Cheerleading and finding your passion

Even if you didn’t go to high school in the United States, you are familiar with the concept of cheerleaders. Pleated skirts, pom-poms, and all the stereotypes. I know some of our high school’s cheerleaders, and I can tell you those stereotypes aren’t true. Several cheerleaders were honor students. One of them was an editor for our creative writing magazine. Cheerleaders were among the kindest and most supportive people I knew in school. Cheerleaders are socially popular. But as I learned in high school, popularity is based on how you treat people and what you can do for them.

Perhaps it helped that our cheerleaders dressed like this.

I reviewed a couple of children’s books by Reseda Charter High School’s current cheerleading coach Alise Cayen, Patty Pom-Poms and The Cheerventures of Patty Pom-Poms: Making the Grades. These stories are about seven-year-old Patty Kaplinsky, who wants to be an athlete like her older brothers. She tries out different sports, but she couldn’t find one she liked or could do well in. Then she discovers cheerleading and falls in love with it. But she also learns that being a cheerleader means working hard, being a part of a team — and as she discovers in the…