Ponderosa Poms Coaching Staff
Varsity Assistant Coach: Morgan Benham Morgan loves being a part of the Ponderosa Village! She brings her experience, skills, organization, and most importantly her passion and love for dance to Ponderosa Poms! Morgan grew up in Omaha, Nebraska where she began her dance training at the age of three at Kitty Lee Dance Studio. Here she received extremely versatile training in ballet, jazz, contemporary, tap, hip-hop, pom, and acrobatics. At the age of eight, she was accepted onto Kitty Lee’s prestigious, national award-winning traveling competition team and went on to win multiple national titles throughout her ten years with the company. Morgan also trained at the Omaha Theatre Ballet from the age of eleven, where she learned and performed company repertoire and performed in various roles in the professional company’s annual Nutcracker production. She has attended and received scholarships from esteemed workshops and trained with programs including Alvin Ailey, the Joffrey Ballet, River North Dance Company, NUVO, and PULSE, among others. Morgan has extensive experience in the dance team and UDA competition world. In her freshman year of high school, Morgan auditioned for and made the Millard North High School Varsity Dance Team. With this team she competed at the state, regional, and national levels all four years of high school, eventually becoming one of the team’s Senior Captain. As captain, she was able to develop and hone her leadership capabilities and fell in love with inspiring, leading, and mentoring younger dancers. Being on this team, Morgan extended her experience and love of performing through dancing and cheering at the Varsity football and basketball games and pep rallies in addition to competing. By the time she graduated, Morgan and her team had achieved multiple first-place finishes at annual summer UDA camps, a total of seven “Class A” state titles, and multiple top-5 finishes at UDA’s National Dance Team Championships where Millard North competed in the Large Jazz and Large Pom divisions. The Millard North Dance Team has since gone on to become 6-time UDA national champions and Morgan is extremely proud to have been a part of creating the team’s strong legacy. She graduated from Millard North in 2013 as a 4-time Varsity letter winner. Morgan’s UDA journey continued into college where she became a member of the University of Iowa Dance Team. She choreographed and performed half-time dances at the University’s football and basketball games, wrestling meets, and public appearances. With this team, she continued competing in state competitions and the UDA’s College Nationals in the D1A division for Jazz and Pom. She again captained her team in her senior year, and helped lead them to a third-place national finish, tying the school’s all-time record. Morgan graduated from the University of Iowa in 2017 with a degree in Sports Management, a minor in Communications, and a certificate in Event Planning. Since graduating, Morgan has gone on to hold professional positions in Sports Marketing and Event Planning with prestigious organizations such as the Super Bowl winning Kansas City Chiefs, and The Golf Club at Newcastle. She now works with USA Wrestling as the Manager of Corporate Partners. She is excited to continue her dance career with Ponderosa High School. She is incredibly honored to be a part of a team with such strong traditions, dedication, and is proud to be a MUSTANG! Maggie is beyond excited to be a part of the Ponderosa Poms program! Growing up in Colorado, Maggie always knew what an amazing program Ponderosa was and is looking forward to her future as the Junior Varsity Head Coach this season. Maggie grew up in Aurora, Colorado where she began dance training at the age of eight at Pointe Dance Academy. She started training in ballet, and eventually began to train in lyrical, jazz, hip-hop, and pom. Maggie was a member of the Grandview High School Poms team all four years of high school. She spent two years on junior varsity and two years on varsity. During her time on Grandview Poms, her team earned the 5A Pom state-runner up titles in 2016 and 2017 at the CHSAA State Spirit Competition in Denver, Colorado. Additionally, Maggie and her team placed 5th and 3rd in the medium pom division at the UDA Nationals High School Dance Team Championships in 2017 and 2018 at the ESPN Center in Orlando, Florida. Alongside the competitions, Maggie also spent time on the sidelines cheering on fall and winter sports, Including the state championship games for Men’s and Women’s basketball in 2018. She is extremely proud she was able to represent the wolves with her time on the poms team. Maggie graduated in 2018 as a 2-year Varsity letter winner. In 2020, Maggie was offered a coaching position from Nicole Kahre, owner of SPARK Dance Team Training Program, as a middle school dance team coach for the Junior Fillies. Nicole had coached Maggie all 4 years of high school as the technique coach for Grandview. Maggie had learned so much from Nicole and was elated at the opportunity to continue her dance career through the coaching lens. The SPARK Junior Fillies middle school dance team was the feeder dance team for the Ponderosa Poms Program where Maggie coached for two years before making the transition to Ponderosa high School. During her time coaching the Junior Fillies, Maggie’s team had won first place in Pom and Jazz in the middle school division in multiple local competitions such as DTU and UDA regionals. She had the opportunity to be a role model as her main goal was to instill confidence and preparedness for dancers to advance to the high school level. Maggie is so grateful for her time coaching the Junior Fillies as she learned more about herself and grew an even deeper passion for dance. After high school, Maggie went on to pursue her dream career of being a pediatric nurse. She currently works at Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora, Colorado. Maggie knew she wanted to pursue her nursing education in pediatrics after coaching the Junior Fillies. She has a passion and appreciation for children and plans to work at Children’s Hospital as a registered nurse when she finishes school in 2023. Maggie is so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the Ponderosa Village. She can’t wait to see what this season holds for her and her team. GO MUSTANG! |