P-R-O: Sheena of the Arctic

Sheena used to work in a French daycare center in Iqaluit, the capital of Canada’s newest and northernmost territory. One of the more unusual problems that she would encounter was having to keep the children inside because polar bears were roaming around outside. That’s just one stop on the wild (and romantic journey) that brought Sheena to the ice of Charlotte’s Time-Warner Arena as a member of the ECHL Charlotte Checkmates.

Sheena grew up in Canada’s Nova Scotia province and graduated from St. Francis Xavier University with degrees in French, Biology and Education.

She did an internship in the Bahamas working with dolphins, traveled to the frozen Arctic for the aforementioned daycare position, and worked at Sea World in Orlando as a Marine Information officer.

During her last week in Orlando, she was working the beluga whales exhibit, when a father and young daughter stopped to ask some questions. After an hour Sheena rotated to the polar bear exhibit and ran into the same father and daughter. This continued throughout the day with Sheena answering all their questions. At the end of the day he gave Sheena his card.

On her way back home, Sheena was flying out of Orlando and had two layover choices: Atlanta or Charlotte. She chose Charlotte and they met for coffee during her layover. She did the long distance relationship thing for about a year, then moved to Charlotte, got married, and now they’re one happy family.

Sheena now teaches middle school and high school French. And while she loves Charlotte, one day she was homesick for Canada. So she went to a Charlotte Checkers hockey game, where she saw the Checkers Dance Team, The Checkmates. Since she was young she had always enjoyed dancing and performing. So she talked to Director Brandii McCoy and learned more about the organization, attended a prep class and made the team this past August.

[Charlotte Checkmates]

[Checkmates at P-R-O]

Checkmates Auditions are Saturday, August 15th.