BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Southern University student Justin Plummer is in the last year of his collegiate chapter, and when he moves on he will leave behind a campus staple — Code Blue Stomp N’ Shake.

“Code Blue Stomp and Shake is an organization that promotes diversity within cheerleading,” said Plummer.

Plummer said this is not your typical cheerleading team, there’s less of an emphasis on stunts and tumbling.

“Everybody’s eyes are like, ‘Wow, what is that,'” said Plummer. “Stomp N’ Shake was actually created in North Carolina by Winston Salem State University.”

Thanks to Plummer, it’s now a Southern University gameday and pep rally experience.

“Because I was such a good cheerleader in St. Louis, I was just posting my videos, and everybody was like, we love this, like we need to have a Stomp N’ Shake team at Southern University,” said Plummer. “I went to the Division of Student Affairs and then they worked with me on getting code blue approved and that was approved November 27th, 2019.”

Code Blue Stomp N’ Shake has grown to be a well-respected organization on campus, and you’ll hear them long before you see them. 

“I call it the man voice, but I always tell them to muffle, you’re definitely going to hear them miles away because you have to cheer from your diaphragm,” said Plummer.

Compared to traditional cheering, Stomp N’ Shake has the same goal but a different style. Plummer said you’ll know it when you see it. 

“We bring just spunk, sass, shakes, stomps. You won’t really see traditional cheerleaders moving their bodies and shaking their hips from left to right and twisting and stuff like that. But we do it all,” said Plummer.

It’s hard work, the team practices weekly for hours. They start with a run and end with a run to build endurance and stamina.

“You have to make sure that your stamina is key, you have to make sure that your heart rate is up so that once performance time comes, it’s that muscle memory, it kicks in so that you can be able to perform the way you’ve been doing at practice,” said Plummer.  

Plummer is set to graduate this year, looking forward to pursuing a master’s degree in higher education, but long after he moves on he wants his team to be reminded that if you really want something, go and get it. 

“I came from a very low-income background, I didn’t really have the resources to learn how to tumble, stunt. But I want to show students at Southern University that you don’t have to do those things, you don’t have to know how to tumble, you don’t have to know how to stunt, you can still be a cheerleader on a collegiate level,” said Plummer.

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