The Average African Teen Experience.

Little courage produces culture.

Sometimes all we need is a little courage to get that one thing that we want. In the previous episodes, you'll see that life a senior student in Regina Caeli High School was fun, though savage. One of those fun stories will be told in this episode.

Right after I had become a prefect in Regina Caeli High school, I had an idea. This idea was a little weird and seemed unachievable due to the circumstances surrounding it but not minding the challenges, I looked unto the brighter side to get it done and yes I succeeded.

What was this idea? I love dancing ballet. The school I attended right before I joined Regina Caeli High School had a ballet dance club. It made it easier for me then to do what makes me happy but in Regina Caeli High School, nothing like ballet dance existed. I found it boring to start with but after I had become a prefect, I decided to create my own dance club.

I had a close friend who goes by the name Chioma. Chioma is very much flexible and that was a starting point for me. I spoke to some girls in my class and they decided to join the club. The club had just four members. One challenge I faced then was teaching them the dance. We had to prepare for the school's Christmas party as we were to perform at the occasion. We practiced almost everyday in preparation for our first performance.

Everybody was anxious to know how our performance will turn out because it was something new. Two days before the Christmas party, the director of the school called to watch every performance that will be playing out at the occasion. I was very much tensed because I have heard her say that she hates ballet dance. I called my club members together and we practiced one more time before we were called out for our performance before the director.

We started the dance. While it was going on, everybody was quiet. I was already thinking we were getting it wrong. It was a five minutes performance and in no time, we were already done with our performance. Just after the music had stopped, I heard applause from everybody that watched. I looked at the director, hoping to hear a yes this performance is allowed. After the director had gazed at us for a few seconds, she said, "incredible, I love this. Just make sure your outfits are not too transparent and body revealing".

I was so happy I couldn't express it. We practiced three more times and on the main day, we killed the show. I became popular in school as everyone tagged me as that ballet girl. I was loving it and I enjoyed the fame.

The following year, the school was preparing for it's annual inter-house sports ceremony. I called my club members to discuss the our next performance and to my surprise almost every female junior student wanted to be on the club. I accepted the first twenty that turned down the rest. My initial club members didn't like the fact the club had more junior student. I tried to make them understand that in less than two years, we'll be out of the school and for the dance to survive, we need to train junior students that will continue dance when we leave. They didn't want to listen to me. They just wanted me to do away with the junior students and leave the club for senior students only. I still remain the leader of the club and whatever I say remains binding. I told them that if they were not comfortable with my opinion, they could leave and they left. I wasn't worried or bothered about them leaving because I knew that my opinion was for a good cause.

The club now had about twenty five members including Chioma and I. I put the remaining twenty three unto a flexibility test to ended up selecting ten flexible students. Altogether the club had twelve members. We started practicing. It has really frustrating to teach them the dance. I remember times when I'd have to excuse myself from the practice session, go to a hidden zone, take in a couple of deep breaths and get back to the club members. I always did that whenever I'm upset with how the practice is going. So instead of blowing up and saying hurtful things to the innocent students, I decided to use my little therapy to put my mental sanity in check.

We continued with the practice sessions until the day of the event. That day was a huge deal. The event started with a soccer game between two different houses. After which came the match-pass and other field events like the relay race, marathon etc.

Our performance was one of the last but one of the best. We added features of gymnastics, cheerleading and acrobatics. We killed the show better than the last time. The bigger the number, the funner it was. I felt so accomplished after our second performance.

My popularity in school grew by times four of when we performed the first time. After that year, I left the school for City Girls Secondary School but before I left the school, I made sure I had trained more students in the dance and till date ballet dance remains one solid club in Regina Caeli High School all because I was courageous to go for that thing made me happy.

My advice to anyone reading this story is, if you can see yourself doing it and believe you can achieve it, you will achieve it. Sometimes all we need is that little courage.

I hope you enjoyed this story. If you did, don't forget to like and add a comment in the comment box. Until my next story, stay safe and keep making good decisions.

Peace.