A Season of Giving

As an I've been an amateur photographer, I've been to focusing on sports for five years, two of which have been spent as a student on the high school level. One of the hardest things I have to do on this several games and events. level of athletics is change my style of shooting to get the best photos from each sport. If there is one constant to the Edmond North High School sports equation, one unifying link, I would have to say it is the Edmond North cheerleading squad. They are at just about every single game every week. Their dedication and verve is unmatched. But when Edmond North's varsity cheer coach Erikka Tipton asked me to write this article on the unique qualities of her squad, I admit I may have jumped too soon. The truth is, (as I found out pretty quickly), it's hard to put into words the generosity and caring the varsity cheerleaders possess. To people on the outside looking in, the community service the squad participates in constantly is amazing. To the girls, though, it's just a part of being a Husky. One of the cool things the squad does is adopt families during the Christmas season. Each of the girls volunteers to buy toys for children in the adopted family, clothes or even food for a real Christmas dinner. The squad's only payment: seeing the surprised, happy, crying faces of the families they've helped. This service isn't uncommon; what is uncommon is that the girls sometimes do it two to three times in one holiday season. Many of the cheerleaders on the squad also participate in some of the many community service clubs at the high school, including Sun Club, Key Club, DECA and others, many of which do their own projects during or around the holiday season. A little closer to home, the squad does clinics in the spring and summer aimed at elementary-age girls with dreams of being cheerleaders. These clinics make a lot of dreams come true, as junior Blaire Barta explained. "We take one Saturday in February and September to teach the girls a cheer and dance,'' she said. "We make a practice video for them to take home and learn, and at one of the varsity football and basketball games, we have them perform. It's a lot of fun! The girls get so excited to perform." Though the clinic in September is done as a fundraiser for the squad, the money raised from the February clinic is donated to the school's philanthropy, BALTO (Bring a Light to Others) Week. While making dreams come true may not be the line of business these girls are in, they have done a good job of it. The inspiration they've struck and the hearts they've touched makes the whole thing that much cooler.