HUMBOLDT — Any time a student-athlete signs to play their sport at the next level it’s special. For Humboldt High School’s Taylor Korte, that rang true when she signed to dance at Southwestern College in Winfield. Korte also runs cross country at Humboldt.
“Cross country helps keep me in shape,” Korte said. “It really helps with stamina and my endurance so I can keep going when we are dancing.”
Taylor has been dancing competitively since she was 7, but until this season she didn’t have a chance to dance for her high school. That’s because Humboldt didn’t have a dance team until HHS teacher Callee Kaufman organized one this season. The school’s dance team gives Korte and her teammates a better shot at being recruited at the next level.
“I was a little nervous but also excited,” Korte said. “I didn’t think I would have the opportunity to dance after high school but now that I do I’m going to take it and hopefully it will be life-changing.”
Dance is a niche sport, so the opportunities to dance at the next level aren’t always there. That caused a little bit of doubt for Taylor.
“We are pretty excited,” said Gari Korte, Taylor’s mother. “She always said she wasn’t going to dance in college, but now she is. We always knew it was a possibility but she had decided she didn’t want it. That was before we visited the school and met the coach.”
Taylor’s major, marine biology, led her to investigate Southwestern. Once she started the application process, the college’s recruitment efforts ramped up.
“Our former counselor recommended them because they have a marine biology program,” Korte added. “When I applied, I clicked on the dance team and that’s when the coach emailed me about the team.”
Korte is the first member of Humboldt’s dance team to sign her letter of intent with a college and the first Humboldt athlete of the 2021-2022 school year to sign with a college.
