On Sept.11, both varsity and JV cheerleaders led the Little Railers (formerly named the Warrior cheerleaders) for a night full of practice in Willis Gym as part of their annual cheer clinic. At the beginning of practice, all of the cheerleaders formed a circle and played Little Sally Walker. Afterwards, the Little Railers were separated into groups by schools. The high school cheerleaders were split evenly among each group. The high school cheerleaders taught them cheers, jumps, a dance, and showed them how to stunt.

Sophomore Rylie Pierce participated as a little cheerleader when she was younger, but now was able to teach the kids as a big cheerleader this year. “It was really informative. I got a lot of information from them from learning from little kids. I did the clinic when I was younger. I did it for seven or eight years. It’s different because when I was a little cheerleader, I looked up to everybody and I listened to all of them and now since I am a big cheerleader, I get to tell people what to do. My favorite part was probably getting to know the little kids and showing them the dance.” said Pierce.

Going from a little cheerleader to a big cheerleader allows you to see what it is like from a different point of view. Junior Lindsey Voth experienced this transition from participating previously when she was younger. “When your little, you always like look up to the bigger cheerleaders and you always want to be one of them and you always think about being a high school cheerleader when you’re older and just love all of them because they are what you want to be when you are older. Meeting new little girls and seeing how everyone’s attitudes were different was probably my favorite part.” said Voth. To showcase their skills, all cheerleaders performed at halftime of the varsity football game on Sept. 14 at Fischer Field.