Identical white shoes and smiles are the first thing seen when walking into the multi purpose room everyday after school. The Panther cheerleaders gather in a group, trying to squeeze in a final snack before the coach, Regina Hollinger, walks through the door.

At 3:30 the commotion slows down and the girls spread out to begin practice. “To the Left, 1,2,3,4,5….,” yells Delaney Clemetson, leading the stretching. After fully stretched seven of the cheerleaders run to the closet to grab mats, so the girls can practice stunts before going through the homecoming performance routine.

After putting the mats together, groups of girls get ready to stunt. “Preps!” Moorea Long calls to get the attention of the other girls so that they can all go up in unicen.

Three girls fly into the air and are held by three others while the coach makes sure everything went up smoothly. Then someone calls extension and the flyer goes up higher. Cradle is called and the three girls on the ground throw the top girl as high as they can and catch her before she hits the ground. “Get into formation”, Cierra Achey says.

A diamond is formed by the 14 cheerleaders and the coach starts the music. Fast-paced music while the girls begin to dance in sync. After the routine is finished, they go over and fix anything that went wrong or pyramids that didn’t hit.

This process goes on over and over until it is absolutely perfect with not a single mistake. After that, they continue to go over it in groups so that they can watch each other to make sure everything is going smoothly. Once the cheerleaders are done with that they begin their weekly art project, the run through.

Figuring out a pun or catchy phrase to put on the run through and rolling out and cutting the yellow- gold paper is the first thing that happens. This week the run through says “Your team, our roar, now it’s time to settle the score. #Hoco2k16” Clemetson begins to sketch out the letters in pencil and the rest of the girls come in with black paint to go over it so people can see it from the stands.

Once finished they gather in a circle and talk about this week’s game and what their plans are, Then practice is dismissed at 5:30 and the cheerleaders go to other commitments like their jobs, homework or dinner with their family.