Congratulations and celebrations are in order for 6 Hip Hop Pop students who have been recognised for their individual achievements at Hip Hop Pop, all thanks to the Jack Petchey Foundation Achievement Awards Scheme.
(Find out more detail about the Award Scheme at the bottom of this page)
In brief the Achievement Award Scheme - of which we are Gold Members at Hip Hop Pop - allow us to award 9 students (aged 11 to 25) a year for personal achievements at our dance school. In return the Jack Petchey Foundation provides funds to help us offer activities, trips, equipment and more at Hip Hop Pop that benefits young people (aged 11-25). With the guidance of others nominations and suggestions, we are excited to publicly announce the first 6 of 9 winners of these awards for the year 2020:
Here are our Winners, in no particular order, all equal winners of the awards:
Winner 1: Darcie Caines
(age 24)
Darcie, member for the last year and a half, has put her whole self into learning new styles. However specifically in 'Locking' she has made huge progress, showing herself and her peers how learning a new style in your 20's is 100% do able - Darcie's passion for dance deserves awarding
Winner 2: Lauren Bradley
(age 23)
Lauren, member now for over a year. Moved to the area and has integrated into the group fantastically by putting herself out there to take part in activities and shows and make friends. Lauren's courage to come to a class alone not knowing anyone in class and the area shows great drive and she's progressing fantastically - we'd like to award her for the reasons above and her improvement
Winner 3: Kemarah Denty
(age 15)
Kemarah, member now for over a year has shown passion and positivity in her street dance journey to date. Not only has Kemarah made a vast improvement in her skill set, she has shown dedication to dance by attending pretty much every online offering we're doing through lockdown, she clearly takes her progression seriously and deserves the recognition
Winner 4: Evie Bulgen
(age 12)
Evie has worked her way up through her 4 years with Hip Hop Pop deserving of an award previously but not quite of qualifying age. Evie is now able to be rewarded for her skill progression and demonstration to her peers of what commitment, skill progression and drive look like
Winner 5: Lewis Terrell
(age 11)
Lewis is a busy young lad! He takes part in multiple sports at a high level. His strength in his movement has grown at a rapid rate, but most importantly he is 100% committed to his dance education even though his extra curricular activity diary is jam packed. A wonderful example of resilience & hard work
Winner 6: Hayden Turner
(age 11)
Hayden made a huge leap this year! A member since 2015, he's previously not been able pluck up the courage to perform on stage with Hip Hop Pop, but NOW this year in March 2020 he made his stage debut! He absolutely smashed it and should be so proud of himself for overcoming a mental hurdle. We can't wait to have him on stage with us again
What did these awards then fund?
The fund from the above award winners went to many great things, including making it possible to bring BGT Champs Twist and Pulse to Hip Hop Pop - and for it to be FREE to members! Allowing the opportunity to be accessible for everyone, with no exclusion for those who may be struggling financially through COVID-19. We were also able to fund guest tutors for our students to learn from virtually through lockdown, including West End performers and some style specialists.
In Conclusion
A huge well done from all of us at Hip Hop Pop, to our first 6 achievement award winners this year; Darcie, Lauren, Kemarah, Evie, Hayden and Lewis, continue to work hard, inspire and accomplish many things in life, including in dance of course. Hip Hop Pop has been supported by the Jack Petchey Foundation for over 10 years, nearly 100 students over that time have been recognised for their achievements, we cannot thank The Foundation enough for their support. The next 3 achievement awards will be announced in November 2020
Jenny - Director