Now, in her final semester of high school, the senior known at her school for an infectious personality and wide smile has that levity to use as a first-year member of the Montezuma-Cortez High School track team.
“Track is going really good,” said Butler. “My favorite part has been the coaches and how supportive they are of what I’ve been doing.”
Butler’s most recent runs at the Cortez Invitational on March 25 and the senior did not disappoint, finishing 1st in the 100-meter hurdles (16.73) and the 300-meter hurdles (53.11).
“I want to try and make it to state,” Butler said. “My times have been improving and I’m really happy.”
A talented dancer
Prior to bursting onto the local track scene, Butler co-captained the M-CHS dance team to a 7th place finish at state in hip-hop category in 2014.
Butler also spends several hours each week dancing at Suzanne’s School of Dance in Cortez and has competed in several local and regional competitions over the years.
Thanks in large part to her dancing acumen, Butler was asked to help choreograph dances for the M-CHS Drama Department’s musical, “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” A longtime member of the M-CHS Drama Department, the senior eagerly obliged.
“I started in theatre my freshman year and I was in ‘Seussical,” said Butler. “Sophomore and junior year I did props and this year, they asked me if I would choreograph. I (choreographed) half the dances and danced in the last dance.”
As for her plans for dancing in the future, Butler said that she would like to eventually dance on the University of Las Vegas Nevada (UNLV) dance team.
Prior to trying out to do so however, Butler will move to Nevada after her graduation and attend community college for a year in order to get in state tuition.
“I want to eventually do something with civil rights,” said Butler, who earns A’s and B’s at M-CHS. “I think I’m going to eventually become a lawyer.”