Former WKU student competes on MTV's America's Best Dance Crew show- BY: Shakia Harris

Louisville senior Josh Mabry always knew his fraternity brother had a passion for dancing.

Former Western student Dakota Smith has been determined to make it on MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew since the show first aired two years ago, Mabry said.

This season, Smith got his wish.

“It was never a matter of if he’d make it but when he’d make it,” Mabry said. “I’m just finally glad to see he’s actually living his dream. It’s going to open so many doors for him.”

After four audition attempts with two different crews, Smith made the show’s fifth season as a member of the Royal Flush crew, representing the South.

“The energy on the stage was incredible,” Smith said. “I loved every second of it.”

Smith, an alumni of the Eta Rho chapter of Sigma Nu fraternity, first met members of Royal Flush while he was auditioning with Kaotick during the show’s second season, he said.

He kept in touch with Royal Flush group members until he and fellow former Kaotick member Tyrone “Ne-Yon” Foster decided to collaborate with the group and move to Atlanta in the summer of 2009, Smith said.

A week after their MTV debut, Foster and Smith visited Bowling Green, where they shared insights on their ABDC experiences with Smith’s fraternity brothers.

Lexington sophomore Justin Powell said that after watching Royal Flush perform on television, he was surprised to see Smith and Foster break dancing in the living room of the Sigma Nu fraternity house.

“When I walked into the house I was completely star-struck,” Powell said. “For a moment, it seemed like time was in slow motion.”

At one point, Smith and Foster performed an impromptu dance session in Downing University Center.

Lexington junior Jesse Caylor said the visit was a special treat, considering the guys were on their way to Atlanta to reunite with other members.

Caylor said the first night Royal Flush performed on television, he and other fraternity brothers crowded in their living room, waiting anxiously to watch their brother on stage.

“He’s always been that skinny white boy always showing off at parties, and now look at him,” Caylor said. “He’s still that same skinny white boy except now he’s dancing on America’s Best Dance Crew.”

The results show aired last night on MTV. As of press time, the results for Royal Flush weren’t available
<<<--- Me and Dakota Smith at the Sigma Nu Fraternity House, Bowling Green, Ky (Eta Rho Chapter)

Diversity is more than Black & White

Diversity plan to be reworked

By Shakia Harris | 09 February 2010

There’s more to diversity than black and white, officials now say.

The statewide Kentucky Plan for Equal Opportunities, which calls for a larger black student and teacher population at state secondary education institutions, is being updated to widen its scope of diversity.
......Excerpt from my article:

The drafting process is ongoing, and some members are shifting their perceptions of diversity to include varying races, genders, ethnicities, socio-economic statuses or sexual orientations, Miller said.

“There are some members that are still race-focused,” Miller said. “It’s not just ethnic diversity anymore.”
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