Madison Minor Cornerstone 10-10:50 Narrative Essay Friends are temporary: family is forever.

Before cheering at each football game, my team and I would join together to have dinner. Over the years, this tradition became increasingly important to my teammates and me. It brought us together because we would get ready, eat, do each others hair and makeup and car pool to the game. Over inside jokes, made up silly cheers, making fun of our coaches middle parts behind their back, being forced to run laps for being late to games/talking more than cheering, and weekly dinners, we became a family. I have never been so close to a group of people in my life. In the years that I cheered varsity football, we only won one game, but we riled up the crowd and had immense team spirit. Ive made this family because I have been a cheerleader for five years and cheered the J-hawks on at every football game. I would do anything to go back to high school and cheer with my family one more season. I miss the pre-game meals, the chilly air, and chugging hot chocolate at half-time to stay warm. Cheer dinners kept a tradition going, built a family bond, and taught me to never give up. Our pre-game dinners continued a tradition: they have been a priority for eons. In order to host a successful dinner, choosing a theme for the meal was a must. In the past we were pretty creative. Breakfast for dinner, finger foods, grill-outs, Italian night (including nothing other than Zio Johnos), or walking taco night. These meals were not gourmet or home-cooked by our families, but just being able gather weekly made us appreciate the dinners most because that is where we got comfortable with each other. The dinners meant a lot to my team too, not just

Madison Minor Cornerstone 10-10:50 me. I texted all my teammates and asked what they thought of the dinners. My friend Alex McPhail responded with, It was a tradition that we upheld and it has continued this year as well and it still brings the squad closer together. My roommate Amanda Khader, who also cheered, said, I always looked forward to dinners because we all took time out of our busy lives to get together for a meal, and they got us excited for the game. Apart from just eating together, we all crammed into a bedroom to get ready and do each others hair and makeup. Braiding bangs, poofing hair, tying the perfect 8 inch bow, using seven different types of mascara to form the perfect eyelashes, and secretly trying to sneak glittery eye shadow on so our coach was not able to see it with her wizard eyes, was all part of the process. The tradition my team holds of having pre-game dinners and getting beautiful is an important one. It would not have felt like a family if we did not have this time to get our craziness out around each other before games (even though we still got in trouble every game for arriving late or snickering and dancing on the sideline). In addition, bonding at cheer dinners formed a family. Not only did we need to be close to get our game crowd involved, but to compete and win the spirit banana at camp too! Football is only one of many sports cheerleading roots for. We have football, basketball, and wrestling seasons, competition, and cheer camps. Building stunts safely requires working together with your group. Miscommunication is not acceptable, because it is so dangerous. My sophomore year, my stunt group was arguing because we all were trying to be the chief when we really needed more Indians, and our flyer fell from our stunt, elbowed me in

Madison Minor Cornerstone 10-10:50 the eye, and within 10 seconds, the area below my eye had a black and purple tumor-like mass the size of a golf ball under it. I had to sit out of our next competition, get x-rays on my face, and take professional cheer pictures with a nasty green-blue black eye. It would not have happened if we all were listening to each other. Without teamwork, nothing is accomplished and accidents do happen. Without dinners to bring us closer, there is no way our family could have placed third at state, danced in the half time show of the Liberty Bowl, or performed in the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade. Raechel Rickleffs, another teammate, said, The dinners gave us each a sense of trust with each other. We did not hang a whole lot outside of football games but when there was a dinner we all gathered together and it brought us closer. Cause gosh knows we all love food. Spending the majority of my time with these girls year-round made us really feel like family. Most importantly, cheerleading taught me to never lose hope or spirit. This lesson was pounded into my head for many reasons. For one, my high school only won one game in my five years and it was my senior year. Many people would ask me, How can you cheer for a team that sucks so much? Are you not embarrassed? To this question, I always answered that I love my team and I will always have Jhawk spirit running through my veins. Jeffersons cheerleaders and student section, The Stu Cru, have a reputation for keeping up spirit at games. By the end of the fourth quarter, the home side of Kingston stadium would almost all be in tears. My high school was not very good at sports. We were good at a few things including show choirs, marching band, boys basketball, and sometimes softball. I still bleed

Madison Minor Cornerstone 10-10:50 blue and am proud to be Jefferson alum. This is why cheerleading taught me to never give up or lose spirit. We cheered for our team no matter what the outcome. In closing, cheerleading is what made my high school career worthwhile. Sitting around a table eating, this is where I met almost all of my best friends and made a family I could rely on. The dinners made a huge impact on my cheer years because we were never forced to filter what we say and we were able to show our true colors. They followed the Jefferson tradition, created a family, and taught me the crucial life-lesson of never giving up. I hope that one day, everyone will find a group of people who may not be related by blood, but make them feel like family. Family is whom you choose to call family. A quote from Henry Ford summarizes what cheerleading dinners meant to me, Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is a progress, and working together is success.