Monica Lake | Lariat Photographer
Reporter
For the fourth year in a row, the women of Zeta Tau Alpha can claim victory at StompFest. Zeta Tau Alpha beat six other teams for the StompFest title with its Hollywood-inspired step routine.
The Baylor Transfer Council won best independent organization, and Zeta Tau Alpha won for best Greek organization. Baylor Transfer Council also won audience favorite. Audience members texted in their votes for the audience favorite after the acts ended. Due to a mishap, Asian Student Association was announced as the winner of the independent category, but Baylor Transfer Council had the higher score.
StompFest is a step show sponsored by the Student Activities Council and Zeta Phi Beta. Teams create step routines and compete to win money for their sponsored charity. Teams are assigned a coach from Zeta Phi Beta to help with their routines. This year’s StompFest theme was Michael Jackson, and the show’s host was comedian Walter Campbell.
Houston senior Angeline Nguyen, the co-captain of the Asian Student Association stomp team, said she met with the student activities director, a representative from the Baylor Transfer Council and Zeta Phi Beta after finding out the results were incorrectly announced.
“I already knew because the director of campus productions texted me after the show about what happened,” Nguyen said.
All ticket sales, about $4,000, will go to benefit Sickle Cell Anemia, Zeta Phi Beta’s national philanthropy. Additional money will be donated to the charities each winning organization sponsored: the American Cancer Society for Baylor Transfer Council and the ZTA Foundation for Zeta Tau Alpha. Money will also go to Fuzzy Friends for the Asian Student Association due to the mishap.
The ZTA Foundation is Zeta Tau Alpha’s philanthropy, which benefits organizations researching breast cancer and helping raise breast cancer awareness. The American Cancer Society is a national organization dedicated to cancer research and prevention. Fuzzy Friends Rescue is a local nonprofit, no-kill shelter.
Aurora, Colo., senior and ZTA team captain Sara Buhrman said the ZTA team worked on the routine for four weeks, not counting spring break. As the captain, she said it was her responsibility to create a practice schedule, help with choreography along with the team coach, and decide on the costumes.
“When we won, I was positively ecstatic,” Buhrman said. “It felt like a lot of pressure was lifted off of my shoulders and I was so proud of my girls.”
Nguyen said her team worked on their routine three times a week. Along with Tulsa, Okla., junior Bryan Jan, she made sure everyone came to practice on time and made sure the steps were clean. Nguyen said the team had to change coaches near the end of practice time.
“We didn’t get to work with our coach as much as we wanted to because he didn’t realize what a time commitment Stompfest is, but a coach came in the last week of practices and helped us,” Nguyen said.
Garland senior Zara Black said she has competed in Stompfest with Zeta Tau Alpha for three years.
“It feels like all the hard work is finally worth it,” Black said. “We’ve been working on this since before spring break, a lot of hours each week and a lot of late nights. It’s been pretty busy.”
Dallas freshman Wendy Taylor, who also participated in StompFest said she was excited when Zeta Tau Alpha was announced the winner.
“It was such an adrenaline rush,” Taylor said. “When we finished, I couldn’t believe it was over. It was such a blur.”
The African Student Association performed a show before the acts began, combining hip hop with traditional African dance. The Baylor Dance Society also performed after all the Stompfest acts were complete.
Other competing teams included Kappa Alpha Theta, Student Foundation, Alpha Delta Pi and Alpha Chi Omega.
