E’Lyse Hill is the WHHS head cheerleading coach. This is her third year coaching the team. She believes this year her squad will reach their goal; to take a trip to nationals and bring home a national championship.

Hill feels that this particular group will be the ones to advance past expectations, because they are very self motivating and always look to perfect the task at hand.

She says that they reflect her as a coach because they “have a good heart, even if they don’t want to show it”, and that they are also “perfectionists.”

Regionals for the cheerleaders will be held on Oct. 29 in Centerville, Ohio. Success in Centerville will take the cheer squad to the nationals in Florida. “Making it to nationals has never happened at Walnut, never happened in CPS,” Hill said.

One barrier to this is that judging is not just based on performance alone. It is also based on on how well the cheerleaders interact with the crowd.  In order for this interaction, it is best that there is strong support at this competition.

A future plan, Hill said, is loading up a couple buses and cars with students for support and making it a fun trip and great experience. Another competition will be held at WHHS on Feb. 5 and will be for the Eastern Cincinnati Conference, which is also judged by the interaction with the crowd.

SENIOR Faith Stewart, who is this year’s varsity cheer captain, has been a cheer member since seventh grade at WHHS. Alongside her coach, she has been through struggles and successes with the cheer squad. “This year was about a lot of team bonding and getting to know each other’s personality so we could work together,” Stewart said. Being a SENIOR brings mixed emotions through the course of the last year of high school. At WHHS there is a special bond that Stewart has formed with the people and teachers. Stewart says that when graduation approaches, she will be nervous, because she has “never been in a classroom where there’s so many different ethnicities and backgrounds and I fear once I leave, I won’t be in that environment again.”

Come out and support the WHHS cheer squad as they are always there to cheer for WHHS sports teams. The next competition will be held at Centerville, Ohio on Oct. 29, where coach Hill and Stewart will be ready to see and welcome WHHS students and athletes.