Editorial: SJC should bring back cheerleading
St. John’s is a school with a variety of clubs and athletics in DC … but minus a cheerleading team.
The year 2007 is the year cheerleading mysteriously disappeared. Mr. Morse was a student during the “2007 cheerleading ban.” He said, “Cheerleading ended because I remember a girl fell on her face during a pep rally. Then the cheerleading team stopped and that’s when the Booster Club was born.”
I know all students are curious how it ended, because there are many rumors. Mr. Mancabelli said, “The last year of cheerleading was 2007-2008. The reason it stopped was because lack of interest and the introduction and growth of the Booster Club.” While I think the Booster Club is doing a great job, a cheerleading team can help bring our school spirit to the next level!
We have multiple top five teams in the area for all different types of sports. I think we should have a cheerleading team because the Boosters can’t be the only people trying to start cheers. They need help to settle all students. Having new perspective on cheers will help bring the rowdiness and hype to each and every game.
Colleen Koch ’20 said, “I used to do gymnastics when I was younger, and I wanted to try out cheerleading in high school until I found there wasn’t a team and I was really upset.” Ale Almeida ’20 said, “I think we should have team because it would be a great way to rekindle my athletic ability to tumble, because I used to cheer when I was younger. It would also be a great way to get people involved in such a wonderful sport to boost the school spirit.”
Another reason cheerleading should be added is the Boosters only really partake in hyping up the students, and the cheerleaders can have the parents and other fans involved. Our teams are so good that they travel out of state, but barely anyone can go to the games but parents. However, if we had cheerleaders, the cheerleaders could travel with them and hype up the crowd and players to win away from home!
The Booster Club is also very selective when it comes to head leaders at the games. If cheerleading was to start, it would be another way for all of our different students to get involved in a new way in our welcoming community.
Other WCAC schools, like Good Counsel, Seton, and DeMatha, have cheerleading teams. These schools bring tons of school spirit to games and override us on cheering. We need to change this and make St. John’s one of the loudest and most proudest school in the WCAC. Go Johnnies!
