Photo by Jaylynn Donaldson ’25: Step team gets ready for prep rally preformances.
By Xa’riyah Mitchell ’25
DHS Step team lacks money for uniforms, not because of discrimination but because of their club status. However, the team wants more money funded to them because of their dedication to Derby High School. A way the team can receive more funds at this point with their current status is by reaching out to the community and fundraising.
Although it might look like the Step team is being overlooked and not receiving proper funding, in reality, it is all just a huge misunderstanding because none of the clubs at DHS receive funding. It is important to clear up this misconception.
Unlike official sports teams, clubs at DHS are expected to provide funding for themselves. There are no funds provided from the school and the advisors of the club are to pay for the requirements, according to Athletic Director Jennifer Moffat. The step team was told they are a part of the CIAC, but there has been a misunderstanding about what that means. Yes, They are a part of CIAC, but unfortunately, since Step is ranked as a club under the CIAC, they do not have any support financially. Just like the other clubs in Derby High School. “When something becomes a sport, that opens up the door for more opportunities to provide different resources,” says Assistant Principal Ray Coplin. He also stated that if the team was a varsity sport, they would be funded fully. For example, The Derby Volleyball team is newer than the step team, but they worked their way up into becoming an official varsity team. This allowed them to get full funding. The idea of the Step Team formed from the interest of David Clark-Edge ‘24 and Trioni Wright ‘25 to begin a dance team for DHS to build a community within the school for people who were interested. They then reached out to paraprofessional Shaneeka Burhanan to help make this team happen because of her past experience with Step. They went from informal practices in the cafeteria, to meetings with group planning on what was to come. They made their first performances at the football game last year, and as time went on, Burhanan was then appointed to the position as the formal Step coach.
When it comes to funding, Burhanan expects that they will have to do fundraising again because there isn’t a budget for Step, “and I wish that there was because yes we are a club, but again, it’s going to be a challenge because there has to be a finance and an expense coming out of our pocket.” Burhanan says. Captain Julissa Florres ‘25 says, “I feel like the funding isn’t enough and we have to do everything we can in order to get the supplies we need.” She also expresses how she thinks the funding is unfair and that if the school approved of this team, it should have been better supported financially. Flores explains how this problem affects the team negatively because the girls do not even have a uniform so they have to pay from their pockets. Co-Captain and video producer Diana Ladouceur ‘24 similarly said “ I feel as though the funding is not enough. I believe we can receive better support for our team and better acknowledgement” she then mentioned how She believes they should have the same support and treatment as other teams and a good amount of money to at least to set them up with the basic requirements for their second year of being a team.
What the team is not realizing is that the reason they are not getting any basic funding is because they are not an official sport according to the CIAC and Final Forms. A way the Step Team can get more funding is by fundraising and having events outside of school as well instead of staying limited to just the school. That way, they can also gain more money from the community members and donors, according to Italian teacher Hunter Sigona, the advisor of the Italian club.
Sigona said that the Italian club also does not receive any funding from the school; and how they got their money from a grant they received from Italian teacher Gianna Harrington and some fundraising that has not done at all for them. Francisco Salazar explains that his Spanish club has always fundraised for the 20 years it has existed. “We also had a big bingo where the whole community was involved and we made a lot of money.” Salazar states.
The Step Team can seek out the people of the Board of Education and local businesses as well to contribute to increasing the funding of the club, Sigona states.
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