Camilla Vandegrift, social media managing editor
Now in her third year with The Shield staff, Camilla Vandegrift is excited to start the year as the social media managing editor and copy editor of the newspaper. With a passion for covering soccer games and other sports, she is eager to get out into the field and contribute as much as possible to The Shield. Outside of her work in journalism, Camilla enjoys running cross country and playing ultimate frisbee. She is also the President of the Science National Honor Society and enjoys tutoring others in math and science, which she wants to explore further as she hopes to attend either the University of Texas in Austin or the University of Washington in Seattle for engineering.
![WORKING TOGETHER: McCallum Dance Company performs the student-choreographed “Dancing with Death” during last Tuesday’s dress rehearsal before the spring dance show. Sophomore Pia Sosa performed in five different numbers during the show and thought that everything went well even despite a few challenges.
“I was getting a little worried closer to the end because there were still a lot of changes happening and people getting shuffled around into places,” Sosa said. “But by the tech week and by the shows, it really felt like we all worked together and came together.”
Sosa’s favorite part was performing “Come Play,” which was choreographed by junior Maya Tien. Sosa loved being able to work with Tien because of her level of preparation and being able to perform hip hop, since the dance company does not perform that style as much.
“It’s the first number I do in the show, and I always just felt like it gave me so much energy,” Sosa said. “It felt really good because we rarely do hip hop, so it just felt like such a great opportunity to do something that I don’t get to do all the time.”
Sosa explained that there were some challenges due to sudden changes in several pieces, however Sosa said she was proud of how the company responded as a whole.
“Everybody put their best foot forward and pushed through any challenges that they were having,” Sosa said. “I’m really proud of how the company handled it all.”
Overall, Sosa said she is grateful for all the work put in by the dance directors and the student choreographers for producing the show.
“We couldn’t have put the show together without [them],” Sosa said. “Mac dance is amazing and I can’t wait to choreograph next year.”
Caption by Riley Pita. Photo by Harper Maxwell.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/54471134934_215f07dcfb_o_54485123147_o-1-1200x800.jpg)
![WISHFUL WINDOW SHOPPING: Senior Mia Plemons observes the displays in the MAC during the 5x7 gallery night. Although not a member herself, Plemons feels a connection to the program through her friends and peers. “I have a lot of friends in art,” Plemons said. “And I’ve seen a lot of their work and it’s all really nice and beautiful, and I really enjoy seeing some of the nice pieces people have made.” Plemons didn’t manage to secure a piece of her own, but left impressed by all the ones she saw. “I didn’t [have a favorite], every piece of art I saw was just absolutely breathtaking,” Plemons said. “I think they should definitely do more things like this in the future. I think it’s definitely great for people in the art program to get their art out there and getting experience with making things that people buy.” Caption by Noah Braun. Photo by Lilah Lavigne.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/54188247349_62510240f2_o-e1733894950394-1200x976.jpg)
![READY FOR THE CHALLENGE: Junior defensive end Nehemiah Trejo listens intently to head coach Thomas Gammerdinger's instructions for the team's next offensive possession against Anderson. Trejo praised the coaching staff for its work leading up to game.
“Our coaches did an excellent job preparing us for this game,” Trejo said. “They spent a lot of time game planning and reviewing our strategies. We saw many of the things we expected, and we came into the game focused and ready to give it our all.”
Trejo praised Coach Gammerdinger for his role in adapting during the game.
“Coach G was great at addressing what was working for us, correcting mistakes and improving communication,” Trejo said. “He reminded us that our defense had the capability to hold them back and make crucial stops.”
As for the game’s outcome, Trejo noted it was an intense fight but did not come as a surprise.
“It went exactly as we anticipated,” Trejo said. “Anderson came out with a strong offense, and it turned into a shootout between who could score more and who could get the most stops. We showed in the third quarter that we weren’t giving up and fought hard throughout [the game].”
Caption by Tristen Diaz. Photo by TC Brosnan.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/53969271626_31e4eaaa3f_o-1200x800.jpg)
![MAXWELL’S MASTERPIECE: Members of Zoe Maxwell’s choreographed dance for the spring student directed show 'Perennial' form a group pose.
For both the choreographers and directors the performance was an opportunity to show off their unique style of dance and bring together the dancers, the theme, and music to create a dance that resembled them.
For junior Zoe Maxwell the performance was unique because while it was her third year performing in the show, it was her first time getting the chance to choreograph a dance and have a more hands-on role with the show.
“It was my last show with all of my senior friends and it was the first student directed show that I got to contribute to choreographically [which was special],” Maxwell said. “My favorite part of the experience was getting to showcase my creativity and seeing that come to life.”
Maxwell said her song choice inspired her choreography.
“Since I heard the song 'MOVE' by Beyonce I knew I wanted to choreograph it,” Maxwell said. “The tricky part was matching it to the themes of the dance show, but luckily the song mentions fire so I connected it to the element theme of the show,”
The role as choreographer proved to be a learning experience for Maxwell because the process of creating a dance differed from just performing in one.
“The biggest challenge was managing the rehearsal time we were given and planning accordingly so that our dances would be finished in time for the show,” Maxwell said. “I took some inspiration from videos and choreography online, but other than that I just kind of improved to the song until I found moves I liked.”](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/53719496826_a8b6b35cb8_o-1200x678.jpg)
![A TURNING POINT IN BB SEASON: While Blue Brigade typically focuses on the spirited pom routines and kick lines at football games, according to sophomore Chloe Seckar-Martinez, the team’s Spring Show provides a unique opportunity for them to tune into a different style of dance. Seckar-Martinez takes the stage during the team’s contemporary dance “Turning Tables.”
The dance, since it differed from normal Blue Brigade style, was especially rewarding to perform and see succeed according to Seckar-Martinez.
“It’s like one of our only dances where we’re really more into the emotional side of it,” Seckar-Martinez said. “It was almost our first run to be able to just see how much our hard work had paid off.”
For Seckar-Martinez, the dance was especially unique because it was the second to last time she would be performing with seniors, and that moment would be memorable.
“It was meaningful because our seniors were able to have this show without feeling really sad,” Seckar-Martinez said. “This was our chance to do it [perform] with not as necessarily high of emotions since we didn’t know we were going to be able to dance it again.”
The contemporary dance was choreographed by assistant director Jamie Friedman. Her addition to the team was new this year, so the dance provided a special element for Blue Brigade in knowing how much she worked at improving the team, according to Seckar-Martinez.
“This was the first dance that we ever got choreographed by our assistant director for the first time, so that was really special,” Seckar-Martinez said. “To be able to do one of her pieces, especially at the show, since this is her first year was something very meaningful.
Seckar-Martinez said the dance created an emotional connection amongst those who performed it, given the emotions that came with it, and the amount of work that went into perfecting it for the stage.
“It was a very meaningful dance, and It was our chance to just have a lot of fun with it and just see what we can show the audience for the first time,” Seckar-Martinez said. “It may be something that no one’s heard of, or that no one’s seen.”
Caption by Chloe Lewcock.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/53683630702_5e1b7c5f85_o-1-e1714535632369-1200x777.jpg)
![KEEPING THE STREAK ALIVE: Senior Edward Bomba rings the bell after the Knights’ victory over Travis on Thursday while quarterbacks junior Luke Dunham and senior Jack McGinnis wait their turns. Bomba, a defensive end, suffered an injury earlier in the season but still supported his team from the sidelines.
Even though the Knights have won the last 13 Battle of the Bell games, the Knights still see the Travis game as a rivalry game, and they wanted to keep their streak alive.
“Their coach was saying he thought they were going to win, and we couldn’t let that Battle of the Bell 12-year win streak end,” Bomba said. “Their coach told us he wanted to keep [the rivalry game] going even if they went down to 4A. They obviously want another shot at us.”
Going into the game, the team had the mentality of this being a rivalry game and that they needed to be prepared to go out and play their hardest. The Travis coach’s statement fueled their desire to win.
“We wanted to do what we do best, which is playing more physical than our opponent and starting and finishing the game strong,” Bomba said.
Caption by Callen Romell.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/53289927433_5196a69d91_o-1-1200x675.jpg)
![REPPING THE SENIOR: Senior Helena Finos dances at the Winter Fairytale Dance last friday. Finos had been planning to come to the event from the start due to her position as senior class president.
“I wanted to come represent my class and it turned out to be a lot of fun so I’m glad I went!” she said. Finos was also pleasantly surprised by the number of students that showed up after disappointing crowds at prior events.
“It was a lot of fun [since] a lot of people came,” she said. “Which I didn’t necessarily expect since we didn’t have the best turnout at the last dance. I think are excited that we’re doing dance again after COVID and the long break from a lot of school events.”
Reporting by Ingrid Smith and Caption by Francie Wilhelm. Photo by Morgan Eye.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/52561412854_9decf47bc2_o-900x600.jpg)
