You would think someone that lives in the same neighborhood as you would go to the same school district as you, right? But that’s not the case with Jada Greer.

Greer lives in Lake Saint Louis in the Wentzville School District, specifically in the Liberty area. However, she attends Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School (MICDS) which is a 45-minute commute drive to school and 45 minutes back with traffic. She mentioned that driving back-and-forth 5 to 6 days a week for 90 minutes of the day is not her favorite thing, but it has made her a better driver.

Sometimes after school if they have a game that the team needs to cheer at or they have a cheer competition, she has to stay after school, because most of the time there is not enough time to drive home and come back. If she does need to drive home for something, she has to turn right back around to go back to school.

Greer has been on the MICDS cheerleading team for three years. She started cheering in the fall of her sophomore year. Two of her friends that were already on the cheerleading team encouraged her to try out, because she naturally just has that cheery spirit in general. Her teammate, senior Haya Hussain, who is a co-captain alongside with Greer stated, “She is very loud and always on top of it.”

Being a cheerleader is a very rewarding sport with the cheerleaders smiling and chanting makes the crowd and even the players themselves hype up during the game. Even though all cheerleaders look cheerful while cheering, sometimes deep down they could be feeling the opposite of cheerful in the moment. 

When being a cheerleader, you can’t look grumpy, sad, or show any other emotion except being happy, cheerful, and sometimes sassy. However, everyone has down days, even a cheerleader. They have to be willing to have a time commitment for the sport and they have to leave whatever other feelings they have at the door which is sometimes hard to do. While being a cheerleader in general, she is also a co-captain, which means she and her other co-captains have to send reminders, do social media for events and games they will be participating in, plan cheer calls, etc. 

All in all, cheerleading is a sport and sports can sometimes get hard, but for the most part it is very rewarding in the end. You make friends, bond with people you may have never met before, and possibly leave knowing that it was worth all those flips, tumbles, and just the hard work you put into it. Upon Greer graduating this year, she gives advice for anyone who wants to try cheer stating, “Don’t be scared. It’s a good way to grow your own confidence. It’s all about confidence.”