Instagram story viewer> @stephanieclick> Posts

Stephanie Click

@stephanieclick

2.5K

followers

4021

following

Director of Color Guard - Seven Lakes HS
DCI + WGI behind the scenes
Sharing band, travel, & everyday chaos
Mom to Avery & Piper, Wife to Don
📍Texas

POSTS STORIES REELS

Your vote matters. So does mine.

Regardless of your party affiliation, I hope one lesson stays with us after yesterday: our participation matters. Here in Texas and across the country, people showed up to have a say in what comes next.

It’s easy to convince yourself that one vote won’t make a difference. That your community will always vote a certain way. That the outcome has already been decided.

But an election isn’t decided by what we assume everyone believes. It’s decided by the people who show up.

My grandfather spent more than 25 years in politics. He served as our town’s mayor, a city councilman, and on countless committees. Growing up, voting wasn’t optional in our house. It was expected. It was a responsibility you took seriously.

On my 18th birthday, I registered to vote.

And while my family, for the most part, voted straight down the party line, they never told me who to vote for. They taught me that voting mattered and trusted me to make that decision for myself.

That has stayed with me.

As an adult, I vote for the candidate I believe will best serve all the people. Including the people who disagree with them. Including the people who will never vote for them.

Sometimes that person is a Republican. Sometimes that person is a Democrat.

I look at the person. The issues. The grit. The heart. Their willingness to listen, to do the work, and to remember who they serve.
That’s what earns my vote.

You and I may look at the same candidates and reach different conclusions. We can disagree and still take our responsibility seriously. We can care deeply about our country and have different ideas about how to move it forward.

But I hope we never talk ourselves into believing our voices don’t count.

My grandfather helped teach me that years ago. It’s a lesson I carried into my first voting booth, and one I still carry today.

My vote matters. So does yours. Use it. by @stephanieclick

You have ideas. You care about your students. You want to give them a show they can connect with and be proud to perform.
Sometimes, an outside perspective can help you figure out how to get there.

1. You have plenty of ideas, but need help finding the thread. The music, the visual inspiration, that one moment you can already picture. A creative partner can help you connect those pieces into a clear direction your staff and students can understand.

2. You know something isn’t working, but can’t quite put your finger on it. When you’ve watched the same production every day, it can be hard to see what needs attention. A fresh set of eyes and ears can help you identify what to adjust and where to spend your rehearsal time.

3. Your vision is bigger than your available time. You have students to teach, rehearsals to plan, and a program to run. Having someone to develop ideas with, talk through decisions, or take on part of the creative work can help you keep moving.

Don and I love this part of what we do: working alongside educators to help bring their ideas to life. We’re still actively teaching groups, working through the same daily challenges you are. We’re in the trenches with you, and we bring that current, hands-on experience to every collaboration, from evolving trends to practical tips and tricks we’re using with our own students.

Through Click Media & Design, we’re taking on new clients for winter guard, winter percussion, marching band, and choreography. Whether you need program design, choreography, ongoing consultation, or a one-time video review, we’d love to talk about what would be useful for your team.

Visit clickmediadesign.com or send us a message. Let’s see what we can create together! by @stephanieclick

After 34 years of teaching, there are a few things I wish I could tell the version of me who was just getting started. She had plenty of enthusiasm. What she didn’t have yet was perspective.

Here’s what I’d want her to know:

* Trust your gut.
* You can care deeply and still disappoint someone.
* Keep your inner circle small.
* Build vendor relationships wisely.
* Get to know the school custodian.
* The same approach won’t work for every student.
* You’ll remember ordinary rehearsals as clearly as the awards.
* You won’t always get to see the difference you made.
* Build something you enjoy being part of, too.

I still love a beautiful flag moment and a great performance. But the longer I do this, the more I treasure the people I’ve gotten to know along the way. There’s no way that day-one version of me could have understood how much they would mean to her.

Read the full post here - https://tinyurl.com/8muwbrwa by @stephanieclick

The scariest thing about Halloween? How quickly these two grew up.

Taking a little trip down memory lane with Avery and Piper today. Tiny costumes, candy buckets, pumpkin carving with Dad, and two little faces who made every holiday more fun.

At the time, we were just getting everyone dressed and trying to get a picture before heading out for candy. Looking back, those ordinary moments were some of the sweetest parts of raising them.

I would happily take one more walk around the neighborhood holding those little hands.

Happy Halloween! by @stephanieclick

Some recipes are so good that you make them once and immediately know they’ll become a family favorite. This Pumpkin Crunch Cake is one of those recipes.

I first shared this recipe back in 2009, and all these years later, I still think it’s one of the best pumpkin desserts I’ve ever made. In fact, when I first made it, Don took one bite and said, “I think this might be the best thing you’ve ever made.”

That’s a pretty bold statement. And honestly? He might have been right.

This is my church potluck, county fair bake-off, Thanksgiving table, bad-week comfort food. It’s the dessert you make when you want to impress people without spending hours in the kitchen.

And one of my favorite things about it? The ingredients are simple, inexpensive, and usually already in my pantry. You don’t need fancy baking skills or special equipment. Just a mixing bowl, a 9×13-inch baking dish, and a few ingredients. The bottom is a soft, creamy pumpkin layer, while the top bakes into a buttery, golden crunch with toasted pecans.

It’s a little like pumpkin pie meets cake, and it’s absolutely delicious. by @stephanieclick

After 34 years of teaching color guard, I've realized that my favorite part isn't the competitions, choreography, or performances. It's watching kids become people.

There's something special about putting a flag in a student's hands for the very first time. You celebrate their first catch, their first performance, and the moment they realize they're capable of more than they imagined.

Then you watch them grow.

The shy freshman finds confidence. The struggling beginner becomes a leader. And seemingly overnight, that nervous kid is a young adult spinning for the very last time as your student.

At our band banquet last year, a student said something I'll never forget: “I know that we are just a chapter in Mrs. Click's book of teaching, but to me, she's my entire story.”

After 34 years, I've taught hundreds of students. But each of them gets only ONE high school color guard experience. I have a responsibility to make it meaningful.

There's something I always tell my students: “I was there on your first day, and I'll be there on your last.” And I mean it.

If they march DCI, WGI, or college guard, I'll do everything I can to be in the stands. I want them to know I'm still cheering, even when they're no longer my students.

And when they put down their equipment for the final time? I'll keep cheering. For their graduations, careers, marriages, families, and all the wonderful lives they build.

My investment in them doesn't end when they graduate.

I love teaching color guard. But the greatest privilege isn't teaching a student how to spin a flag. It's getting to know the person they become while they're holding it. That's my favorite part.

#ColorGuard #marchingband #MusicEducation #WGI #ColorGuardDirector by @stephanieclick

January 7. A date I'll never forget. I was sitting at my desk, eating a salad and drinking a Coke, when my phone rang. It was my OB/GYN.

"Stephanie, I just got your biopsy results, and it's not good."

Breast cancer. In both breasts. In the span of one lunchtime phone call, my entire world changed.

What followed was a whirlwind of chemotherapy, surgeries, losing my hair, and navigating cancer treatment during a global pandemic. But what I remember most isn't necessarily the physical pain. It's watching my children cry. It's my husband holding my hand through the hardest days. It's the friends and family who showed up in ways I could never have imagined. It's the overwhelming goodness of God in the middle of something so frightening.

Cancer took a lot from me. But it also changed me in ways I never expected.

I don't take no for an answer anymore. I've always been determined, but the woman I am today is driven and motivated beyond anything I was before. I push harder. I ask more questions. I take more chances. I refuse to let fear or someone else's limitations determine what I do with my life.

And I've learned that sometimes being strong means allowing other people to carry you when you can't carry yourself.

I wouldn't wish cancer on anyone. And I certainly wouldn't choose to walk that road again. I'm grateful for every ordinary day I've been given on the other side of it.

January 7 changed my life. But it never got to define it. It may have changed the direction of my life, but it also taught me that I'm the one who gets to decide what I do with the time I've been given.

#BreastCancerAwareness #BreastCancerSurvivor #MyCancerStory #Survivorship by @stephanieclick

2008. Lonestar Preview. I took Avery and Piper to see their dad with Clear Brook, and we stayed for the break between prelims and finals.

As a mom raising two little ones in the marching band world, I had perfected the art of packing "all the things" to keep them entertained during those long contest days. Blankets, kid-sized camping chairs, books, snacks ... you name it, I probably had it. We'd find a little patch of grass, spread everything out, and make ourselves at home.

Band kids running around, equipment moving everywhere, music in the distance, and the general chaos of a marching band contest? None of it ever phased them. It was just another Saturday.

And that's what I love most about this photo. Band life wasn't something our kids were introduced to. It was simply the life they knew.

They grew up in stadiums, gymnasiums, rehearsal spaces, and parking lots. They learned to nap through drumlines, entertain themselves through rehearsals, and make a home wherever the next performance took us.

And somewhere along the way, those two little kids sitting on blankets and watching everyone else became performers themselves. I don't think we realized at the time just how much those ordinary Saturdays were shaping their lives. by @stephanieclick

“Welcome to Hollywood! What’s your dream?” I’ve always loved that line from Pretty Woman. Because I’m a dreamer. I believe in big dreams. Ridiculous dreams. Dreams that other people may look at and think, “Yeah, good luck with that.”

And I absolutely believe we should tell young people that they can become the person they dream of becoming. But somewhere along the way, I think we started attaching a timeline to that promise.

If I work hard enough, it will happen. And if it doesn’t happen soon enough, we start wondering if maybe it never will.

That’s the lie.

Hard work matters. Talent matters. Preparation matters. But so do perseverance, timing, opportunity, failure, rejection, changing direction, and being brave enough to keep going when the dream looks nothing like you thought it would.

Sometimes you have to hear no.
Sometimes you have to try again.
Sometimes you have to get better.
Sometimes the opportunity you desperately wanted wasn’t actually the opportunity meant for you.

And sometimes you have to be brave enough to keep believing in something that is taking a whole lot longer than you planned.

I don't think every dream comes true exactly as we imagine it. Sometimes, if we're lucky, it becomes something even better.

So dream big. Work ridiculously hard. Be persistent. Be willing to fail. Change directions when you need to. Take the scary opportunity. Walk into the room even when you're not completely sure you belong there yet.

And don't confuse “not yet” with “never.” Maybe your dream isn't dead. Maybe you're just not finished becoming the person who's going to live it.

So, in the immortal words of Pretty Woman: “What’s your dream?” by @stephanieclick

I’m always reading something, but every once in a while, a book stays with me long after I’ve finished it. These four have done exactly that this year:

**The Women by Kristin Hannah**
I love historical fiction, especially when it teaches me something I somehow missed. I thought I knew quite a bit about the Vietnam War, but I had NO idea how the women who served were treated when they came home. I didn’t know they were essentially invisible. This one taught me something I feel like I should have known all along.

**The Things We Leave Unfinished by Rebecca Yarros**
OMG. THE ENDING. That is all I’m going to say because I refuse to ruin it for anyone. 😂 I literally couldn’t start another book for two days. I needed time to get myself together. If you know, YOU KNOW.

**Theo of Golden by Allen Levi**
Probably my biggest surprise of the year. It’s a beautiful, quiet story about kindness, connection, and the impact we can have on other people. And because photographs and portraits are something I deeply value, I loved that portraits were at the heart of the story.

**The Correspondent by Virginia Evans**
This book made me want to start writing letters. Actual letters. On paper. With a pen. What a lost art! There’s something incredibly intimate about getting to know someone through the words they choose to write to another person.

Four completely different books. Four stories I’m still thinking about.

And that may be my favorite thing a book can do.

Now I need to know: **What’s the best book you’ve read this year?** I’m always looking for my next one! by @stephanieclick

There is something to be said for the peacemakers and people pleasers in life. We need them. We love them. And, quite frankly, the world could probably use a few more people who genuinely care about how their actions affect others.

But there’s a difference between caring about someone else’s happiness and making yourself responsible for it.

Trying to live up to everyone else’s expectations is daunting at best and impossible at worst.

At some point, I think our goal has to become this:

Find true happiness without losing yourself in the process.

Of course, we want to hurt as few people as possible along the way. We should care about people. We should listen. We should consider how our choices affect those we love. We should be willing to admit when we’re wrong and change course when necessary.

But our happiness can’t depend on everyone else’s opinion of our choices.

Sometimes doing what you believe is right means someone will be disappointed in you.

Sometimes saying no will upset someone.

Sometimes setting a boundary will make someone uncomfortable.

Sometimes people simply won’t understand your decision.

And this one took me a LONG time to learn: Someone being unhappy with your decision does not automatically mean you made the wrong decision.

Listen to the people you trust. Consider their perspective. Be kind. Be thoughtful. Be willing to change your mind.

But don’t hand everyone else a vote on your life.

Ultimately, your road to happiness is a one-way street, and you’re the only one driving the car.

Make sure you’re actually headed somewhere YOU want to go. by @stephanieclick