As a majority of you know, our cheer squad has many new additions to the team this year. One of these additions happens to be Jacob Charlson.
Charlson is a sophomore who has been a cheerleader since his freshman year. It all started when he was waiting for the bus after detention one day. The cheerleaders were having tryouts and asked him to audition. After much hesitation, Charlson gave in. He was not the only guy to try out but he was the only one that made it. This year, however, he was the only one to try out.
Being a male cheerleader is often times awkward, but Charlson says it is still acceptable. All of the other girls get along well with him. He plans to continue cheerleading all through high school.
Cheerleading may look easy, but it can be tough, too. When Charlson was at cheer camp in ninth grade, he had a scare. “There was a level two sex offender on campus and the guys had to walk the girls back to their dorms.” Once, while practicing a cheer, Charlson and two other cheerleaders were throwing a flyer, a cheerleader who is thrown into the air. When she came back down, the back spotter, a cheerleader who is supposed to catch the flyer, missed catching her. The flyer fell down on her backside, but luckily she was not hurt very badly.
Like most of us, Charlson has a favorite class; his is orchestra. Charlson plans to further his dreams in music education but still wants to continue cheering on into college. His main choice is Central Washington University, but Charlson’s fallback is University of Puget Sound or Kentucky State University.
Cheer captain Paula Jo Triche believes that Charlson does well and has definitely improved since cheer camp. She believes Charlson to be brave for being a cheerleader in such a female-dominate sport.
Rebecca LePage, fellow cheerleader, enjoys Charlson now that she has gotten to know him. “I was a little nervous and excited at the same time to hear that a boy was on the squad. I didn’t know him at all.” She likes how Charlson can make the team laugh even at their worst. “There was one time when Jacob almost missed catching a flyer so our coach dived in to catch her. Now Jacob imitates her doing that whenever we are in a bad mood.”
Coach Melissa Schoeler, says, “It’s a joy to have Jacob on the team. He really makes it entertaining.” Schoeler is glad to have Charlson on the team. “Another guy has come out to watch the practices. He said he might tryout for next year.” Charlson sees himself as a role model for this squad and is very proud of it.
Schoeler, LePage, and Triche all commented on his talent for changing the choreography to be more suitable for a male part.
Though he is a cheerleader, Charlson is just a normal high school student too. He has his favorite things like the rest of us. Charlson likes the blue ranger in the hit show Power Rangers. “Anything you put in front of me I will eat,” was his remark concerning his favorite food.