Faith Ryan is living her purple-and-gold dream.
The St. Rose native and resident has been named to the LSU Tiger Girl dance team.
“It’s been my dream since I was 13 years old being around the dance world,” Ryan said. “I idolized them. For me to fit there and finally try out and make it is a dream come true.”
Now at 18 and newly graduated from Destrehan High School, Ryan is preparing to begin on a dance team that she describes as “phenomenal” in their techniques and performances. Watching them for years, she’s observed the team’s development and “thinking if I could only be that good that would be amazing.”
Ryan tried out for the team in the April 16-17 tryouts.
On April 17, she said had made the final cut – or so she thought – when they were all called in for what they were told was another tryout.
“It was a trick because we thought we were being critiqued again, but instead it was the announcement of who was chosen for the team.”
Amusement quickly gave way to amazement, however, when Ryan learned she was a Tiger Girl.
But the announcement of achieving her dream left her in disbelief.
“This isn’t real. They’re just playing me,” she said of her initial thoughts when she heard the news. “It wasn’t expected at all. It was a complete shock.”
Even the next day, Ryan said she still wasn’t sure she had heard the announcement right, thinking, “I’m going to wake up in my old DHS uniform and that wasn’t the case.”
Much to her relief, it was real.
She beat 50 other girls for the spot. It’ll be a challenging spot to keep, however, as all girls have to tryout for the team again every year. Ryan has already started wearing a Tiger Girl uniform and “When you go against competition, you’re going against the best of the best in the nation,” Ryan said.
With images of dancing since 2 years old, Ryan’s hard work of dancing early every week of her life, going to competitions and always trying her absolute best paid off. Her focus has definitely improved over the years and more so as she took dance more seriously.
Her mission is “to be the best dancer I could be.”
This year, Ryan’s effort intensified even further as she took classes to improve her technique, stretching and learning the LSU fight song.
Dancing is important to Ryan because she enjoys “seeing other people happy and when the crowd goes wild when you do certain moves. And for myself, I’ve had a love for it. I’ve been dancing my whole life so it’s the only thing I know. It’s the one thing I’ve stuck with my entire life, and it holds a special place in my heart. It makes me happy.”
It’s all been work, but work she thoroughly enjoys.
And Ryan is a worker, pursuing her passion and practical vision of studying kinesiology (the study of body and movement) while attending LSU. The degree is a natural offshoot of dancing that is rooted in an ankle injury that required surgery while she was in eighth grade.
The injury was put in a cast for nearly two months, which left her with little time to prepare for a dance tryout.
Without physical therapy, Ryan said she would have missed being on the Destrehan High dance team. The experience impressed her tremendously and left her immensely grateful to the point that it influenced her career path.
Ryan also includes in her achievements having served on the DHS student council, as well as class vice president; was a Desty Darling and captain of the team her senior year; was pat of the kickoff mentor team that helps freshmen transition from eighth grade to high school, and was in the honors program for all four of her years at DHS.
“I’m extremely blessed and God just has certain plans for me,” she said. “It’s a dream come true and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.”
Be the first to comment