Jaime Guttenberg K nown as a “little firecracker,” Jaime Taylor Guttenberg lit up any room she walked into. Whether she put all of her energy into dance, school or her family and friends, Jaime had a hunger for adventure that made her passionate about anything that she set her heart on. Fourteen-year-old Jaime was born on July 13, 2003 in South Florida. She was the daughter of Jennifer and Fred Guttenberg and the younger sister of her 17-year-old brother, Jesse Guttenberg. Throughout her life, Jaime was smart, dedicated, loving and compassionate. “Jaime was the best daughter ever, the best sister ever and the best friend ever,” Jaime’s mother Jennifer Guttenberg said. Jaime’s friends would also describe her as energetic and feisty. With her big smile, Jaime was known to cheer anyone up and spread happiness wherever she went. “Jaime’s personality was crazy. She was literally just a little ball of energy; there isn’t another way to describe her,” senior Jessica Luckman said. “She never failed to light up the room or to make someone laugh.” Jaime attended Country Hills Elementary School and then Coral
Springs Middle School. She transferred to Westglades Middle School in seventh grade where she already had many friends attending the school. Jaime was known for her sheer dedication to dance. She was extremely talented and amazed others with her flexibility. She also worked very hard to increase her knowledge of different choreography and styles. “She caught my eye with her flexibility but caught my heart with her humor and determination,” team director Danielle Mednick said. “I’m the type of teacher who could care less about your talent, but rather your will to work and never give up. Jaime never gave up.” Jaime was a part of the Dance Theatre Extreme Team and danced for at least 13 hours a week in the Parkland studio. In addition to the weekly training, she also attended dance competitions and once took home second place for her solo. “I had the team write ‘why they dance’ three years ago,” Mednick said. “Jaime wrote a long essay, but what she said, it’s exactly what she stands for: ‘I dance because it makes me feel possibilities are endless and limits don’t exist. Every time I leap, I feel as though I’ve touched the
10 In Memoriam • Jaime Guttenberg
stars.’” To honor Jaime, a dance mom in Los Angeles came up with the idea to wear orange ribbons to their dance competition, since orange was Jaime’s favorite color. After posting this to Facebook, studios across the nation have worn orange ribbons to show their support. The movement has spread worldwide with thousands of people donning the ribbons and sharing their support on social media, including the American Ballet Theatre in New York, where performers wore orange ribbons during their performances. However, the support has not stopped with dance studios. Members of Dance Theatre performed on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, and not only did the staff of professional dancers wear orange ribbons for Jaime, but the guests aboard the ship did as well. Additionally, the casts of well-known plays, such as “Hamilton” and “Phantom of the Opera,” have worn orange ribbons during their performances to show support. “The overwhelming support from the ship dancers, as well as complete strangers, was honestly insane,” sophomore Alyssa Goldfarb said. “We’d be in random places, and passengers
would come up to us to ask if we were the dancers from Parkland. They would offer their condolences for Jaime, and many would tell us they were coming to our performance to support us and her.” In the room where Jaime rehearsed at the dance studio, the DTX has a chalkboard wall that is covered with different quotes and messages. At the beginning of the 2017-2018 dance season, all of the team members wrote quotes that inspired them on the wall. Jaime wrote, “dreams and dedication are a powerful combination.” “To preserve her quote, one of the dads on our team sealed it and put plexiglass over it to make sure nothing ever happened to it,” Luckman said. “We then erased all the other quotes we had written around it.” In addition to dancing, Jaime loved to listen to music. According to her friends, her favorite song was “Rewrite the Stars” from “The Greatest Showman,” and she could always be found singing karaoke or making up dance moves to the lyrics. Along with dancing and singing, Jaime was known for her love of cheese. Whether she had mounds of parmesan cheese on her pasta or was eating Cheez-It crackers,
