On Friday, Dec. 13, fall and winter athletes will perform different genres for judge and fan voting

By Addie Fiandaca, STAFF WRITER

Dec. 9, 2024 

SANFORD, ME – Student Council is hosting Dancing with the Stars on Dec. 13th, at 7 p.m. in the Partners Bank Gymnasium to raise money for homecoming preparations for the following year.

Dancing with the Stars was previously organized by the community but was discontinued due to COVID-19. Now, the Student Council members are taking over the event and will host it at Sanford High School to make it more student-driven.

The event will be $10 admission at the door and feature participants from fall and winter sports, ranging from football players to marching band members. These individuals were chosen based on their volunteerism and team leadership roles. Each participant was able to select a partner, with efforts made to pair individuals according to their dance experience.

Student Council members selected six judges and a prize to help decide the winner of this event. Erin Fraser, Lori Hegarty, Rossie Kearson, Katrina Wade, Kendra O’Connell and Lauren Roy were selected to be the judges for this event. 

According to Matthew Hebert, Student Council President, judges will evaluate participants on their 90-120 second routine, based on five categories: design, effort, creativity, overall performance, and crowd response.

Additionally, audience members can vote by placing money into cans that display each participant’s picture. Two winners will be chosen, each receiving $100 for the sport they represent, along with a trophy engraved with their names that will be passed down annually.

Beth Letourneau, director of school counseling, has participated in the event previous to COVID-19 and is now participating again at Sanford High School. She is partnered with her niece, Paige Sevigny who is representing Girls Basketball. 

The pair will perform a two-minute hip-hop dance routine. At this time, there has been no disclosure regarding the outfit or song choice. During her time creating the routine, she encountered a few challenges, which included time to rehearse, agreement on song choices and dance moves, and her niece not listening to her suggestions. 

As she has done the event before, she compared the differences and what she is excited about going into this event, she said, “I am excited to see Sanford High School bringing it back, I love the idea of different sports and activities having representation.”

She also advises everyone to attend and said, “It’s great to just support anything that your fellow students and staff members of the high school are participating in. 

Sevigny, who is representing Girls Basketball is also Vice President of Student Council and is working among others to make this a successful fundraiser. She says that she has encountered some challenges herself, struggling to dance, her partner’s weird taste in music and finding songs to dance to. 

Sevigny added that she is participating in this event to win and she advises others to bring their friends and money for raffles and concessions. 

Along with the performances, there will be raffles to purchase, concessions and some surprise performances from local dance studios as well as the Maine Attraction Water Ski team. 

Some of the top contestants to watch out for are Ali Long and Mrs. Murphy Putnam as well as Sevigny and Beth Letourneau.

Student Council advises everyone to attend and to bring their friends and family, as there will be a lot of amazing talent and a fun event.