We had all seen cheerleaders in high school movies, strutting through hallways or rallying crowds at Friday night football games. But behind the bright orange uniforms and high-energy chants lies a story of dedication, trust and sisterhood that most students never see.
Bella Cramer, a senior and one of the varsity captains, said she had joined cheer because she “always saw the high school movies … and wanted to be part of something like that, something with a lot of spirit.”
Sophomore Laetitia Julian, on the varsity team, took a different path. “I was really into dance,” she explained. “I had been doing it since freshman year.”
Both athletes devote hours to their craft. Practices run for two and a half hours after school to prepare for Friday games.
“Games usually meant we had to come one or two hours before and stay the whole time,” Cramer noted. “It took up like 10 hours of our week at least.”
They are more than people on the sidelines. “Everybody had a really good bond with each other,” Julian said. “It was really fun because everyone was so kind.”
Cramer added, “I wouldn’t have known the people I was so close with if it weren’t for cheer… we really built this close-knit relationship.”
Did people treat them differently? The stereotype still lingered. Cramer believed wearing the uniform signaled school spirit rather than popularity.
“The attitude and mindset we learned as cheerleaders allowed people to see us differently,” she explained. But not everyone welcomed that energy. “Some people reacted negatively and could be judgmental,” she admitted. “They were chill when you were excited about a game. But others matched our energy, and that helped us work better together.”
The hardest moments weren’t always physical. For Julian, an early injury shook her confidence until teammates rallied around her.
When Cramer was an underclassman, being intimidated by the older girls was tough but “…instead of bullying me for being bad, they helped me become better,” she recalled. “Watching the captains made me realize the kind of leader I’d want to be.”
On game days, the pressure intensified. “If we had a home game, my whole day revolved around it,” Julian said. “You had to wear your uniform to school … people were asking about it.”
Yet the excitement outweighed the nerves. “We kept our energy no matter how the football team performed,” Cramer said with a grin. “People might even have enjoyed watching the cheerleaders more than they’d like to admit.”
What outsiders didn’t see was the trust and courage required. “It wasn’t easy to jump into a stunt and just hope people caught you,” Cramer explained.
“Performing in front of your whole school took a lot of confidence,” Julian added.
And behind the smiles there was relentless practice: “You just saw a girl getting thrown up,” Cramer said, “but you didn’t see how many times she fell before getting it right.”
Their message to classmates was: show up and be engaged. “The football players were playing for you, and we were performing for you,” Bella urged. “When you were sitting there on your phone, it was like, why go? Be excited.”
Cheerleading isn’t about clichés, it’s about building confidence, leadership and community spirit. Behind every chant and flip were hours of practice, mutual support and the courage to stand out. As Cramer and Julian showed, a day in the life of a cheerleader was less about pom-poms and more about building character.
