Cooper Step Team Alumni Return to Help Revive Team
When schools moved to virtual learning during the pandemic, many extracurricular activities came to a grinding halt.
Eighteen months later, many of the students involved in those activities have graduated or moved on, which means programs are trying to rebuild or even relaunch.
Cooper High School’s step team is trying to rebuild.
“A lot of my students have graduated already so I only had maybe two left that are in the building now,” said Tammy Rucker, advisor for the step team. “I didn’t think we would have a step team again.”
But Rucker knew if she could get students to see the step team in action, they might consider signing up. She reached out to Cooper alumni to see if they would come back to step at a pep rally.
“Now, I’ve been getting a lot of students come to me asking, are you going to step? are you going to step? That’s how bad they want a step team. One student created flyers because that’s how bad they want step in the building,” said Rucker.
So alumni came back, voluntarily and happily.
“I definitely miss the fam. I miss being on the Cooper floor. So, I’m excited to bring it back and bring it to the Hawks floor,” said Janesha Kimmons from the class of 2019. “The biggest thing I missed is being able to put smiles on people’s faces. A lot of people don’t know what step is and when they see us come out, they say wow, that’s really, really cool.”
The alumni practiced briefly before the homecoming pep rally.
Cierra Davis (class of 2012) and Luis Jimenez (class of 2019) were confident that the alumni wouldn’t have a hard time getting back in step.
“If your family bond is there, the energy will be there,” said Jimenez. “I would say it’s more about togetherness and unity. That’s the biggest thing. It’s coming together and making sure the beat is on-point, that we are united together and we don’t mess up.”
Alumni didn’t seem to miss a beat, and hope their efforts can result in several students coming out for tryouts soon.
“This was everything in my High School growing up. This was my family. This is what kept us going to school and having that backbone,” said Davis. “Today we’re recruiting.”
Cooper High School
