Alex Porras: A star in the arts

BY JULIA WENGIER

A rifle flies, slicing the air, spinning exactly three times before falling perfectly back into Alex Porras’ hands.

From there, Porras continues her color guard routine, shouting the counts out to the other guard members and keeping everyone perfectly in sync until it’s time to go home. After a four hour long rehearsal, Porras arrives home to continue her work on Cooper City High’s yearbook. Writing additions to the yearbook like lengthy descriptions and features, Porras has gained the expertise necessary to edit those of other staff writers. An immense success in the two very different activities, Porras has dedicated her high school career to these strenuous but rewarding paths of art.

When it comes to color guard, Porras has been involved her entire high school career. She first learned of the group when attending the Sound of Pride’s annual “Encore!” end-of-year performance to see her brother perform. After a couple years of watching the color guard, Porras knew it was something she wanted to be a part of.

“I was like ‘Who are they? They don’t play instruments! That looks easy,’” Porras said. “And then by eighth grade, I knew I was definitely going to do it.”

Porras quickly learned that color guard was something that came naturally to her, a rare occasion considering the rigorous demands of the unique activity. Color guard involves spinning and tossing both flags and rifles to themed music, incorporating graceful dance steps; it isn’t surprising that it takes newcomers a while to get the hang of it.

“I know when I first started, guard itself…came easy to me,” Porras said. “That’s how I got so good so quickly.”

After her freshman year, Porras delved into guard leadership when she shadowed the guard captains as an officer. With the title of communications officer, Porras was in charge of ensuring that everyone in color guard remained informed about rehearsals, fundraisers, competitions and other events.

This year, Porras will be serving as of one of two guard co-captains, who act as the student leaders and representatives for everyone in color guard.

“There [are] a ton of formal responsibilities that come with being a leader in the Sound of Pride,” Porras said. “But then there is also the underlying fact that you are now everybody’s mom and you have to take care of them, and it’s a lot of pressure.”

The road to becoming such an important officer was not straightforward; many leaders face struggles and setbacks that ultimately send them in the right direction. For Porras, that meant a lack of confidence in herself as a freshman that was eventually defeated.

“When Alex first entered color guard, she was quiet and she kept to herself, but she had such a talent for the art,” former guard captain Justine Russo said. “She started to gain her voice when she received a position her sophomore year as communications officer.”

Porras has come out of her shell to lead not only in color guard but as a member of The Round Up yearbook. As in guard, Porras started with a position in her sophomore year.  The previous year, however, she was the only freshman in the class – a feat made possible by the experience she gained as an editor for the yearbook at Pioneer Middle School.  

“[Being an editor for Pioneer’s yearbook] helped me to figure out what it’s like to have full creative freedom with something, and just have all the responsibility to take it over and make it into something,” Porras said.

As an underclassmen editor her sophomore year, Porras was in charge of all the portraits for underclassmen, as well as the creative content on those pages such as features. Morgan Malan, one of The Round Up’s editors in chief (as well as the Sound of Pride’s head drum major), noticed Porras’ knack for getting things done before being asked. This year, Porras received the position of co-managing editor as a junior, a new position in yearbook that Porras will set the standards for this upcoming school year.  

“She is an amazing guard captain on the field, and then she switches to yearbook and she gets along so well with everyone,” Malan said. “I don’t know what I would do without her because she is my right hand.”

As for the management of color guard, yearbook and maintaining academic success with all honors and AP classes, Porras has learned over time to leave any problems at the door. At guard, all she thinks about is guard; at yearbook, all she thinks about is yearbook. This leads to a somewhat stress-free experience with the duties she has to worry about at that current moment. Along with this, Porras has learned good leadership tactics from positions in guard and yearbook during sophomore year.

“With both [guard and yearbook], I have to do a good job of leading by example before anything else, which I’ve learned this year,” Porras said, “If I’m horrible and I’m yelling at other people for being horrible, that’s kind of hypocritical.”

As for the future, Porras has a split path before her. Her interest in journalism could lead her to a magazine staff, or her curiosity about psychology could be what she pursues.

After just two years at CCHS, Porras transformed from an insecure, quiet freshman to an outgoing, talented leader in everything she does. With two major positions in color guard and yearbook this year, along with a schedule full of challenging classes, junior year will no doubt be challenging for Alex Porras.  With her newfound certainty, however, Porras is leading both the color guard and yearbook to success.

Photo by Colin Camblin