Written by Emily Bernard    

    Vicki Fulghum or "Miss Vicki" as she is called started taking dance classes at the age of 3 years old. She took from Bess McBride whose studio was located by Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana. She also took gymnastic classes from Vannie Edwards whose classes were taught at Centenary College.

     At the age of 11 she started taking private lessons in addition to her regular classes in tap, ballet and acrobatics.  There would be a break between her regular classes and her 2 hour private lessons, so she would eat and do her homework at Strawn's every night of the week. Miss Vicki was involved with 2 ballet companies which met for 3-4 hours on Saturday mornings.  The Ballet Art's Workshop and The Ballet Art's Dancers with Bess McBride.

    At 14, her mother took her to a dance convention where she was taught jazz for the first time, she loved it! Soon after this her dance teacher retired.  Miss Vicki became a member of a jazz company named Omni Dance Theater with Lea Darwin, an international teacher and lecturer.  She started to travel around the country seeking out different teachers and techniques.  She studied with several different national and international dancing masters in all disciplines. Some of these teachers included Buster Cooper, Al Gilbert, Gus Giordano, Charles Kelley, Joe Tremaine, Robert Jofreion, Joseph Levinoff and Ronnie Mahler.

    At the age of 15, Miss Vicki started her dance studio by passing out flyers to children in her neighborhood.  Her first dance class consisted of 4 students, which she taught in her parent's double garage that was made into a playroom. The second year she had 20 students enrolled. The third year, her dance class had grown to 40 students and has kept on growing. Miss Vicki has been teaching dance for 39 years and now has an enrollment of approximately 250 students at her dance studio.

    When she was 16 she presented herself for an examination in ballet, tap and jazz. She became a member of the Southern Association of Dance Masters.  At 17 she was asked to go to New York with Charles Kelly to study under him.  After graduating from high school she decided to attend Kilgore College and became an internationally known Kilgore Rangerette. In her sophomore year, she tried out for and was chosen the first out-of-state Captain of the Rangerettes. After she finished her 2 years at Kilgore she started a dance line at Centenary and received a choreography scholarship that paid for the rest of her education. Vicki Murray (Fulghum) married her high school sweetheart, Hal Fulghum, in 1976. She graduated in 1977 with a degree in primary and secondary education.

    Gussie Nell Davis, the originator of the Rangerettes asked Miss Vicki to be an instructor for American Drill Team School.  She traveled and taught dance all over the country, she was also selected as one of the original mini Rangerette instructors.

        At the age of 23 she quit teaching around the country and stayed home to have her first child, Sara.  For years Mrs. Davis asked Vicki to come and teach the Rangerettes' jazz dance at pre-training.  She was also hired to teach the Big Tap to the Rangerettes. This went on for 7 years, during this time Miss Vicki had her second daughter Shelly. After having her third child, Melanie, she realized that driving to Kilgore 2 times a week would need  to come to an end.

    She has since choreographed many area dancelines.  She helped originate the Bossier Bearkat Babes, and the Bossier Parish Community College Ladies in Gold.  She worked with the Woodlawn Redline and Southwood Silver Spurs dancelines.  She was the choreographer  for Airline High School and Benton High School.  She has had the privilege of meeting and working with many high achieving and hard working young ladies.

    In closing Miss Vicki says, "My career reads like a storybook.  The greatest thing about it is, it's still a part of my everyday life. I get to teach a young girl something that she thinks is almost impossible.  I get to watch her work & work & work some more and then I get to see her succeed!  She did it........all by herself!  To succeed in life is to learn to work for something, no matter what it is. Be your best, NEVER give up!