Junior dancer Jaime Tomaszewski of the Southeast Missouri State Sundancers was hired to be the head coach of Saxony Lutheran High School's dance team.

Tomaszewski, who has 16 years of dancing experience, wants to see the team gain experience and learn the fundamentals of dancing this year, before getting the team more involved with events and competitions next year.

"I'm really just trying to teach them basic dance techniques, different styles like lyrical, pop, jazz, hip-hop, so they just get that whole basic overview of it," Tomaszewski said. "Then I want to take them to competition this year, just to see what it's like, then next year hopefully be able to actually have them compete in one. It's more just teaching them a lot of it, because most of them have never danced before in their life, so that's gonna be a tough challenge, too."

That inexperience, along with several coaching changes over the past few years, has led to the team not having a consistent culture. Tomaszewski still has two years of college remaining and she plans on being with Saxony for the remainder of her time at Southeast. When she does eventually leave, Tomaszewski wants to have laid a foundation for the future of the dance team at Saxony.

"I hope to just be able to build their program and help it grow," Tomaszewski said. "When I leave, hopefully after two years once I graduate, I want to be able to see what they do from there and be like 'Wow, I really started this and look at how it's grown and what it's become.'"

The first step to accomplishing her goal is for the dancers to show effort and have fun while they perform.

"Honestly, it's just about how much they're willing to try," Tomaszewski said. "If they're out there having fun and giving it as much effort as they can, even if they aren't doing it completely right they're selling it because their faces are happy and they're excited about what they're doing. Even if you're not doing it right but you're really excited about doing it, I think that makes a good dancer."

Tomaszewski's coaches have had a strong influence on her as a dancer. Sara Trout and Missy Wombacher both coached her while she was at Mascoutah High School in Mascoutah, Illinois, as well as her current coach for the Sundancers, Tatianna Parham.

"They all have things that I want to try to combine," Tomaszewski said. "One was much more choreography-based, one was a leader and my coach now has a good mix of both. I try to be able to incorporate all of that, but still be fun. It's been good for me to have the people I've had in the past to make me the kind of coach I want to be."