School spirit lives on through virtual and online engagement with CSUDH’s Stampede and Dance Teams, plus Teddy the Toro. Photo courtesy of the teams.
By Anthony Vasquez, Staff Reporter
Give me a C! Give me an O! Give me a V! Give me an I! And finally give me a D! What’s that spell? COVID!
It’s no secret that Toros have had to adapt to these new circumstances that involve remote learning and attending class online via Zoom. But along with these changes, we find ourselves no longer having that on-campus feeling of the first weeks and lose that overall feeling of school spirit this Fall.
The CSUDH Stampede (Cheer, Majorette, and Flag) and Dance Teams, while on top of being studious Toros, endured the lack of in-person interactions with their teammates and fellow students.
“We engage together as a team meeting 3 times a week for practices but as well as meeting up separately for group activities such as working on art together,” Flag Captain Andrea Lucio said.
While training for competitions is one priority in itself, maintaining and creating team morale is another factor of importance that’s been affected, leading to new virtual and digital avenues being explored more.
“My teammates are my rock and help me through everything, they make it easier!” Senior Shahrazad Abboud, a CSUDH Dance member said.
Head CSUDH Dance Coach Cilecia Foster, discussed these new ventures by using their Instagram platform, collaborating with other campus clubs/organizations, as well as expanding their platform to raise awareness on public affairs.
Their most recent collaboration was with the CSUDH E-Sports Team to promote their involvement in a tournament. They also had promotional videos for incoming students at this year’s 2020 New Student Convocation which the Stampede participated in.
Along with these changes, they plan on conducting live Instagram streams where they’ll demonstrate dancing techniques and clinics that will later be uploaded onto YouTube for those who were not able to attend live.
While today’s circumstances interrupted tryouts, it resulted in a historical achievement for the team.
“Digital engagement has definitely increased and worked in our favor,” Foster said. “We had our largest field of prospective dancers audition this year with over 120 registered for auditions which led to our largest selection in team history: a team of 29.”
Head Coach of The Stampede, Cameron Thurman, also shared her thoughts and aspirations for her students as both student-athletes and as humans. Thurman, an alumna of CSUDH, is optimistic about adapting to the new climate of virtual classes.
“One thing I noticed is that they all know how to work well apart and what I try to teach them is we all have a piece of the puzzle and that’s what makes us like one big beautiful flower, everybody is a petal,” Thurman said. “Because oftentimes we think we’re the only ones going through something…when I feel comfortable telling them something I went through while I was at Dominguez, it opens the door for them to share what they’re going through.”
As they work towards creating engaging content for recruits and students through their Instagram, such as letting students vote for their Short Flag team name, she also shared some exclusive news.
“We won’t be telling you all our secrets that we have planned, but something myself and some of the coaches have been pondering is shooting a small documentary soon, that can hopefully inspire some local students,” Thurman said.
Despite the season not happening for all teams each plan on using this time to improve themselves as a unit and as well as devote time to building more engagement and notoriety from fellow Toros and outside organizations.
But as Thruman put it, “The Stampede doesn’t have to get ready; because we stay ready.”
To stay updated on the CSUDH Stampede and CSUDH Dance teams follow them on their social media platforms:
CSUDH Stampede: @csudhcheerteam
CSUDH Dance: @csudhdanceteam
