By Taho Kim
When I first came to Lincoln High I wondered where all the dancers were. I had never heard of Ground Zero until on my second day of school when former Associate Principal Jessie Carlson told me about them.
After school, I was heading to Cafeteria to see how they practice. I got to meet all the members and sponsor Donna Anderson and I really liked how they were having fun the whole time during the practice. Everyone had their own flavors and styles. It was like brother love.
At the moment when I was first introduced to Ground Zero, there were only about 8 to 10 people in the crew. I wondered what steps you have to take in order to be a part of the team and if there were any dancers that attend LHS, but weren’t on the team.
New Ground Zero member Tony Nguyen said, “I know there are really good dancers in Lincoln High, but they’re just too shy to show what they got. And they have that fear of getting rejected. They should know that it’s not all about experience. It’s about how much time you’re willing to spend to get better.”
Ground Zero has already been busy this year, and it’s not even the end of 1st quarter. They performed at TedX that was held last month. Donna Anderson said “Our first upcoming performance is going to be the Homecoming Pep Rally, which is on October 11th. And we’ll probably do some other school events. After that, like Links for Hoops 4 Hope.”
Seniors Thommy Tran and Lucky Tran as well as juniors Tykele Jones and Jerrin Ewings are all returning members. Someone new this year is sophomore Tony Nguyen! The meaning of Ground Zero is “An area of impact”, “to explode on the dance floor”. Anderson said. For the inside meaning of Ground Zero, Anderson added “We were really hoping that by creating our group and by performing that we’d be able to make an impact on our school and our community.”
Anderson also has many expectations for the members of Ground Zero. “To stay out of trouble, to make sure that they have their assignments done, and they’re not failing any classes,” Anderson said. “And then regular attendance to practice.” Thommy Tran explained “Our sponsor Donna Anderson, she doesn’t want us to be failing any classes or else, we can’t perform. If there’s no performance, she won’t let us come to practice unless we get those grades up. And if you’re late, you kind of get chewed out by her.”
Other than just dancing, Anderson actually cares about how responsible the members are as students. She is a great supporter of the team and she is also members’ bestfriend. Anderson added “Seeing them taking on leadership and just kind of guiding them through the decisions is the best part of being the sponser of Ground Zero.”
Ground Zero was created 4 years ago with Mohamed Musa and Timothy Curtis Beard. Anderson said “It was my first year teaching here at Lincoln High School and they approached me to ask me if I could be the sponsor and if I’d be willing to do it. It just kind of turned it to something a lot bigger than we ever imagined it to be.” They just thought that LHS should have a dance crew that can represent the school.
The favorite part of being in Ground Zero for most of the members was being able to perform in front of a lot of people. Lucky Tran also described “We just performed for the TEDX Show about few weeks ago! The feelings for performance, getting nervous, just your heart pounding and grueling. And actually getting out there and performing for people and hearing people screaming for you.” However, they also enjoy hanging out with each other and sharing their opinions and styles. Tony Nguyen, the newest member of Ground Zero. Other than just performing, he added “My favorite part of being in Ground Zero is basically like not only to dance. Just to be around other minds of dance, to see how other people in my crew think. So I get to see how other people have experienced in dance in other ways and how they enjoy it.”
