As the school year began, the dedicated cheerleaders of Abraham Lincoln High School got ready for their wild, spirited appearances at school events. After practicing three days every week during the summer, routines practices have gotten more disciplinary. The ALHS cheerleaders work all year round to perform perfectly at events. The most important events that they work exceptionally hard for is the Bell Rally and the Brotherhood/Sisterhood Assembly (BSA). At the Bell Rally, the cheerleaders dance to upbeat songs while adding in pyramids and flips into the choreography. At BSA, they wear matching outfits and dance to the beat of the songs they choose. They don’t do flips and kicks. They also represent Lincoln at all football and basketball games. They also occasionally give performances to some Alumni events, orientations for incoming Lincoln students, Octoberfest, and Mayfest. The cheerleaders also fundraise to pay for their uniforms and tangible objects to help them practice. They do things such as participating in the Nike Women’s Marathon and selling cookie dough. The cheerleading squad consists of fifteen girls. The sophomores are Chloe Caba, Julia DeBartoll, Pauline Espiva, Rocky Kraft, Lucy Lin, Jessica Mauldin, Angela Mercado, Andreena Nisperros, and Sophi Wong. Samantha Restivo, Ysabella Nalig, Arianna Benavides are the juniors of the squad. Liliana Yee-Rodriguez, Lydia Abordo, Renee Ly complete the rest of the group as seniors.

Senior Liliana is the captain and has been in ALHS’ cheerleading squad for four years.

“There’s a lot of responsibility on me this year. Everybody looks up to me and asks me for help. I like it though. I have worked so hard to get this position. I think I deserve it very much. I wanted to join cheerleading because I love dancing and cheering. My favorite part of the year is doing BSA.

Junior Samantha is one of the co-captains, on her third year in the squad, and her mother, Ms. Kenney, is the cheerleading coach.

“My favorite thing about cheerleading is the dancing and the bonding we do. We’re like a huge functional family. We have problems and everything. We’re around each other so much. And I like the fact that my mom is there because she just makes it a lot easier for me. And if she weren’t the coach and I wouldn’t have seen all the fun things cheerleaders do, which means I wouldn’t be one.”

Junior Ysabella is the other co-captain and is on the squad for the second year.

“I joined cheerleading because I saw them at freshmen orientation and it looked like fun. I also love dancing. I’m in show choir. It feels strange this year because last year all I did was learn cheers and this year I’m teaching them. I was surprised the cheerleaders from last year picked me to be co-captain though, but they said there was a big change in me that they saw from tryouts to BSA.”

The girls practice for three to four hours after school every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. At the end of the week, there is either a football or basketball game. They are required to attend and perform at each one. Every year, they learn about fifty to seventy cheers.

The cheerleaders have definitely been trying really hard to perfect their routines. By working on routines a lot harder, they could make this year the most spirited of all.