Like many dancers, Makenzie Pochron (12) started her dance journey as a little girl and is now a member of the Varsity dance team. Put into dance at 4.1.3. Dance Academy by her mother, Pochron found she enjoyed both personal and group performances.

“I love the choreography part of it and I just like dancing whenever I feel like it,” Pochron said. “I feel satisfaction knowing that we did good as a team and as an individual as well.”

A highlight of Pochron’s journey was last year when she and her team traveled to the ESPN Center in Florida and won the UDA nationals.

“There’s prelims then finals and we go out there at the end in a little circle, hold hands and figure out if we won or not which is so fun,” Pochron said. “It’s such an emotional feeling, not sad, but proud of ourselves and just very overall happy.”

This achievement did not come without its challenges as Pochron and her team had to practice daily and focus on reaching their goal. 

“ My team and I practiced every day. We kept pushing, working out, and doing what we needed to do to get to where we were at,” Pochron said. “You’re just getting tired and have to overcome the tiredness and push towards what you want.”

While dance is a big part of Pochrons life, she has also found a passion for fashion which she hopes to pursue in Alabama. Pochron has chosen to focus on her career in college but will take lessons from her dance journey with her into her future.

“I’ve loved fashion since I was little and I’m really good at designing stuff. I find it so fun to have creativity with that stuff,” Pochron said. “The costumes for dance and like everything that we get to wear influence my interest in fashion.” 

Her journey has allowed her to find her passion for fashion and taught her lessons to take with her in her future.