Crowe, Gupta partner for Dancing with the Stars

Megan Crowe and Ayush Gupta will partner to form Team 10 of Dancing with the Stars Gets Schooled.

“Mohawk Presents Calhoun’s Dancing with the Stars Gets Schooled!” will put 20 local high school students onstage at the Calhoun Performing Arts Center for a Student Show on May 30 and a Grand Finale on May 31 with the curtain dropping at 7 p.m. both nights. Ten dance teams will vie for trophies, bragging rights and college scholarships as they compete to raise funds for United Way of Gordon County. Tickets will remain on sale until the curtain falls.

The show will feature 10 couples, all students enrolled at high schools located in Gordon County. The couples dancing are Ibby (Elizabeth) Peyton and Drew Rutledge; Megan Wright and Logan Parker; Lydia Jaime and Aaron Hayes; Jahlaynia Winters and Riley Anderson; Haylea Graham and Aavyn Lee; Madison Reyes and Jordan Jacques; Kathrynn Stockman and Nate Stockman; Trinity Reyes and Jackson Murray; Brooke Childs and Trevor Burdick; and Meagan Crowe and Ayush Gupta. Each member of the winning team will receive a $1,000 scholarship. Each member of the first runnerup team will receive $750; second runner-up members will receive $600 and all other dancers who complete the show will receive a $500 scholarship.

Megan Crowe and Ayush Gupta will partner to form Team Ten. Both dancers are seniors at Calhoun High School. Crowe’s parents are Nicole Crowe and Ben Crowe and her stepmother is Susan Crowe. She has two siblings: Abby and Hollis Crowe, and two step-siblings, Kylie and Trevor Swinford. Gupta is the son of Vineet and Jyoti Gupta. He has one sibling, Anisha Gupta.

Megan Crowe i s an active student at Calhoun High School, where she is involved with student government and serves as a senior class representative. She is a member of the Beta Club, National Honor Society and Key Club. She received a Certified Nursing Assistant (CAN) credential as a junior through the Calhoun High School healthcare pathway.

With 10 years of experience on dance teams with Expressions Dance Studio, Crowe is one of the most accomplished dancers competing this year. She and Gupta both participated in the Class of 2019 Baxter-Dean Charity Runway Show, along with other students dancing this year. Crowe attends Northpointe Church in Dalton.

Ayush Gupta has no dance training or experience but is a very accomplished student. He is treasurer of the Key Club, vice president of the student body, vice president of administration for the Beta Club, and social media director for the National Honor Society. He also served as a volunteer at the Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership Seminar.

Gupta is academically successful, maintaining a 4.0 grade point average. He has been accepted at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and has devoted more than 600 hours to community service during his high school career.

This will be the third student show, which spun off the adult version that ran for five years at the historic GEM Theatre. The dancers are learning more about the United Way agencies and have already volunteered at the Special Olympics and the Voluntary Action Center. The group did volunteer work for Gordon County 4-H in early April. Additional information will be made available about the event and the dancers through newspaper articles, social media and the United Way website at gordoncountyunitedway.org.

The mission of United Way of Gordon County is to accurately assess the needs of Gordon County and to mobilize available resources to meet those needs. It serves 18 local agencies in Gordon County, as well as serving as a referral source for the community.