Starlets Shine For Another Season

Winter guard has begun, and so have the Starlet’s preparations for the season.

Anika Sanka, Co-Editor-in-Chief

February 24, 2026

The 1990 Robinson Starlets performing a 1950s dance routine.

The Starlets start another season off strong, following their marching season and beginning their winter guard season. Winter guard season is their main season, due to its focus on technique and the complexity of skills. While marching season is more centered on football and the band, winter guard focuses more on the color guard itself.

“Our theme is stained glass. So we have this stained glass-esque feeling for the season, but we’re more focused on like light and hope and conveying that happiness and sense of positivity,” Senior Captain Aurora Bartholomew (’26) said.

The starlets have been following this sense of positivity through their strict practice and competition regimen.

“We always have that goal of just improving. Improving your skills, doing the best you can, always be in that mindset of improvement, while also having a good time. I feel like we are very focused during practices and are very efficient because we are in a higher class this year. In previous years, we’ve been in A, but this year, we’re in AA,” Bartholomew said.

Double A entails more complex drill movement, complicated choreography and tricks.

“It’s just really just a wider development of the show you’re trying to convince,” Bartholomew said.

To keep up with competitors and the heightened competition, the girls certainly have been putting in the work.

“For winter guard season, we practice on two days a week, for around three hours each day, and then we have special camps, so like on the Fair Day, and the Strawberry Festival Day, the girls are committed enough to spend the mornings practicing,” Starlets coach Sierra Espejo said.

The team is still looking for girls, so anyone who enjoys dance and a fun, tight-knit group of girls should show up and give the Starlets a try.

“[For anyone looking to join Starlets] I would say, try to enjoy the people around you and enjoy your teammates ,and focus on the art aspect of it and less about the competing and that kind of pressure to succeed. It’s more so an internal success with your friendships and yourself,” Bartholomew said.

Starlets

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About the Contributor

Anika Sanka, Content Co-Editor-in-Chief

Anika Sanka is a senior at Robinson High School and is the co-editor-in-chief (EIC) of the Knight Writers. This is her third year on staff. In her freshman year, even though she wanted to be on newspaper, she chose to do an AP elective. The following year, she joined the newspaper after being recommended to it by her cousin, Vikram Sambasivan, a former EIC of the Knight Writers. “I really wanted to do an elective that wasn’t an AP just to boost my GPA, but something I could actually do something in. I also wanted to improve my writing,” Sanka said. Being an EIC this year, Sanka has many goals for the newspaper as a whole. One of them is to earn an All-Florida award from the Florida Scholastic Press Association. “I think we are very capable of it. I’m honestly so happy I am EIC now,” Sanka said. “I now have the position and ability to implement things so we can be a really be a well-structured newspaper and win these awards.” Outside of newspaper, Sanka enjoys spending time playing sports. She is on the varsity track team, but she also likes to find time to play other sports as well. “In middle school, I did rowing for a while; that was fun, but I just wasn’t the best at it. I always found my way back to running. I love track. I love our community, and I love the team. I’ve also been dancing for a while. I like doing sports and activities like this just for fun,” Sanka said. When Sanka isn’t running or working, she enjoys spending free time watching 2000s movies with friends. In addition, Sanka doesn’t have a particular favorite music artist, but her favorite music genres are pop, rock and indie. “[My favorite movie is] ‘She’s the Man.’ It’s a 2000s movie, and it has Amanda Bines in it, and I just love her movies. The 2000s are just so good, and they are comfort movies,” she said. Being a senior, Sanka wants to go to Emory University in Atlanta or the University of Florida. She wants to study law or journalism “It [Emory University] is beautiful, it has nature, and cool extracurriculars. I want to go into law or journalism; something in the English and communications field. They have cool political science programs which I want to go into,” Sanka said. (Profile by Allison Bartlett)