Jeremiah is lounging in a chair outside of Benson, with a Chihuahua Box Terrier on his lap that doesn’t belong to him.
A guy on his longboard rides past. “I love you, Jeremiah!” he calls.
That’s the attitude most people on campus have about junior Jeremiah Givens: Hipnotik member, Orientation Leader, and most recently, Campus Celebrity.
Originally from the south, Jeremiah was born and raised in Stone Mountain, Georgia and moved to San Ramon, California the summer before his freshman year of high school. He spent four years at Dougherty Valley High School and took dance classes from sophomore to senior year.
He visited SCU in the spring of his senior year of high school when he happened to walk in on a Hipnotik rehearsal. He stood in the back of the room and followed along.
“I showed off and they saw what I was doing,” he remembers. The hip hop team invited him to audition that fall, and the rest is history. Next year, he hopes to be captain.
He came to SCU as an intended marketing major and dance minor, but soon realized his passion.
“As I began to dance more and more on campus, I realized that it was something I wanted to do more intensely,” he says .
Spring quarter of his sophomore year, he declared as a double major in both marketing and dance.
Jeremiah performs in Hipnotik dance competitions all over the Bay Area, as well as Irvine and Las Vegas. He describes the environment of competitions with 10-16 other teams as a family bonding experience, rather than all the dance teams trying to battle each other. Hipnotik’s main event for the fall quarter is a performance for Love Jones.
Jeremiah also a part of Ron Banana Crew, or RBC, which is a small spin-off created by the four guys of Hipnotik. “It’s a little bit more customized to what we want,” said Jeremiah. He’ll also be performing solo at the Choreographer’s Gallery in December, creating his own dance and performing at Meyer Theater.
Jeremiah has dance practice every day, whether it be for the Choreographer’s Gallery, Hipnotik, or Images—which is practice strictly through the dance department.
“I never have to do cardio because I’m always dancing. But when I’m not dancing, I like to just sit and be a couch potato,” he says.
Jeremiah found a way to keep dancing at SCU over the summer as an OL. He wanted to be an OL freshman year but missed the application deadline, so during his sophomore year he made sure to apply on time. During his interview, he said he was asked if he could help choreograph the orientation dance. He started training in April, which lasted all 10 weeks of spring quarter.
“I really liked the people I was going to be orientation leaders with and could see myself working with them all summer,” says Jeremiah.
During the summer he spent two full days choreographing the 10-minute mashup of 17 different songs. The OL group practiced for four days, two hours a day until they got the routine down.
During the presentations for the incoming first-years, Jeremiah stayed front and center so others could follow along. His favorite part of being an OL was the social and getting everyone hyped. “The social is so much fun, you get the chance to be a complete goofball,” he says.
Even with his busy schedule, Jeremiah still finds time for his family. He is the eldest of four boys, all who have names starting with the letter “J”. His second oldest brother, Jason, just started at SCU as a first-year.
“We do each other’s hair, so it’s a lot easier having my barber on campus,” jokes Jeremiah. “It’s like I’m living through freshman year again through him, I get to teach him and show him the ropes. Having him have preferred meal points when I’m eating in Benson and I’m balling on a budget is good too.”
SCU was Jeremiah’s top choice school, so he’s grateful to be here. “My biggest accomplishment for Santa Clara has been getting here. Everything else has just been icing on the cake,” he said. “Ever since I’ve been here, I’ve had a positive change on my life.”
His favorite quote by Oprah Winfrey reminds him of that every day: “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”
“It helps me stay in the moment and be grateful; it allows other goodness to come into my life,” says Jeremiah.
We certainly are grateful to have Jeremiah here at SCU, and we can’t wait to see what else he’s got for this next two years!