West Virginia University students Tea Santilli and Emily Burgess have taken their passion for education and dance to Stepping Stones, a local non-profit organization dedicated to helping individuals with disabilities reach their full potential through recreation and personal development programs.
The two elementary education majors, who are minoring in special education, were inspired to start a hip hop class after visiting Stepping Stones as part of a special education course.
"When we toured they told us how they needed more people to volunteer," Santilli said. "Emily and I thought it would fun to do a dance class here because we both love to dance and we want to show other people how to love to dance, too."
"We wanted to share our experience and our knowledge with the students, especially since Stepping Stones didn't offer anything dance-related, and we thought we could help and contribute," Burgess said.
The two got started planning and soon ended up launching the four-week class this spring for 11 dancers. While the participants got the opportunity to explore and learn a new skill, Santilli and Burgess got valuable experience leading the class that reinforced their passions.
"This has helped me as a teacher because it's given me more exposure and it's shown me what I really like to do," Santilli said.
Watch more about Tea and Emily's collaborative endeavor with Stepping Stones here: