After months of very hard work (and a lot of fun too!) we finally made it to the Waterfront Hall to take part in the Belfast Heat of Rock Challenge 2007!

We all spent the day in the Auditorium watching each of the other schools rehearsing their entries on the stage.  This is always the most nerve-racking part of the day for me! Aftter so many months of planning and rehearsing and trying to create the best possible performance, it’s not until this moment that we know if another school has produced something better than ours! It’s completely out of my hands and control by then, and all I can do is sit there watching and praying!  Thankfully, after watching the other schools I felt quite positive about our performance and I knew that ours was something special! I couldn’t wait for our girls to get up on the stage and show everyone what they could do!

When they did, they didn’t let me down! They danced like it was the actual show! They didn’t put a foot wrong and they smiled as if their lives depended on it! The reception from the other schools completely blew me away! They were up on their feet dancing and singing along and when we finished thye gave us the biggest cheer of the day! I think it was at this point when our girls realised how good they were and knew that all their hard work had been worth it.  They felt like they were part of something special too! As they looked out into the cheering crowd, you could not have wiped the smiles from their faces for all the money in the world! Those are the moments that make my job so rewarding!  After our rehearsal it was the teacher’s turn to strut their stuff, and of course our ever-shy staff from the Girls Models took over the stage in style!

We all left the main auditorium and went up to our dressing rooms to start getting everyone ready! Our staff team of hair and makeup artists did a superb job of getting all 90 girls made up so professionally! (Just about..with 30 seconds to spare!)  And of course I have to give a mention to my incredible mother who created & dressed all the girls in the most amazing costumes! I was so proud when she scored a hat-trick at the end of the night, winning her 3rd Best Costumes award! Well Done and Thankyou Mrs Willis!

Once everyone was ready, we made our way excitedly backstage to see our brilliant stage crew doing a fantastic job.  Everyone was playing their important part so well, and it was time.  This was our one change and our one moment! We were ready to give it our best, our everything, and make it the performance of our lives...and we did! We raised the roof of the Waterfront Hall with our best ever Rock Challenge performance! I watched from the side wings with tears of pride as everyone involved worked harder than ever before! They performed beyond what I, or even they, though they could! They danced, they smiled, they acted, they moved set, they lit the stage, they filmed it all…;.they did it!!!

The last line of our finale song said “what have you done today to make you feel proud?”, and when our girls held their hands up together at that moment, I knew and they knew, that we had all done something to be very proud of! 

When every girl looks back on their school days in years to come, I want them to remember how they felt at that moment. 

We won the heat, receiving 8 rewards to our credit, but the more important than any of that are the friendships, skills and self- confidence that our girls gained from taking part in Rock Challenge.

Well Done everyone, and THANK YOU!