moved back from the crowds to get a better view.
Although seeing the inauguration firsthand was an event Gossett said she'll remember the rest of her life, it was the performance that was the main event for this group of 46 high school dancers, along with their sponsors and chaperones. The Wranglers are well-known in Texas, often performing in parades and at the Texas Governor's Ball. Spots on the dance team, which are limited to juniors and seniors at Lake Highlands, are highly competitive, complete with tryouts and a school-year-long class specifically for the team. In the past, Wranglers have appeared in a country-music video and have performed at previous inauguration balls.
However, this year's inauguration ball came as a surprise to the students. Early in the school year, plans were finalized for the trip, and team sponsors Cheyney Larkin and Beverly York opted to share the news with flair. The father of a dance team member -- dressed in a tuxedo and wearing a red, white and blue hat -- interrupted class one day in September to tell the students they were heading to Washington.
"When we heard, we started screaming," Gossett said.
The Wranglers were scheduled to perform three dances at the Black Tie and Boots Ball at Gaylord National Resort, including their staple performance titled "Only in America." The team, which is comprised of 23 couples, had to learn two new dances for the event. Practice for the inauguration ball started around the same time that soccer season kicked off at Lake Highlands.
Atkins (who is committed to Colgate), Devaney, Gossett, Pumphrey and Rubin helped the Wildcats to an undefeated showing at the prestigious Nolan Showcase, which earned the squad a FAB 50 top-25 ranking. The team rolled off four more wins and rose to No. 7 before the five left for D.C.
"They were gone for six days," Lake Highlands girls' soccer coach Misty Benson said. "On one hand, they were missing soccer, but on the other hand, they were missing it for a once-in-a-lifetime event."
After a day of sightseeing, it was performance time for the Wranglers.
The first order of business at the Black Tie and Boots event on Monday evening, the night before the inauguration, was playing the role of greeters, a two-and-a-half-hour process.
"It was fun to see everyone, and I was proud to be from Texas," Atkins said. "People were shaking our hands and taking pictures with us. We felt like we were famous, but we're just high schoolers."
Yet these high schoolers were rubbing elbows with the famous.
They watched performances by Tracy Byrd, Neil McCoy and Cross Canadian Ragweed. Denzel Washington attended the event, and a few of the Wranglers got to "pound fists" with him, Gossett said.
Although the Wranglers reached the ball at 6 p.m., they were not scheduled to perform until 11:30 p.m., and then again in another ballroom at 12:30 a.m.
About 30 minutes prior to performance time, the team was ushered into a changing room to get into its red, white and blue, Texas flag uniforms.
"I didn't even have time to be nervous," Atkins said. "It was more excitement. ... They cleared the dance floor for us, and people lined all four sides of the dance floor. People had never seen anything like us before, and this [performance] was the best we've ever done."
The dance team returned to its hotel around 2 a.m. and got three hours sleep before embarking on a Metro journey to the nation's Capitol to witness the inauguration.
The following day, the Wranglers took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, an event that touched Atkins.
"It was so solemn, and neat to watch the guards," she said. "I feel way more patriotic now. Now, before games, when I hear the national anthem, it gives me chills."
The next day, Thursday, the Wranglers returned to Texas, and the five soccer players needed to make a quick mental switch back to sports since Lake Highlands faced fellow undefeated Hebron in a FAB 50 showdown Friday night. The match ended in a 1-1 draw, with Atkins scoring the goal for Lake Highlands.
Since then, Lake Highlands has won five straight matches to improve the team's mark to 12-0-3.
When asked what was more exciting -- the soccer season or the inauguration experience -- Gossett had a hard time deciding.
"Soccer is amazing," she said, then paused before continuing. "I think it's equal. D.C. was pretty amazing, too."
Sheldon Shealer covers high school soccer for ESPNRISE.com.
The United Methodist Reporter did an article on North Texas members who experienced the inauguration first hand. Three of the Wranglers - Tim Wall, Ashley Nelms, and Chase Davis - are quoted in the article, and it includes the send off picture with Jeb Hensarling. A PDF of the publication is attached.
Thanks to Sandra Wall for providing the newspaper.
To see the following article on the KERA web page click here.
Lake Highlands High School Students Headed to Inauguration BJ Austin, KERA News DALLAS, TX (2009-01-14)
46 Lake Highlands High School Juniors and Seniors are about to see their history and civics text books come alive. They're headed to Washington DC this weekend for the Inauguration of Barack Obama on Tuesday. KERA's BJ Austin says the Lake Highlands Wranglers dance-team will ALSO perform at the famous Texas Black Tie and Boots Inaugural Ball.
It's taken a lot of blood, sweat, and boot-scootin to get ready to perform for some 11 thousand people at the Texas State Society's Black Tie & Boots Ball. At a rehearsal in the school's gym, the 46 dancers work to master the finer points of couples-dancing in Cowboy boots, as well as rigorous lifts and power flips.
The Wranglers have performed at the Texas Inaugural Ball before: for Presidents Bill Clinton, George H-B Bush , and George W. Bush. Lake Highlands teacher Cheyney Larkin chaperoned that last trip, and says these students have been concentrating on their feet and are just now trying to wrap their heads around the enormity of the experience awaiting them.
Larkin: There's gonna be so many people there, and the energy of it all. I don't think anybody will ever question that we just witnessed history; because it is, and they know it. And they will definitely be appreciating that for years to come.
The trip costs 15 hundred dollars each. Wrangler boosters organized a silent auction and students held fundraisers to help defray the per-student cost. Parents and teachers are chaperoning. At the Black Tie & Boots ball the Wranglers will share the stage with Country Music stars Neal McCoy, Tracy Byrd, Cross Canadian Ragweed, and Asleep at the Wheel. The Wranglers, along with the Kilgore Rangerettes, are the only non-show-biz professionals invited to perform. Wranglers' Captain Katie Smith says this is BIG, and the pressure's on to deliver.
Smith: I think Texas always plays a part in everything in a big way. We do everything big. I just think that we gotta represent everyone. I hope we can represent well.
Dancer Allie Murphy, is a Senior and first-time-voter in the November Presidential election. She's throwing her heart into rehearsals.
I am really excited, and really proud that the first election I got to vote in was such a momentous election. And I get to take part in such a really important and historical inauguration. I'm just really excited I got to participate in the whole process. We're really lucky we got tickets. I heard there are going to be one to three million people there and tickets are really hard to get.
Her Wrangler teammates agree:
Not many people get to go actually go to the inauguration, especially this year. You know it's a new change; just a lot of new stuff happening in our world today, and it's pretty neat./Just to see the first Black President, to be a part of that because it's just a huge part of history that we're going to get to witness. I think it will be emotional for some people - whoever's all into the government and stuff. But, I'm just going to have a good time./I'm not really into politics, either. So, I'm just there for the experience.
Parent and chaperon Janna Gardner says whether it's partying or politics driving the experience, being part of this Inauguration will be electrifying for these teenagers.
Gardner: They all understand, that no matter what political aspirations that they're families come from or that they believe; whether they're Republican, Independent or Democrat -- they understand that there's change in the air. And there's a great sense of anticipation to see what the new Administration will bring to that.
Senior Kent McCoy sums it up.
McCoy: We're going to see something that's going to be read about in history books for a long time.
Wranglers were highlighted in the Dallas Morning News, for the upcoming trip to Washington, DC and the performance at the 2009 Black Tie and Boots inaugural ball. You can read about the Wranglers' Executive Privilege online.
Scottish Rite & Fox 4's Clarice Tinsley recognize Wranglers
October 20, 2008
Scottish Rite asked the Wranglers to perform October 15 to be recognized by Clarice Tinsley (Fox4 anchor) as “Hometown Heroes”. This is a segment that Ms Tinsley does to recognize North Texans who make a difference. Scottish Rite nominated Wranglers because of the many years performing at the hospital and entertaining their patients. Here’s a link to Ms Tinsley’s website about Hometown Heroes.
The Hometown Heroes segment on the Wranglers is supposed to run next Monday, October 20th at 5:30pm and again on Tuesday, October 21st at 12noon. Fox4 will not provide us with video of the segment, so remember to set your DVR’s!
DMN State Fair Story
October 09, 2008
The photo above of Chris and Michelle appeared in the October 9 Metro Section of the Dallas Morning News. Below is a link to a photo/video piece on the Wranglers State Fair performance. Reporter Gerry McCarthy noticed the small groups as they cruised the esplanade to attrack attention for their performance and followed them back to the Hall of State.
Click on the link below for press coverage from Neighborsgo.com on the Mayor's Back to School Fair August 7. The Back to School Fair serviced 50,000 people (double from last year). The event was a great way for our Wranglers to contribute and provide entertainment to those in need. This performance was limited to returning Wranglers since we have not had Boot Camp yet. The dancers did a terrific job, and we will look forward to many performances during the upcoming school year.
Also, the Lake Highlands Advocate interviewed the Wrangler captains prior to the BTS Fair performance about the upcoming DC trip. Be watching for it as it's hot off the presses.
