Three schools in the NLCC came to Grayslake North to perform a showcase to hear feedback from judges. North guard students got to see all the other school’s students perform and vice versa.

“Honestly it kind of motivates me because it gives me not only someone to perform for but like reminds me why I’m performing. And it gives me reason to really feel the beat,” said  senior captain Melissa Olhausen.

Of the schools that came, Round Lake brought it’s JV and varsity while Lakes and Antioch worked together for a joint performance. Grant and North each had their own one team.

“The different schools were all really cool. In guard we’re also supportive and good sports, even if we do have long lasting rivalry,” said freshman Castor Basa.

Some students came to watch the showcase and see their friends perform the routines and see the costumes.

“It was really fun to hear all the different music, and you can tell how hard everyone has worked on this, and it’s so much fun to watch, and they’re all so pretty.” said freshman Laura Czapiewski.

Learning the routines were a major struggle, but performing the show made it worth it.

“Learning routines were honestly really rigorous and painful, and there were times I wanted to quit, but when we had our first performance, it was all worth it. I was so happy and it made everything worth it,” Basa said.

During the performance, the athletes had to use emotion with their performance and to make themselves feel the song.

“Personally for me, it was very hard at times to conjure up that emotions out of nowhere and so it takes a good five minutes to find that emotion I need during the performance and convey it to everyone watching,” said freshman Lexi Coniglio.