By Katie Ellington, News Editor
There will soon be another student club here at Asbury. At its meeting last Tuesday, Asbury Student Congress approved the step club charter by presented freshman Tinson Lam (pictured above).
After writing a charter and presenting it to both the Student Governance Association and student congress, Lam said he was thrilled.
“It was a long process to establish a club together, but in the end, it was worth it,” he said via email.
Stepping is a form of dance invented in Africa. Dancers use their bodies as percussion instruments, creating sounds and rhythms through stomping, clapping and spoken word.
“Before my arrival to Asbury, I knew I wanted to bring something to the university and make an everlasting impact, and I believe step team can make that happen,” said Lam. He began stepping after one of his friends started a club at his high school.
“When Tinson came to me with the idea for this club, I had no clue what ‘stepping’ was,” said student body president Meredith Anderson. “The team is so cool because it is completely different from any club that we currently have at Asbury.”
According to Lam, the campus club will have two teams: a performance team and an intramural team. He already has high hopes for the group.
“My hope for step team is to perform during chapel, at the mall, campus events and access days for seniors in high school…in the future, I hope to combine the performance team and the intramural team and have a winter and spring concert,” he said.
But most importantly, Lam predicts that the step club will bring students together and provide a better appreciation of the culture from which it originated.
“I am hoping that the members of step team will not only view this as an extracurricular activity, but as a chance to know one another, support each other and be a second family,” he explained.
“I am constantly seeking opportunities to provide our students exposure to the richness available in the ethnic cultures around us,” said Esther Jadhav, the club’s faculty advisor. “I think this a great opportunity for our students to experience an aspect of the African tradition with they would otherwise not have the opportunity.”