Camille Sturdivant makes Golden Girls dance team at Mizzou
After being the lone senior for the Dazzlers, senior Camille Sturdivant made the Golden Girls dance team at the University of Missouri. Out of the 28 final newcomer participants, Sturdivant was one of the selected dancers.
Photo courtesy of Camille Sturdivant
Senior Camille Sturdivant made the 2018-19 Golden Girls dance team at the University of Missouri.
In her first dance recital, senior Camille Sturdivant said she was scared to perform and cried when her teacher brought her out on the stage. In the fall, Sturdivant will dance for the Golden Girls men’s squad, the highest level dance squad at the University of Missouri.
“I wanted to keep dancing in college but not necessarily on a competitive team, and I wanted to do a lot with the school and still working with the band,” Sturdivant said. “Golden Girls popped out on my radar and I have been interested since sophomore year and so I just have been preparing myself for tryouts and attending clinics.”
As the lone senior on this year’s Dazzler dance team, Sturdivant is the leader for the underclassmen on the team. Junior and captain Caitlyn Krebs said Sturdivant making Golden Girls has led to the fact that making a college dance team is an achievable process.
“Camille set the standard that it is totally possible to reach your goal making a college team as long as you put in the effort and hard work into what team you want to make,” Krebs said.
For Sturdivant, she said being independent has led to her improving and growing as a dancer in part to putting her name out for herself when it came to college decision time.
“I have just taken it on my own to prepare for tryouts by myself and investigate and talk to to Golden Girls that were on the team just to learn how to better prepare myself for audition,” Sturdivant said.
Krebs said the Dazzlers have been impacted positively by the leadership displayed by Sturdivant.
“She can help anyone with everything you need anytime, she’s always willing to lend a helping hand and for that we’re all really grateful to have her on the team,” Krebs said.
Sturdivant said she put her best effort into the tryouts, which were April 27-28.
“I felt pretty good and that I had learned the material very well and was able to perform to the best of my ability,” Sturdivant said. “So I knew that whether I had made the team or not I gave all that I could, and I worked hard. When I made the team I was super excited, I was super blessed and honored to earn this opportunity.”
With graduation coming up in a week, Sturdivant said being a member of Golden Girls will help with the process of transitioning to a large campus.
“I’ll go into the school having the group of girls behind me, girls that I had already become friends with because college is so huge and nobody necessarily knows that many people,” Sturdivant said. “It will be fun to dance at all of the home basketball games and be able to participate with the band and other philanthropy, and volunteer.”
Olivia Dowell is a senior and the Print Editor for “The Express” and was the Features Editor last year and a writer two years ago. Along with Newspaper, she is a member of the cross country team and watches lots of Netflix. She likes to window shop online as much as she can and last, but not least, loves her Mini Australian Shepherd, Maggie, the most. On staff this year, Olivia is looking forward to making each and every print issue the best she can as well as improving her writing even more.
Musica • Jan 21, 2019 at 2:08 pm
Ms Farrell, I guess YOUR anger blindsided YOU. The lawsuit came AFTER the college acceptance. No race card here just hard work. Something you need to do when it comes to reading and comprehension.
Keona Robinson • Jan 20, 2019 at 3:14 pm
Lisa, she was already on the HS team. Can’t you comprehend? And you can’t play a “race” card unless being dealt one. Didn’t she find racist messages being said about her making the college team BEFORE she filed her lawsuit? Wasn’t that the reason itself for the lawsuit; due to the racist messages? So how did she make the team by playing the race card? Stop it!
Lynn Denny • Jan 20, 2019 at 8:00 am
Lisa Farrell, do your research. Camille Sturdivant was on the dance team at Blue Valley Northwest High School. She didn’t have to play the race card, because when you work hard it shows and you’re rewarded for it.
Farah • Jan 20, 2019 at 1:23 am
She deserves to be on the team!! And Lisa, that is false. The screen shots of what her coaches said about her skin color prove others. HER coaches that were supposed to be there for her, but instead discriminated against her because of her skin color. It makes me sick see what they said about her. And your comment is disgusting!!!
Cathy • Jan 19, 2019 at 3:18 pm
Lisa, you may want to check your facts. Not sure how she could have played the “race card” to make a college dance team. Since you didn’t bother to actually read up on the story, she did, in fact, make the BVNW dance team and eventually sued after an appalling lack of action at the hands of the district (and AFTER she made the Golden Girls team) regarding racially-motivated discrimination. I’m deeply concerned at the fact that, apparently, no one is monitoring these comments to ensure ill-informed readers do not continue to spread misinformation. BVNW, please do not allow this site to become another site for hateful and racist comments.
Victoria Gibson • Jan 19, 2019 at 2:15 pm
Way to go, Camille! Well-deserved!
Lewis Rolen • Jan 19, 2019 at 12:29 pm
So sad to see that racism is thriving in Kansas. Who would have thought that we would still be dealing with this foolishness 50 years after Dr. Kings death.
Lisa Farrell • Jan 18, 2019 at 12:17 am
Of course she is on the team. She sued the high school she went to when she didnt make the team there. She was one of two black students so she played the race card.