Photo provided Bethlehem native Brittney Baker, center, captain of the Duquesne University Dukettes dance team, is congratulated by her teammates. The Dukettes recently took home their first national title at the virtual National Dance Association Collegiate Dance Championships.

WHEELING — Bethlehem native Brittney Baker danced her way from Wheeling Park High School to Pittsburgh and Duquesne University, and now she is a national champion.

Baker captained the Dukettes dance team to its first-ever national title at the virtual National Dance Association Collegiate Dance Championships, which were judged on April 10.

The Duquesne dancers defeated those from the University of Illinois-Chicago, and achieved first place for team performance in the Division 1 category.

The West Virginia University dance team finished at the top in Division 1A in both jazz and team performance.

“I have been dancing since I was 2 years old,” Baker said.

“To dance in college on a dance team was a dream. To become captain and achieve a national championship is beyond words.”

The Duquesne dance team had never competed in the national competition until 2018, when Baker was a freshman.

“The first time was my freshman year, and we didn’t even know we would make the finals,” she said.

“Now my senior year, we won the finals.”

Baker is the daughter of Mark and Dayna Baker of Bethlehem. She is a graduate of Wheeling Park High School, where she was an honors student, cheerleader and homecoming queen. Baker is in her fifth year of the accelerated five-year physician assistant program at Duquesne. Similar programs at other colleges take six years.

She balances studies with her responsibilities as dance team captain.

Baker said a typical day for her typically includes classes from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., then dance team duties from 6-10 p.m.

As captain, she was responsible for working virtually with a choreographer in Florida who crafted their dance routines, then instructing the 14-member squad on the steps.

“Each day I go to school and do what I have to do, then I go to dance and do what I have to do as captain,” Baker said.

When she returns home, she studies her lessons.

Baker will not compete with the dance team next year, as required clinical rotations and school work will fill her schedule. She does plan, however, to continue assisting the team with its choreography.

“I would love to work in pediatrics, then come back and coach the team I am on. That is my ultimate goal,” she said. “I’ve had the best time in college, and the dance team made it all the more better.”

Whether she is able to stay and coach the Duquesne dance team will determine for Baker whether she remains in Pittsburgh after graduation, or maybe returns to the Ohio Valley to work.

A career as a physician assistant will make it largely possible for her to live and work wherever she chooses.

“I am very proud to be from Wheeling,” she said. “When I came to Duquesne, I was the only person I knew who came from Wheeling.

“I’m glad to carry Wheeling, and my experiences there helped shape me into who I am. But if I get to coach the team, I will stay in Pittsburgh.”

Baker said wherever she makes her life she will continue to dance.

“Absolutely, I’ve been dancing my entire life,” she said. “I don’t know what life is like without dance, and I don’t want to find out. Winning solidified that for me.”