Please see Kayleigh’s story below. Let’s band together to help out a fellow baton twirling coach during her time of need!

Kayleigh’s Story:

July 18th, 2025

This is not a goodbye as we will be stronger from this in our two upcoming summer camps and 2025-2926 season.

But this ones stings.

The night that Hunter and I drove 11 1/2 (thank you Chicago) through the storm to get home to check on things…

The team performed with such grace and energy & had a wonderful week competiting at AYOP Nationals at Notre Dame University.

We showed back up to a completely flooded and crippled KayKo Baton Studio.

If you’ve been lucky enough to be apart of KayKo, you know its a special place where children walk through the door and let go of all of their outside baggage, twirl & dance around like nobody’s watching and forget about the constant noise of the world.. even if it’s just for an hour or two each week. This environment isn’t built overnight; it takes years and years to establish.

Faith

Integrity

Trust

Loyalty

Patience

Energy

Countless hours

Gained trust from parents

but let me tell you.. it’s even more work to gain trust and loyalty from children. A slow and delicate process but such a scared one if you can find a place that offers that for your child. We were doing that. We still are doing that. We won’t stop doing that.

I say all of this because that is something that cannot be ripped away or destroyed overnight. Yes, it can be crippled, set back and injured. But no flood, fire, or disease can take the heart of KayKo away.

James 1:2 says to count it all joy when you fall into various trials because the testing of your faith produces patience.

To drive up to this scene at 3:30am was unimaginable. I cried. Then Hunter and I pulled our boots on, I hopped on piggyback and Hunter trudged us both through the over knee deep water.

God’s faithful workers showed up.

We cleaned, we mopped, we removed the water. So the studio is drying out, but now it is a waiting game to assess damages.

What I do know for certain is; We will find a way out of this while continuing to focus on strengthening those values we’ve been worked for years to build.

Thank you to Hunter, Jim, Jill, Brian, Denise, Lucy, Addie, Eric, Andrea, Leighton, Alec, Becca, Tommy, Piper, Dawson, Desi, Katie, Emmalyn, Nikki, Anna, Claire, Jr., Kallie, Charlotte, Emmerson, Ainsley, Asher, Brittany, Dyllen, Alison, Kim

If I missed you I’m sorry, I’m running on little sleep.

We will figure out summer camps. We will figure out Fall session. The building that we’ve poured our time and soul into might be injured right now, but KayKo Baton Studio is here to stay.

What could be helpful right now is if you’ve ever sent me a text message with a kind word that you’ve heard your KayKo Star say, journal entry that you’ve maybe cried over, drawing that you’ve found behind the desk, etc. etc., post it below if you feel led to share! Those never fail to lift me up!

Updated edit: If you’d like to support the studio monetarily, my venmo is Kayleigh-Kontz

Anything will help if you feel lead to give.

We will finish strong with our theme for this year; “Let Your Light Shine”

Twirlingly,

Coach Kayleigh❤️‍