I started cheerleading when I was 10 years old and instantly fell in love with it. I cheered for my local rec team up until high school where I made varsity my freshman year. Up to this point, I was in and out of many other sports like soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, and softball. For cheerleading, I had a much stronger drive to be great, I took tumbling classes 3 times a week on top of practices, competitions, and football games. When I got to high school cheerleading it was taken much more seriously than rec which made me love it even more. I became captain my junior year and led my team to win our regional competition that same year. When it came to my senior year I knew I wasn’t done so I decided to try out for the Towson cheerleading team and made it! I was genuinely surprised but could not be more excited. It was a lot different than high school as collegiate cheerleading is focused a lot on cheering for other sports with one big competition at the end of the season in Disney World whereas in high school we competed in at least 8 competitions a year. In my sophomore year, we placed third at our national competition and there was no better feeling than getting a medal put around my neck and celebrating with my teammates. I am now in my senior year at Towson and just cheered at my last football game ever. I am forever grateful for all of the lessons I’ve learned and the people I have met through cheerleading and I am truly going to miss it.
