My Alma Mater: Step Up

As a student organizer of the Cotton Club variety show (at left), Monique Carswell (at right) learned how to transform dreams into reality. (Images courtesy of Illini Media and Monique Carswell)

My time at Illinois was filled with many fond memories, and a fair share of them included Foellinger Auditorium as the backdrop.

By day, I’d show up there for an early-morning economics lecture, bleary-eyed and about to be more bleary-eyed, after an hour of looking at transparencies on the overhead projector.

But by night, Foellinger took on an entirely different meaning: It was the home of both “Cotton Club,” one of Illinois’ largest student variety shows, and Step Down, the largest step show on campus.

As president of the Central Black Student Union, I produced Cotton Club, and I was the host of Step Down, sponsored by the Black Greek Council.

The name Cotton Club is an ode to the legendary venue in Harlem, New York, which from 1923 to 1940 showcased the most brilliant Black talent of the era, but for a whites-only audience.

Our show was just as dazzling, but inclusive.

The student acts included singers that could rival any popular R&B group at the time, as well as dance troupes that had real, paid gigs off campus. It was not a lighthearted, participation-trophy affair: Only the best of the best student artists would take the Foellinger stage.

The quality of the acts made Cotton Club the hottest ticket in town, with students from surrounding universities coming to campus to make a weekend of it. The resulting energy was always positive and electric.

Step Down, meanwhile, was an actual competition, made up of teams from sororities and fraternities, who practiced for months—arranging special mixes of music and video, coming up with a theme for their performances and, of course, designing matching costumes.

The year I co-hosted, I was part of a guy-and-girl emcee duo, and it was our job to keep the crowd entertained and energetic in between acts and while the judges calculated scores.

Backstage and in the basement, teams were in their dressing rooms and lining the halls to go over their routines repeatedly, right until they hit the stage. The organized chaos was a beautiful display of pride in their effort to represent their organizations and to showcase their skills to a receptive audience. From the stage, the lights were blinding, but you could see the entire crowd rocking to the DJ and hear their exuberance anytime when their friends performed.

Each time I produced an event at Foellinger, it was a total transformation—being up in the rafters calling lights, backstage checking on acts and on stage hyping up the step teams and audience. And then, on Monday morning, it was back to the harsh realities of economics class, with 800 other students. I loved the juxtaposition this unique space and time offered me as a student, to gain those kinds of skills and a top education all in one magical place.

Twenty-five years later, it’s clear to me that Cotton Club and Step Down brought a lot of structure to my life that’s still having an impact. They taught me how to use time management, run effective meetings, work across differences, build consensus and be accountable—skills I use every day in my personal life and career.

Monique Carswell is director of Walmart’s Center for Racial Equity & Strategic Initiatives

Share your campus experience! Email: illinoisalumni@uillinois.edu