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Saint Joseph's College Student Twirls to the Top
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Saint Joseph's College has fostered many people with unique talents over the years. Being a small, liberal arts college means that students are often free to explore and nurture their own individual interests while earning their degrees.
Sophomore Sara Porter is one such student. A Biology and Chemistry major from South Bend, Indiana, she is also the feature baton twirler at SJC. She enjoys entertaining the audience at halftime during home football and basketball games and delighting fans with stunts using one, two, or even three batons - and sometimes even setting them on fire.
How did Porter get her start? She picked up the baton when she was in 5th grade and marched in a parade with the Royal Majestics baton corps, based in Mishawaka, Indiana. "My family was excited about this because when my dad and aunt were younger, they were also in the Royal Majestics," she said. "My aunt was a twirler in the Corps and my dad was on the drumline."
Her early Royal Majestics experience led Porter to become more deeply involved, and she began competing in Juvenile - and later Junior - Corps, as well as taking lessons. "We did many small competitions with State and Regionals thrown in, but nothing can compare to AYOP," she said. America's Youth on Parade is a national and world competition held annually at the University of Notre Dame.
"In 2001 and 2002 I represented Indiana and the Midwest in the Miss Majorette Pageant at AYOP," Porter continued. "With all the states and regions competing, I came in 14th. My duet partner and I placed 3rd, and in two-baton, I ranked 7th."
However, once Porter started high school in the fall of 2002, she joined the volleyball team in addition to her baton twirling. "I stepped out of the Junior Corps and only did one or two individual competitions," she remembered. "I performed at halftime of football games with my duet partner and one other twirler from the Royal Majestics. My sophomore year I stopped twirling completely and became the starting setter for the volleyball team, and in my senior year, I was offered college scholarships for volleyball."
Coincidentally, none of the schools offering volleyball scholarships appealed to Porter, and she began picking up her baton again. When she made her visit to SJC, she learned that she could have a spot as the feature twirler. "I wrote the band director [Robb Thiel] an e-mail saying what titles I had won and what group I was in," she said. "He called me back a couple days later and he was very excited because not only did he have a twirler to audition, but he had also been in the Royal Majestics himself. I came for an audition and became Saint Joseph's new feature twirler."
Porter now enjoys writing her own routines to perform for fun at SJC, and she returned to competition last summer, as well, at AYOP's National and World Open Solo Competition. Much to her surprise and delight, she earned first place. "My duet partner and I just started laughing when we found out that I got first because after all these years of being out of it, I was finally in it for the fun," she said.
Porter is currently hoping to compete in the same contest next summer for the final time. She is also teaching two young girls to follow in her footsteps with baton. She hopes to become a veterinarian in the future.
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