WRHS junior finds her niche at Footlight Dance Centre
By Emilee Mae Struss
Wood River High School junior Brooklyn Williamson has been dancing since she was 3 years old. Williamson was born in San Francisco, which is the place where her love for dance started. She moved to the Wood River Valley with her family when she was 10 years old.
Williamson didn’t waste any time finding her niche in a new town. She joined Footlight Dance Centre when she was 11 years old. She now co-teaches a first-grade ballet dance class. Williamson practices dance around 10 hours a week and prefers two main genres of dance—modern and ballet.
“I like the structure of ballet,” Williamson said. “It can be pretty challenging.”
Dance consumes about 10 hours of her week and the rest of her time is spent studying or taking care of the elderly at Bell Mountain Village & Care Center in Bellevue. She hopes to be a nurse one day. Williamson is very thankful for the programs at WRHS, which could set her ahead of her peers. She will graduate from high school with her Certified Nursing Assistant’s (CNA) certification.
Williamson is a part of the HOSA club at school. HOSA was formerly known as the Health Occupations Students of America program and is now called Future Health Professionals. This year Williamson is the vice president of the club at WRHS and travels with the group to competitions.
“This year I’m competing in forensic psychology,” Williamson said.
Last year, Williamson qualified in the top 10 percent at the state competition, competing in the field of ophthalmology.
“I want to be a nurse because I enjoy the variety of cases and helping other people,” Williamson said.
Williamson has one year left in the Valley and then she plans to attend New York University to pursue a nursing degree. She says her most defining moment at WRHS so far has been discovering an interest in reading and the arts.
“I wasn’t a very good reader when I was younger,” Williamson said. “But once I found books that I actually enjoyed reading, I started to take it more seriously.”
She says books like “Educated,” by Tara Westover, and works by author John Green helped her realize how much she truly enjoys reading.
“And art I thought was kind of a silly class,” Williamson said. “But through that class, I realized I really like to be creative and express myself in those ways.”
This summer, Williamson is working as a teacher’s assistant at Big Wood Preschool. She also plans to take her two dogs, Alice and Duchess, for many walks and revel in the natural beauty of the Wood River Valley with the time she has left.
Editor’s Note: Anyone who would like to recommend a Blaine County School District student for The Weekly Sun’s “Student Spotlight” feature should contact Emilee Struss at emilee.struss@gmail.com.