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Leadership Award

After three days of cheerleaders learning new cheers, sidelines, dances and stunts, they are tired and exhausted, but mostly sad for the fourth day to roll around, because they know the end of camp is coming. But it’s not all tears and sorrow, the cheerleaders look forward to the competition and the awards ceremony that is held on that day.

There are a variety of awards handed out on the final day, but the one campers always strive for is the Leadership Award. What makes this award unique is that the award isn’t chosen by the staff, it is chosen by the other squads who attended the camp.

The Leadership Award is given to the squad who shows good leadership skills, school spirit, is friendly to the other teams, and has a great attitude. When the squads are voting the instructors will tell the campers to think of a squad at camp that you would want to be on. The award is also explained as a coach’s ideal team. They not only do what they are asked, they go above and beyond what is asked of them.

West Orange High Schools coach, Colleen Labbadia, said they won the award because “we had fun interacting and getting to know other teams. Whether we were initiating fun, interactive games and cheers during breaks or offering encouragement during evaluations, we did so in a welcoming manner!

After receiving this award UCA hopes the squads take the leadership skills they used at camp and implement them at their school throughout the year. An example of a squad who does this is Piscataway High School.

Piscataway High School won the Leadership award in 2003, 2005, and 2006, so before they even arrived at camp they had set the bar high. On the last day of camp they end up getting the Leadership award for the third year in a row! The cheerleaders from Piscataway said, “One of the greatest accomplishments our girls can achieve is to positively affect another cheerleaders or another program.”

Their coach, Kelly Severino says, “Throughout the year, the girls are leaders in the classroom too. For the past several years, the cheerleaders have greeted both the faculty on their first day of meetings and the students on their first day of school. The cheerleaders are often asked by the school to build spirit and enthusiasm at different events, such as our Fiftieth Celebration of our School last year.”

Hooper Academy is an example of a school that isn’t only a leader at their school they are also a leader in their community. Hooper cheerleaders participate in philanthropic projects in the local area. For the last four years, Hooper cheerleaders have volunteered in the Light the Night Walk held in Montgomery, AL.

The Leadership Award is something that is seen as a huge honor to the UCA staff. It is seen that way because the teams who get this award are the ones who are doing what all cheerleaders should be doing: showing school spirit while being friendly to others. So the next time you are at camp you should set one of your goals to win the Leadership award!

If your squad has any stories similar to this feel free to email your story to eeinspahr@uca.com