In 2011, Trinity’s dance team, the Prowlers, lost funding from the school. At the time the change did not affect much of what the team did, but as the number of members grows, the Prowlers are finding it harder to manage without funding.

The team lost funding because Trinity considered them to be doing the same thing as the cheer team. However, the cheer team continues to be funded by the school.

“They decided that they just wanted to fund one group. Both the Prowlers and cheer were low on people, so they wanted to combine the two. Since dance is separate from cheer, we decided to become a student organization,” said Lindsey Burton, one of the co-captains of the Prowlers.

The Prowlers turned to the Student Government Association (SGA) for help with funding things like costumes and shirts. Burton said that the uniforms they have are old and in need of repair.

“The Prowlers receive support based on the funding requests that they fill out. If we see the funding request as fair and beneficial to the Prowlers and/or the community, we would fund it,” said Samy Abdallah, SGA senator.

SGA gives aid to all registered student organizations, and the Prowlers receive support if they fill out request forms, but the team does not want to take advantage of the support by purchasing expensive costumes.

“Our costumes are still probably from when the school bought them, based off pictures I’ve seen; but costumes are expensive. Some are $100 each,” Burton said.

Although the team is in need of new costumes, they are reluctant to ask SGA to fund the entire purchase. The team discussed fundraising but decided it would take too long to reach their goal.

“Right now we have to submit individual requests each time we need money. We don’t want to ask for too much,” said Haylee Rodriguez, the other co-captain of the team.

However, SGA is willing to give the team the money. As long as the request is reasonable and the finance committee or senate agrees on it, an organization is granted the funds they request.

“We give them funds, if the request is approved, directly “¦ They allocate it themselves as they see fit without having to deal with recreational sports,” Abdallah said.

While trying to work out their finances, the team maintains their presence on campus by performing at halftime shows and other events. Still, they are trying to do more.

“We’re trying to increase our presence on campus, so preforming at more events and making ourselves known. In the past few years, there has been a decrease. We haven’t performed at as many games, so we’re trying to change that,” Rodriguez said.

The team is interested in performing in competitions, but they are too expensive. Until they gain more financial support, the team will continue to perform on campus.