The Whirly Girls drone team might not be well known around school, but former club sponsor and math teacher Jill Whitacre is. Whitacre left school earlier this year for personal reasons, but not many have considered the effects her absence has had on the drone team she coached

“Since Mrs. Whitacre has been gone, I feel like it’s not really the same, and it’s not as organized as before,’ sophomore Jaylynn Jeter said. 

Although there have been some hiccups during the transition to new sponsor Maria Hedrick, who teaches math and statistics, many girls, including sophomore Lexi Clark, are keeping an open mind.

“I really like Dr. Hedrick, and she’s doing a great job understanding that we’re all used to doing things a specific way,” Clark said. “She’s working with us to figure out what we need to do to get back on track and perform like we used to.” 

The team originally had a competition coming up later this year which ended up being cancelled due to scheduling complications.

“I’m not really upset about the competition getting cancelled because it has been pretty hectic lately and it might be better that we can just practice with the drones instead of preparing to compete,” Clark said. “Either way, I’m glad that we’re continuing with the practices, and even though we all miss Mrs. Whitacre, we’ll be even better when we resume practices with her next year.”

By Ryla Underwood