Two high school seniors from McKinney High School in Texas decided to shake things up a bit last fall by starting a swing dance club.

Chad Packard and McKenzie Ogletree learned swing dancing as kids when Chad's mom, a swing dancer herself, taught them and choreographed dances for church and school talent shows.

"We were kind of just tired of everyone dancing in inappropriate ways," McKenzie said. "We wanted to teach new ways to dance and have fun without dancing inappropriately."

Chad and McKenzie started spreading the news of their idea around to all their friends. About 20 people showed up to the first meeting. The two friends were surprised when attendance doubled and then tripled within the next three meetings.

With the help of Chad's mom, he and McKenzie taught their friends sequences of moves and lifts so they could easily remember the dances and be comfortable performing them. Teaching was both fun and hard, Chad said, but definitely a new experience for him.

Chad and McKenzie are in the minority at McKinney High School. Mormons are few and far between. But, they say, everyone knows who they are and respects their beliefs and values.

The swing dance club was a place for kids to go after school, giving them a way to have a really good time and have clean fun, Chad said. A wide variety of students joined, too.

"What I thought was awesome about it was we didn't exclude anyone," McKenzie said. "We had a member of every group of the high school. I thought that was the coolest part about the club."

McKenzie is involved in many activities herself — basketball, volleyball and pole vault. And she loves being Leo the Lion, the school's mascot. Chad graduated early and is attending BYU now, but he, too, was involved, playing football, soccer, wrestling and singing in the choir.

"It was fun to see guys on my football team come up to me in the hallway and be excited about the swing dance club," Chad said.

After practicing for a couple of months, the swing dance club performed at a pep rally before the last football game of the season, which was a big deal because there were alumni there being inducted into the hall of fame. McKenzie heard people saying it was the most impressive pep rally they had ever seen.

Chad and McKenzie started the swing dance club for fun and to share something that makes them happy. Living in a place surrounded by friends who don't share their beliefs, it gave them opportunities to strengthen their values by sharing them with others.

"I thought it was such an awesome missionary experience for Chad and me. Every time we would teach the dance, we would incorporate those standards into the dances," McKenzie said. "I didn't think that so much good would come from it."