Lauren Wheeler’s journey began when she was at Marcus High School, where she fell in love with dance and Lewisville ISD. She started her journey at Hebron when she attended camps in May of 2023 to get herself familiar with some of the girls. 

Her journey evolved into a new chapter in May of 2023 when Wheeler accepted a job as the new assistant dance director for Hebron. 

“The girls were really open and welcoming to me,” Wheeler said. “It was nice. We got to bond and start off the year strong, so there [wasn’t] any awkwardness.”

Wheeler was the fourth assistant director of Silver Wings in the past four years. She said she immediately worked on becoming familiar with everyone on the team, which captain Makenzie Klaus said wasn’t that hard. 

“When Wheeler joined, I knew there was something different about her,” Klaus said. “She really earned our respect [when] we knew that she had a lot of previous experience and [she] just came with a super positive and hardworking attitude. [Wheeler is] really open to hearing everyone’s perspectives, and she keeps us super productive in a way where we’re always still happy.”

Wheeler took over as interim director following the departure of the head director right before competition season started in the fall. She said the transition was a bit challenging due to being a first-year teacher.

“I was very blessed to be able to [take over],” Wheeler said. “But, of course, that comes with its own challenges. I had to face some adversity and step up into a role I wasn’t expecting, but it’s been really fun to get to know the students and use their strengths to help me as well. Whether in Silver Wings or in my dance classes, I’ve got great students that I got to really encourage so they make it easy to lead them and face that adversity with positivity.”

Following her takeover as interim director just before competition season, the Silver Wings had a multitude of first place finishes in multiple competitions and categories at Argyle and Marcus. The team took first place in every category they competed in during their competition at Argyle. 

“We were very successful at competitions,” senior Madi Clark said. “[Wheeler] had a different way of cleaning up our dances and making [them] look the best that they could be. That took a little bit of time for us to understand where she was coming from, but once we figured it out, it ended up being a very successful season.”

The Silver Wings will have their spring show on May 2 through May 4 in the auditorium. Wheeler said it’s been a long run to get to the spring show, but she is excited to finally be in the moment.

“We’re really wanting to work on building a good team culture where everyone feels invited and welcomed,” Wheeler said. “We want to be an inviting presence as a team, so [it’s] really my main goal [to] build that team culture. ”