"You were on point with that jump," said Black Student Union (BSU) Blue Diamonds Step Team coach Tashira Wheeler. The girls of the step team drown out the radio with their energetic conversation and singing, their camaraderie and team spirit filling the back of the school bus.

Last year was the Blue Diamonds's first year participating in competitions around New Jersey. By the end of the season, the squad ranked ninth in the state out of 45 teams, a status that earned the team a place at a final competition in Bayonne for the top ten New Jersey high school step teams.

Hoping to return to the finals this year, the Blue Diamonds sweat, step and socialize almost every day at their after-school practices, under the watchful eyes of Wheeler and captains junior Alexus Jegede and senior Amanda Lovell.

With a year of competition under their belts, the steppers feel optimistic. "This year, we already know how it works. We know what to do and what to look for in order to place in competition," said junior Rebecca Dorilus.

"They've matured in attitudes and in skills," Wheeler, in her second year as coach, said of the Blue Diamonds' improvements over the last year. "The level of creativity is phenomenal, and there is a great mix of talent and personality...I want them to think of this as a sisterhood, as a family." Jegede has vision for her team as well. "I really want the team to be at a place where they really want to win, to fight for it, to take it more seriously," said the junior. At practice she takes charge, encouraging her teammates to focus more, yell louder and step harder.

The Blue Diamonds competed on January 5 at Kingsway High School in Swedesboro, New Jersey. They suffered a setback when a team member stepped out of bounds. "[At the competition] other teams said that our steps are some of the most creative they've seen, but that we need more enthusiasm," said Jegedy.

At their January 19 competition in Bayonne, the team members felt their steps were more precise, their voices stronger: a vast improvement from the previous performance.

A home competition at SPFHS on February 23 could propel the Blue Diamonds, and the New Jersey high school step scene, into schoolwide recognition and celebrity that both the team and the community at large deserve.