Queen of the dance

World Cultures and Business major
Katy Long teaches a group of Honors
students about leadership.

Between her World Cultures and Business major with a concentration in German, the fitness classes she teaches, dance commitments, her current term as Honors Council Chair and ASG President, and her recent year of study abroad in Austria, TTU Honors student Katy Long seems to be on top of everything. With a little planning, she combines her major, her interest in dance, and her skills in leadership, with results that amaze us all.

When she was seven, Katy Long began ballet lessons because she thought ballerinas were the most beautiful people on earth. As she grew older, her love of dancing continued, but her interests also developed in other ways. She branched out into general fitness, and when she was in fifth grade, she became interested in leadership styles when asked to help teach beginning ballet students at the dance studio she attended.

That was only the beginning. She was always the leader in group projects at school, and she became a member of several dance groups: Jackson School of Dance, Beach Academy of Dance, the Highlands Ballet Company, and most recently, the Bristol Ballet Company. In seventh grade, the Moscow Ballet came to her hometown and held auditions for local dancers to perform in their Nutcracker. Though self-conscious at the audition ("in the middle of the mall in a leotard and tights with a number pinned to my stomach"), she was one of the dancers selected to perform with the group. Katy attributes her appreciation for other cultures—hence, a business major with an international focus—to this experience: "I remember sitting backstage watching the Russian prima ballerinas prepare for the performance while speaking fluent Russian," she writes. "It was the first time I heard another language spoken."

Once she came to TTU, Katy parlayed her skills into helping other students. While continuing to perform with the Bristol Ballet Company, she began teaching as many as four fitness classes each week for the University Fitness Center. As a member of the Honors Program, she quickly became involved in its activities and volunteered to co-chair the Leadership Committee her first semester. While leading three Leadership Extravaganzas for the Honors Program, Katy learned how to delegate, respond to peer evaluations, and keep things interesting for returning students. She'll put all those skills to use now as she leads the Honors Program and the ASG.

In her position on the TTU Commission on the Status of Women, she was able to bring leadership and dance together. In January 2006, the group held a mentoring and networking conference (WoMeNet) where Katy presented a panel that discussed different forms of dance and the ways these dance forms empowered women. At the same conference, she gave a presentation with TTU Honors Director Dr. Rita Barnes and Honors alum Jennifer Cloud Buckner (in cursu honorum, Industrial Engr, Professional Communications, '07) entitled "Women's Way of Leading Within an Honors Program."

She also takes the lead in her major. During a managerial accounting course, several students, including Katy, began struggling with the material. She quickly set up a study group and developed a note-taking system that helped improve students' grades. In her job in the Health Promotions Office at the Fitness Center, she put her business training to work while scheduling over 200 appointments and meeting with businesses to set up booths at the campus Health Fair.

When asked if she thinks it's possible to tie her major into her extracurricular interests, Katy responds, "Absolutely! I believe that there is always the opportunity to combine the things you love (and are good at!); it just requires a little personal effort"—something Katy definitely has. She recently put her skills to work in a year of study abroad in Austria.