The Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity at The University of Mississippi stepped its way to victory in the National Collegiate Step Show at the 92nd annual Alpha Phi Alpha General Convention in Austin, Texas, this past weekend.
The 14 members of the Nu Upsilon Chapter beat out three other teams at the Alpha Phi Alpha National Convention to bring its first national championship home to Oxford. The team was caught a bit off guard by the win according to chapter president Odie Johnson.
“At first we were in complete shock,” said Johnson, a senior biology major. “But after it hit us that we won, we were beyond excited. The feeling was indescribable.”
Johnson said the Nu Upsilon chapter’s championship was the result of lots of hard work and determination that began last fall when the team was formed.
“We had a lot of practice, a lot. It took a while for everyone to become comfortable with each and every step. We knew it would take some time to get where it needed to be in order to have a chance to win.”
All of the chapter’s hard work payed off as they hit their stride during the spring semester, the most important time for the team all year.
The road to Austin began with the Mississippi District Convention, consisting of all the fraternity’s chapters from around the state. The Nu Upsilon chapter won this convention, thus moving on to the Southern Regional Convention where they competed against six other teams from chapters across the South. The team also won this event, thus qualifying for the National Step Show Championship in Austin.
After winning the regional convention, the team entered the 2013 King of Memphis Stepshow held at the University of Memphis April 13. Learning about it by word of mouth, step team captain Alex Isom said it was not only a good way to prepare for the national convention, but also nice to face competition from around the Southeast.
“It was one of those last minute things we entered to prepare ourselves for the convention in Austin,” said Isom, a recent graduate from Hernando with a major in exercise science. “We entered really just to practice, but we ended up winning the whole thing.”
Isom, who was in charge of creating the steps, said the team didn’t change anything from their regional competition before the Memphis show, adding that the regional show was a great momentum builder for the team going into nationals.
“We didn’t change one thing we used in regionals, but it worked to our advantage. Everyone was spot on, and the win really gave us the confidence we needed going to Austin,” Isom said.
Alpha Phi Alpha was founded in 1906 at Cornell University by a group of African-American students who formed the fraternity to stick together in order to survive the racial hostility they faced. Among its famous members are Gene Upshaw, Edward William Brooke and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Along with winning the national convention step show, fraternity member Abdul Hamid had the highest overall GPA of all the fraternity’s college brothers across the nation.
Winning the national convention step show is among the top accomplishments for the Nu Upsilon Chapter according to Isom.
“We have had some notable accomplishments, but this is definitely among the best,” he said. “And for us to win this in our chapter’s 35th anniversary, it’s even more special.”
