The Mycenaean

Leesville’s Step Team will be performing at the Winterfest Assembly on Friday, Feb. 11.

The Pride Step Team will be staging what Diyana Howel, senior, calls a “new and fresh routine with new and advanced tricks.”

Each year the steppers prepare for their annual showcase with confident ease, but this year, the team hit a few obstacles along the way.

Ms. Jackson, retired assistant principal, was the adviser and coach of the step team. With her absence, the steppers are having a hard time preparing their routine.

“With Ms. Jackson gone, it has been difficult to assume any kind of leadership in the team, and finding time to practice is difficult without Ms. Jackson telling us when practices are supposed to happen,” said Jaleasa Henry, senior.

According to Howell, practices were more put together, and due to a lack of leadership, many people have decided to quit all together.

“Due to so many people quitting or graduating last year, we have had to do a lot of recruiting, and new recruiting means more teaching and some people are really slow learners,” said Howell.

“It was just so much more put together last year.”

When recruiting steppers, the team scouts people they think may be good at stepping. After selecting a candidate, the team teaches them a “little step” and sees if the nominee can learn it quickly. If they have met expectations, they are a part of the team, if not—

“We don’t ask them back to practice. We just thank them for trying and move on to the next one,” said Howell.

Although Ms. Jackson is retired, she still commutes to practices on the team’s Tuesday and Thursday practices. If they are really behind, the team even meets on Saturday.

“We are really working hard on our Winterfest routine and seem to be pulling it all together,” said Howell. “I am confident that we can please those crowds when the time comes.”