Schools

Valley Stream Central H.S. kick line team headed to Orange Bowl

Girls hold fundraisers, seek donations for trip

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The Valley Stream Central Streamers dance team is set to perform at college football’s Orange Bowl on New Year’s Day, and the team has a few fundraising efforts planned to help offset the trip’s cost.

“We’re very excited we were nominated,” said coach Michelle Maci.

She doesn’t know who nominated the team, though she said she thinks it must have been the result of one of their performances in local competitions. The invitation, Maci added, means an opportunity to work with professional choreographers and have national exposure.

Senior Savannah Ward, 17, who has been with the team for three years, said the group feels like a family. She and her teammates were shocked when they got the news that they had been invited to perform. “We didn’t think anything like this could happen to a little school in Valley Stream,” she said.

The girls have been preparing with a lot of technique training, Ward said, but won’t learn the dance combinations they’ll perform until they arrive in Miami. Fifteen of the team’s 19 members will travel to Miami on Dec. 28, at a cost of about $1,500 per student, which each is responsible for paying by Nov. 11.

South Shore Honda and Acura of Valley Stream have both committed to covering the cost of one student’s trip, and Dale Drugs and Tiffany’s Nail and Spa Palace have also made donations. There was an open bowl at the Garden City Bowling Alley on Oct. 4 to benefit the team. A total of $3,500 has been raised so far, but Maci said she is hoping to get at least another $2,000. All of the money raised will be distributed evenly among the team members.

A fundraiser is planned at Wendy’s, on Merrick Road in Lynbrook, on Oct. 29, from 5 to 8 p.m., when 10 percent of all sales will go to the Streamers. The team is also holding bake sales on Fridays at 2:45 p.m. at the high school’s main entrance. Maci said that donations can be sent by check to the high school, addressed “Attention Streamers,” and made payable to the Valley Stream Central Streamers.

Maci, who has been the team’s coach for the past five years, said the Orange Bowl opportunity is a big deal for a group which has been a Valley Stream tradition for decades. “We’re happy to have some recognition,” she said.