Students on the Step Dancing Team at Confluence’s Walnut Park campus had something to be especially grateful for this past Thanksgiving. They were invited to participate in the Chicago Thanksgiving Day parade, the second largest Thanksgiving Day Parade in the entire country, where they were to perform before 450,000 parade-goers and 75,000,000 households via the Chicago-based WGN television network – the adventure of a lifetime for thirty-six 6th through 8th graders at the school.
The invitation symbolized strong recognition for all the hard work the students have done over the past two years. When the team was founded in 2007 to provide students with a positive alternative to what the streets have to offer, Mr. Sloan and Ms. Johnson, team coaches, knew right away they had a winner. Students need to maintain high grade-point averages and demonstrate good citizenship by, among other things, being role models for all Walnut Park students. In addition they put in hours and hours of practice to hone their skills. The team’s membership grew by leaps and bounds as students discovered how rewarding hard work can be and how proud one can be of one’s best efforts.
The Chicago invitation was the crowning achievement. The whole community chipped in to make it possible for the students to go. Parents held fund-raisers to pay for uniforms. The Confluence Board embarked on a fund-raising effort to cover the expenses of the students and their chaperones. Lo and behold, everyone’s hard work paid off: money was raised, students boarded the bus, stayed in a hotel (the first time for most students – indeed, the first time many of the students had ever been away from St. Louis, and the first time they had ever been in Chicago) and marched with pride and ease on Thanksgiving Day. As they walked past the WGN cameras, they waved to the cheering crowd with pride and excitement, clearly on Cloud 9!
And as far as Chicago goes, Corri King, 8th grade, summed up the students’ impressions: “I think Chicago was AWESOME!” Team coaches felt the same way. Mr. Leamond Sloan, one of the team’s two coaches, said that he was very “grateful to be a part of such a memorable time in these children’s lives.” Ms. Hannah Johnson, founder of the team, reported that “the experience in Chicago was one of the most rewarding opportunities of my career. To see the culmination of such hard work and dedication was indescribable.”
The entire Confluence community is extremely proud of the achievements of these young people. They have set the bar and have proven that when you put forth your best efforts, you can achieve whatever you put your mind to. Congratulations, Steppers!
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