With the new school year beginning and enrollment of new students, it is no surprise to see new faces on the Minarets High School Cheer Team. Allow me to introduce just a few returning and new cheerleaders, and don’t forget to say “Hello” to them in the hallways.
Most of you may know Ariana Lusk. Ariana is a sophomore here at Minarets High School and, while she is not new to the cheer team, she is new to our Varsity team. According to Ariana, she enjoys cheer because, “It’s fun and mostly everybody becomes closer with the people they wouldn’t usually talk to” and also because it takes up a lot of her time. Ariana has been tumbling/ cheering for five years and plans on returning to our cheer team next year. She also said that “I like varsity better because we get to stay out later and it’s fun performing half times in the dark with the lights shining on us. It’s different because on Junior Varsity we would look to a varsity for help and now we get to be on the same team as them”.
Sophomore Dejah Speak is also no stranger to our Minarets cheer team; she is a returning Junior Varsity Cheerleader. Dejah decided to join cheer because she wanted to get more involved in the school and wanted to create strong friendships with new people. She has been doing cheer for two years and is unsure if she will be returning for another year, but she considers cheer an important factor in her life.
Sophomore Ashley Smith is also a returning Junior Varsity cheerleader. Ashley says that she joined cheer because “I thought it would be fun and I love doing dance”. Although Ashley is unsure if she will be returning for a third year of cheering she thinks “Cheer is a lot of fun and takes a lot of hard work.”. Ashley has been cheering for two years and plans of expanding her options but she definitely thinks cheer is very important to her.
Emma Smith is a Freshman here at Minarets and is a flier for our Junior Varsity Cheer Team. Emma enjoys cheering and joined because “a couple of years ago my teacher said I was cute and I should do cheer so I tried out." She considers cheer a very important factor in her life and definitely plans on returning to our team next year. So keep an eye out for her next school year!
Another new face to Minarets is freshman Amanda Takash. This is Amanda's first year cheering for any team and she joined because “I thought it would nice to try something new.” She has enjoyed her year so far and "how you can be creative with it and you can have fun and it helps you open up.” Amanda considers cheer an important factor in her life and plans on returning next year.
This year Minarets has added an interesting twist to our team; this year we have a male cheerleader. Junior Joey Hernandez says it has not been hard for him to fit in at all and enjoys cheer because of the “mix between a sport and performing”. This is his first year cheering and he said that he loves it. Joey plans on returning next year and believes that cheer is very important in his life.
All these returning and new cheerleaders have had an important impact on the football team. Sophomore Zac Brown said “when you’re playing football you need the confidence and the cheerleaders are there to help you do that.” Zac believes there would be a huge difference in the games if the cheerleaders were not cheering them on as the players would not have the confidence needed.