YSU Hip-Hop Has All the Moves

By Desmond Ford
Jambar Contributor

The Youngstown State University hip-hop club has been together for two years and has already made a big impact. The club competed at Slippery Rock University against other schools and took home first place in the cheer and dance competition on Feb. 24.

Alexis Meyers, a junior exercise science major, said she enjoys being a part of the hip-hop dance club, and she has been with the club since it began. She said the team shares a special bond.

“It’s a lot of fun. So, this year we have a competition team and a performance team. The competition team is a select few out of the performance team,” she said.

There are 12 people on the competition team.

Meyers also said she knows there is a lot of work and time management that comes with being a part of the club.

“It’s a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. Most of us have dance experience or cheerleading experience or both, but other than the fact that it takes up some time along as you manage your time well, it’s a great experience,” Meyers said

She said the friends she has gained has been the best part of joining the club. According to Meyers, finding more friends who love to dance as much as she does makes the whole experience more enjoyable.

Logan Wolford, a sophomore education major, feels right at home being a member of this up-and-coming club.

“This really helped me reach out and make friends, and it’s a good group of girls and even we have a guy this year. It’s just a great way to make friends and be a part of the university,” Wolford said.

But with a lot of responsibilities comes with some challenges for being in the club.

“Trying to decipher between performance and competition, people dance differently and have different opinions and different flairs,” Wolford said.

With the competitions starting to get under way, the YSU hip-hop club is just getting started to make themselves well known to the public.

Victoria Russo, a senior in the dietetics program, said that being a part of the club is a stress reliever, but that it comes with so much responsibility.

“No matter what kind of day I’m having, I can always count on these people to bring me up,” she said.

Russo, who is also the secretary of the club, manages to balance school and having the time to practice with her team.

“Trying to time manage is a little bit difficult, but I know that Tuesdays and Thursdays is dedicated directly to hip-hop,” Russo said.

There’s a bright future for this club and Russo hopes that someone can take this team further.

“I really do believe that there is a ton of potential. A lot of people on campus know who we are, especially after our competition. People I don’t even know came up to me and said congratulations,” Russo said.

The YSU hip-hop club has started off in a great way with much more to offer in the upcoming years at the university. For more information about the club visit, ysu.ignitecx.com/ysuhiphop.