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PJC cheer

By Mandy Crawford

I’m a cheerleader at Paris Junior College. I’ve been cheering for Rivercrest ISD since the seventh grade, but I never really enjoyed it. I told myself that after high school, I would be done with cheerleading.

However, near the end of my senior year at Rivercrest, Patrick Waley, Corey David, Susy Bourland, and Matt Lambert, who all cheer at PJC, talked me into trying out for the 2006-2007 PJC squad. I figured why not? I’ll get a scholarship, and I’ll get to compete at nationals.

After tryouts, we had a short break before summer started. When June came around, we began working out twice a day. We learned cheers, chants, and dances. At the end of June, we held a “kiddie” camp for local cheerleaders.

At the beginning of July, we attended a camp for ourselves at Southern Methodist University. While at SMU, we did so well that we received a straight bid to nationals, which meant we didn’t have to send in a video or anything. We could go straight to nationals.

After all the practices and camps, we received bad news, though. It was decided at PJC to no longer have a competitive cheerleading squad. We had cheerleaders from Indiana, Florida, and all over Texas that had come to PJC just for cheerleading.

It was pretty upsetting , at first, but we’ve all got past that now. We’ve made some of the best friends we’ve ever had. We are not just members of the same cheer squad. We’re all like family. They’re the reason why I enjoy cheerleading now.

Mandy Crawford is a freshman from Bogata, Texas, majoring in kinesioloty.

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