After years of cheering with different clinics, Sophomore Shayla Dawes finally made the Varsity cheer team this year.

“I started doing cheer clinics in kindergarten every year because it was interesting to me,” Dawes said. “I was very excited and proud that my hard work paid off.”

After cheering last year as well as this year Dawes has made many close friendships with her teammates, including Mabrie Hutson and Alise Simon. 

“Yes, I’ve made really good friends with Alise and Mabrie, they are both really fun to cheer with and always have great energy with the team,” Dawes said. 

As a way of making great friendships, the team has special traditions they do every year as a way of team bonding. For example, this year they went to Bahama Bucks after tryouts as a team. 

“Yes, this year after tryouts everyone that made varsity met up at Bahama Bucks”, Dawes said.  “We get “sisters” on the team, which is someone we do fun stuff with and for Christmas we do a secret santa so we have to get our “sister” a secret santa gift.” 

Cheer can be a really fun but also stressful sport, it requires a lot of time and effort to get where Dawes is today. She wants to let students considering the team know that while stressful, it can be a lot of fun.  

“I would tell them it’s a lot of hard work and can be stressful at times, but can also be really fun and creates memories that will last a lifetime so it’s a great way to get involved into the school,” Dawes said. 

Makayla Smith and Dawes have been friends since Freshman year. Smith is happy to have Dawes on the team, she considers her as a great friend and amazing teammate. 

“I love having Shayla as my friend and teammate, I love how she always works really hard and gives the team her best effort,” Smith said.