Published on February 10, 2020 by Sarah Cain  
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Sigma Chi fraternity earned the coveted Sweepstakes Award in Samford University’s 2020 Step Sing Feb. 6-8.  

More than 1,200 students in 16 groups performed four shows. The show is totally student-produced and professionally judged. It is considered one of Samford’s most cherished traditions. 

With the theme, “Rock with You,” the fraternity told the story of the evolution of cavemen. Show directors were Hampton Dortch, a junior finance major from Vestavia Hills, Alabama; Grayson Hill, a junior marketing major from Cordova, Tennessee, and Jackson McKinney, a sophomore business major from Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

This year the show introduced the Step Sing Scholarship, a fund established to benefit the academic pursuits of Step Sing participants. Fourteen students were honored as the inaugural recipients of the scholarship:

  • Kara Brooke Bellenfant, a senior exercise science major from Shelbyville, Tennessee
  • Rachel Brinkley, a sophomore business major from Athens, Alabama
  • Andrew Brock, a senior accounting major from Lilburn, Georgia
  • Hannah Harb, a junior elementary education major from Knoxville, Tennessee
  • Daylan Jhin, a junior management major from Tuscumbia, Alabama
  • Abigail Lawson, a senior communication studies major from Newnan, Georgia
  • Mallory Messer, a junior marketing major from Theodore, Alabama
  • Anna Grace Moore, a junior journalism and mass communication major from Hoover, Alabama
  • Hannah Pellicer, a junior journalism and mass communication major from Jacksonville, Florida
  • Anna Catherine Shebs, a junior nursing major from Sugar Hill, Georgia
  • Julia Sisk, a junior Brock Scholar from Chapel Hill, North Carolina
  • Ashton Smith, a senior marketing major from Resaca, Georgia
  • Samantha Solberg, a senior graphic design major from Longwood, Florida
  • Rachel Witmer, a junior religion major from Newnan, Georgia

Judges also presented a women’s and men’s division award. Pi Kappa Phi fraternity won the men’s division award, and Alpha Delta Pi sorority won the women’s division.

Pi Kappa Phi performed “Chopped,” a show telling the story of a group of lumberjacks and their love of trees. In addition to winning the men’s division, Pi Kappa Phi also received the Judges Award for excellence in choreography and Participants Choice awards for favorite choreography. 

Show directors were Connor Hafenrichter, a senior biology major from St. Louis, Missouri, Will Jones, a junior entrepreneurship major from Hayden, Alabama; and McKinnon Sowell, a sophomore sports medicine major from Signal Mountain, Tennessee.   

Alpha Delta Pi performed “Swiped,” telling the story of the journey of garden gnomes to overcome neighborhood obstacles. Show directors were Abigail Lawson, Hannah Reese Moseley, a senior health sciences major from Haven, Florida and Abigail Okland, a junior psychology major from Charlotte, North Carolina.

In addition to four live performances on campus that attracted about 8,000 to Samford’s Wright Center Concert Hall, viewers across the country and globe tuned in via livestream on Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. 

Step Sing originated on the steps of Renfroe Hall on Samford’s East Lake campus before the university relocated to its present location in the late 1950s. It was held in the gymnasium of Seibert Hall and other locations around the Homewood campus before finally landing in Wright Center in 1976. This was the 49th anniversary for the Sweepstakes Award.

Additional Awards:

Judged Awards

Excellence in Music: Sigma Chi
Excellence in Choreography: Pi Kappa Phi
Excellence in Creativity: Sigma Chi

Participant Choice Awards

Favorite Choreography: Pi Kappa Phi
Favorite Costumes: Dudes-a-Plenty
Favorite Music: Alpha Tau Omega
Favorite Emcee: Sigma Chi

Committee Choice Awards

Favorite Song: IGnite, “Come On Eileen”
Favorite Moment: Sigma Chi (Discovering Fire)
Directors of the Year: Independent Ladies
Character Award: Alpha Tau Omega 

Philanthropy Award: Alpha Omicron Pi  

Previous Sweepstakes Winners

2019 Alpha Delta Pi
2018 Alpha Delta Pi
2017 Pi Kappa Phi
2016 Dudes-a-Plenty
2015 Sigma Chi
2014 Pi Kappa Phi
2013 Pi Kappa Phi
2012 Dudes-a-Plenty
2011 Dudes-a-Plenty
2010 Dudes-a-Plenty
2009 Pi Kappa Phi
2008 Sigma Chi
2007 Dudes-a-Plenty
2006 Independent Ladies
 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.