Now in her seventh year as the director of the Cougarettes at Cooper High School, Kimberely McMillon has one overarching desire for each young woman who has or will pass through her program.
“Through the vehicle of dance, I desire for them to know how valuable each and every one of them is, to know that they can do hard things, to know their infinite worth, and that they are here for a reason,” McMillon said.
And that reason is far more than dance practice, learning new routines, or performing in front of crowds either at games or contests. The reason is so they can learn about being teammates, about how to set and achieve goals, and to learn that their worth is more than just what they can do during a two-minute dance routine.
“It’s a tremendous privilege to live life with these girls,” McMillon recently said. “To see them enter the program as freshman and then watch them grow and stretch … it’s incredibly overwhelming when they leave as competent young women.”
The Cougarettes put their hard work and skill on display at Eaton High School in Haslet on Jan. 29 when they competed against at least 13 other schools in their only competitive setting of the spring. In all, the 22 Cougarettes walked away with a treasure trove of hardware, including Best of the Best and Grand Champion.
Best of the Best is awarded to the highest-scoring team in the entire competition, and Grand Champion is the highest-scoring team in its division. The Cougarettes also captured three Best in Category awards, two Supreme awards (highest score in the category), Applause Award for outstanding choreography, and seven Cougarette soloists – Kaylynn Reyna, Shelbi Hart-Erwin, Sydney Smith, Karyme Melendez, Sysenybrook Surdukowski and Jazney McRae – earned First Division Solo awards.
All that was after one of their team members tested positive for COVID the day of the contest. So, the team gathered at 6:15 the morning of the competition, re-worked their performance and went out and dominated the day.
“I always tell them the morning of the event that it’s up to them to perform,” McMillon said. “We worked together and went through all the stuff together, but it’s up to them to lead us through the day. Before we ever know how it’s going to turn out, I tell them I love them and how I proud I am of them, and then I get to sit back and watch and enjoy watching them perform.
“The stressful thing about dance competitions is that you have two minutes to be perfect,” she said. “We don’t have four quarters and we can’t adjust to a mistake. You have two continuous minutes, and you have to do the very best you can.”
McMillon said that she expected her team to do well at the competition, but the results always come down to those two minutes on stage.
“Of course, I wanted to win everything because I’m competitive,” she said. “My expectation was that they would show very well. We faced some very tough competition, especially in Justin Northwest. With such a young team and small team (22 on the squad and only five seniors) and a team that had to rearrange the day of the competition, they rose to the occasion. I’ve walked through those days as a student, which is why I’m so adamant that, while trophies are nice, it’s what they represent that makes it all worth it.”
And with their competition for the spring behind them, the Cougarettes now turn their attention to their annual spring trip, which this year will take them to Disney World in Orlando, Fla. They will leave late next week for five days in the Sunshine State.
They will perform at Universal Studios where they will make sure everyone knows where they’re from in their performance.
“We’ll wear our boots and hats and when those girls step out, people stop and watch because it’s so unique,” McMillon said. “We kind of make fun of all of the big Texas stuff. We even have a huge homecoming mum that we carry with us, and it’s huge. We’ll perform to songs like ‘Deep in the Heart of Texas,’ ‘God Blessed Texas,’ ‘The Eyes of Texas’ and some others. And, of course, we end with a major high kick.”
They will take a dance class at Disney World with Disney artists where they’ll learn how to do a parade dance. It’s all part of the experience McMillon wants to give her teams, who in the past have traveled Hollywood, Hawaii and took a cruise. As a college dancer herself, McMillon went to Russia with her team.
“I want them to come back with so many things,” McMillon said. “First is the journey with friends. Building those friendships and those unique times with their teammates. They’ll always have these memories. I still have my memories. I also want them to realize the value of hard work. The value of setting a goal and making those choices; choosing the hard. I want them to value the joy of performing and making people smile.
“Finally, I want them to value being part of something bigger than themselves,” she said. “The Cougarettes have been around for 46 years. We haven’t changed choreography on the fight song in all of those years, and I’m thankful none of the directors before me changed it. It’s part of who we are. The uniform might look different, but all of those women who came before us are part of this group. I want our young ladies to remember that and take pride in that.”
