Hatboro-Horsham Student Connects Kids through Dance

HORSHAM -- Hatboro-Horsham High School junior Lucas Loschiavo believes the world could be a better place if everyone took a moment to connect in a different way.

That positive energy has led the 17-year-old Hatboro resident to launch Choreography Connected, a program that invites students of all abilities to join together and participate in an easy-to-learn dance lesson.

The hour-long event kicks off at 10:55 a.m. April 5 in the gymnasium at the high school, 899 Horsham Road.

“My goal is to connect people through things other than words,” Lucas said. “I want people to learn to connect with each other more. That’s really important to me.”

It’s a personal mission for Lucas who came up with the idea for Choreography Connected after seeing a life skills student being treated poorly by a group of teens.

“Instead of me taking a stance and stopping the issue, I simply laughed along and became a bystander,” he said. “I should have taken a stand, I should have done something, and I regret that to this day.”

With the help of two friends who choreographed the group dance lesson, Lucas has been busy for the past month getting ready for the event.

He has the support of Link Crew, a group of classmates who help ninth-graders make the transition to high school. In addition, the HHTV Club will produce a two-minute video and photo gallery from the event so everyone can see the good work being done.

Lucas said participants will begin by learning a new dance routine to a popular song. After that, everyone will be invited to continue dancing and having fun until the hour-long program ends. He hopes to host another event later in May.

“My end goal is to have this take off and have everyone participate in this at schools across the country, all at the same time,” he said. “I think that would be great.”

Vanessa DeLuca, who runs the Link Crew program and teaches Link Crew classes at Hatboro-Horsham, believes Lucas is the right person to make that dream a reality.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if this took off nationally, just because he is the type of person who can do that,” she said. “He sees how you have to start small and work hard to make things happen.”

There are several clubs at the school that help build relationships between the general student body and life skills students. However, those clubs are generally created by adults.

“The fact that this program is student-run makes this different,” said Tammy Norris, a life skills teacher at the school. “It goes to show you that there are benefits for everyone at every level.”

There are about 12 life skills students at the school, Norris said. Her current class is made up of mostly girls and they are looking forward to the event.

“Dance is a huge part of their lives, so they are very excited,” she said.

In order to get his message out beyond the Hatboro-Horsham district, Lucas recently created a website, ChoreographyConnected.com, and launched social media accounts on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

“We are all super proud of Lucas,” DeLuca said. “He is the type of student who looks for opportunities and just goes for it. Once he gets that spark, he’s off and doing great things.”

There are more than 1,500 students at Hatboro-Horsham and each is very important to the school community.

“Here at Hatboro-Horsham, we show how our kids can make great things happen,” DeLuca said. “It’s important to instill in students that they are more powerful than they realize.”

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