Kathy Budzien
Dedicated. What one word describes Kathy Budzien better than dedicated? For nearly three decades, she was the face of the esteemed Arrowhead Pom Squad/Dance Team, capturing three State Championships:
- 1997 Poms
- 1998 Poms
- 1998 Pom and Jazz Dance
In addition, her teams won the 2008 Midwest Championship in Funk and the 1996 Midwest Grand Champions. Kathy’s squads have won many other awards and trophies, but what may be even more impressive is her dedication to teaching her girls about leadership, hard work, teamwork, cooperation, compassion, compromise, integrity, ownership and Arrowhead Pride.
As a coach, Kathy believed that the dance teams should choose their own music and choreograph each routine. Her goal was to have the girls assume responsibility for themselves and the team. Another goal was to instill the love of dancing. Kathy definitely achieved that goal, as many of her athletes went on to dance at the college level, major in dance, become directors at and even owners of dance studios, or coach their own dance teams.
Kathy also established a strong sense of volunteerism in her squads as they were the sole volunteers distributing lunch to more than 6,000 participants at the Zoo’s Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund Walk, and they volunteered at the water stations for the American Heart Association Walk.