Cheerleaders Inspire Youth Reading

CB cheerleaders provide the pep to our rallies and the spirit to all of our sports events, but they also devote their time to the academic lives of elementary students.

On Friday, November 1^st, the senior cheerleaders brought some spirit and wise knowledge to students of the Oak Ridge Elementary school. Prior to the event they were asked by Lisanne Floyde, a kindergarten teacher at Oak Ridge, to help motivate the students to read.

“I know how essential it is in a child’s education to read, so I personally felt obliged to go to this rally” says cheer co-captain, Sydney Garcia (’14). “I wanted to motivate these kids to advance in their education so they can advance onto college one day.”

“At practice we came up with a cheer to perform for the kids,” continues Sydney. “Then we came up with a chant to get them excited about reading”.

Because the theme of the school’s Reading Program this year is sports, the football, tennis, cross country, soccer, and water polo players joined the cheerleaders to help get the students interested in reading.

When the CB sports teams arrived at the elementary school on that Friday, they all hid behind a stage in the back of the school’s gym before running out to surprise the children.

“The children’s faces were priceless,” says Sydney. “Their faces lit up like they walked into their living rooms on Christmas morning”.

After performing a cheer about the importance and fun of reading, cheer co-captain Madison Hamzy (’14) and Sydney spoke about their love of reading and how entertaining it can be if you choose a book about something that intrigues you.

“They loved our enthusiasm and cheers as well as the other sports teams that were present,” says Sydney.

The other sports teams said the name of their favorite book as well as what sport they played before the cheerleaders lead the students in a chant saying “Let’s Get Reading!’ to end the rally.

“After the rally, the kids came up to us and gave us hugs, high fives, and asked questions,” says Sydney. “They loved to see that we all read even though we play sports”.

“They were really excited to start reading” she exclaims.

“The kids loved talking to us ‘big kids’ and told us how much they wanted to be like us when they grow up” comments Madison. “It was such an amazing feeling”.

Shortly after the event the cheerleaders were surprised to receive dozens of letters from all of the students of Oak Ridge.

“They drew us pictures and wrote thank you notes that expressed how excited they were to have us join them for the rally,” remarked Madison. “The best part of their letters was that just about every student said they wanted to read after seeing how much we loved to read.”

“It made us feel like we made a difference,” Sydney says.

Although it is uncertain whether or not the cheerleaders will be able to participate in such an exciting activity again with the Oak Ridge Elementary students, they have been invited back to the school by the Literacy Team to participate in a dance party the students will receive if they reach their reading goal of 6,000 points.

Based on the success of the reading rally, the cheerleaders have no doubt the Oak Ridge students will successfully reach their goal.