NP ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Event to Raise Scholarship Money for Middle School Students

When North Platte middle school administrators talked about creating monies for a scholarship, they had no idea what it would turn into.

“We knew that we wanted to raise money for a scholarship. We wanted to find a fun and creative way to do that. Ultimately we wanted to create an event that the community could come together for,” said Madison assistant principal Brett Joneson.

In less than two weeks, that is exactly what will happen. On March 18th, the first annual North Platte Dancing With the Stars competition will begin. The show will happen at the Performing Arts Center at North Platte high school. The red carpet walk will begin at 6:00 p.m. and the show begins at 7:00.

Twelve community members have been matched up in teams and assigned a choreographer.
Big Rob Mitchell (USPS) and Olivia Nicholson (NPHS student)
Choreographer – Becky Wagner (Dance Factory)
Scott Steele (owner of Steele Construction) and Jan Wright (HR Staff Developer for Great Plains Health)
Choreographer – Janna Ryan (The Stage)
Brice Kesler (Sports Director for KOOQ) and Linda Carlson (retired teacher/coach
Choreographer Ciera Carlson (Adams Middle School student)
Bernie Madison (NPHS teacher/football coach) and Jane Wilkinson (community volunteer)
Choreographer – Danielle Aman (physical therapist for NPPSD)
Matt Welch (supervisor for UPRR) and Carrie Lienemann (Kids Klub Director)
Choreographer – Sara Ryan (The Stage)
Job Vigil (Editor for North Platte Telegraph) and Laura Beranek (sports reporter for KNOP
Choreographer – June Robinson (Coldwell Banker)

Teams have been practicing for almost two months now in preparation for this event. “You know, that stage brings a lot of accountability. It is a really competitive group and everyone wants to win so they have been working extremely hard,” said Joneson. Voting for the competition will be done by the audience through text message voting.

Tickets are on sale at Adams Middle School. Reserved seats are $7.00.

“We thought it was important to make this a community event. We didn’t want to charge a ton of money to a few people. We wanted to charge a ton of people a small amount,” said Madison principal Danny McMurtry.

Any tickets that remain will be sold at the door. All proceeds from the event will go toward a scholarship for North Platte students.

“It’s going to be a great time. It’s not often in North Platte that we have a don’t miss event. This is one of them,” added McMurtry.