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Cedar Hill Step Teams Win Championships in Atlanta

The Cedar Hill ISD Step Teams traveled to Atlanta for a competition on March 15 and returned with some well-deserved hardware.

The High School Girls and Middle School Boys each placed first out of 25 teams, and the High School Boys finished third. The High School Girls did a Beauty Shop theme, while the Middle School Theme was “I’m Lit.”

The High School Boys had a Shade Tree Mechanic Theme.

“We’ve grown so much in a short period of time,” Cedar Hill Step Coach William Holmes said. “Other teams have been there for years. For us to come in and win right away speaks volumes. We saw a different style of stepping, and we came in with a flair of momentum.”

The competition featured teams from Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania among other places.

Forty-six of the program’s 49 members made the trip to Atlanta, which will prepare the group for an April 5 competition at the University of Texas at Arlington called Stomp Wars.

Holmes started the CHISD Step Program – originally at High Pointe Elementary. The program is currently open to scholars at all of CHISD’s secondary campuses. He has been involved in step programs for nearly three decades, dating back to his time at Jackson State University.

Holmes is a third generation stepper, as his granddaughter, Ariana Holmes (a Collegiate Academy scholar), is part of the Step program.

While the competition was the main focus of the trip, the scholars also toured Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Spelman College, visited the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Museum, visited Ebenezer Baptist Church where Dr. King served as pastor. They also visited the Georgia Aquarium.

“Sitting in Ebenezer Baptist Church was eye opening, the high school kids enjoyed the college tours and everyone loved the aquarium,” Holmes said.