The weather is changing, meaning new sports are beginning, and the school year is nearing its end. With this comes preparation for the new seasons, new players, and new possibilities. Although many look at the sports that involve the ball and goal post, or the ball and basket, not many look at the sidelines. The cheerleaders are more than necessary to help encourage and pump up the team and the crowd. The Lewis Cass High School cheer team has been a strong organization for many years. No matter the weather or the outdoor conditions, the girls always make the best effort to cheer on the team to victory!
This time of year is a very important one for the cheer team. Tryouts are mostly always held during spring, and they always seem to have a good turnout. This year, the cheer team held a clinic on the Wednesday prior to the actual tryout itself, so the cheerleaders who want to have an in-depth chance to learn the cheer, chant, and dance required to tryout. Melanie Karmel is one of the new additions to the coaching staff for the Lewis Cass cheer team for the 2025-2026 school year. Other coaches include the varsity coach, Brittany Bertrand, the seventh and eighth grade coach, Kiera Mersch, and the sixth grade coach, Melanie Karmel. This will be Ms. Karmel’s second year coaching the upcoming sixth-grade cheerleading team. Karmel also served on the panel for the tryouts this year. Melanie was asked what she thought the most interesting part of the tryout and clinic process was. She mentioned, “As a new coach, I thought it was interesting that everyone has to do their tryout alone. Also, it’s fun to see some of my students in a different role.” Ms. Karmel is the department chair and teaches multiple Spanish classes here at Lewis Cass High School. Melanie was asked if the tryout process assists her in any way while planning for her upcoming team. She said, “It absolutely helps give me an idea of the number and the talent level of the girls that are going to be on next year’s squad.” Karmel deals with a lot of girls who are brand new to cheerleading and must learn all the skills from scratch. This could be challenging, but Coach Karmel does an amazing job teaching the girls not only the material but also the other fun skills and stunts that come alongside cheer. Lastly, Ms. Karmel was questioned about what she hopes to improve with her new team. She said, “This year, I hope to achieve many of the same goals. My girls from last year grew so much, and I hate to see them go, but I’m excited to teach the next class to be great too!”
This year, the varsity team has three seniors, Capreese Jones, Alexis Alford, and Liberty Preston. Liberty has been in cheer for 6 years. Throughout this experience, she has been able to see the changes and impacts the program has gone through. Liberty Preston was asked, as an upcoming senior, what looks different during the tryout process, compared to when she first started her cheerleading career. She said, “As an upcoming senior, the thing that looks the most different in the tryout process would have to be the judging process and how we now try out individually. I remember our cheer tryouts were online videos (because of COVID), we would send in videos of us doing the material we had learned. When I was a freshman, we used to do the tryouts in groups instead of individually. When I first began trying out for cheer, we didn’t even have a cheer clinic process. The clinic process is something brand new that we just started a couple of years ago.” The cheer clinic is something that many people find beneficial because they are able to learn materials more up-front. The individual tryouts allow girls to really showcase their own abilities. Liberty was asked what makes her most nervous and excited for tryouts. She said, “The thing that makes me the most excited when it comes to trying out for cheer would have to be just learning all of the new material given to us before tryouts. Also, being able to just show the judges how fast you can learn material and your personality shining through makes me really excited when it comes to trying out. Memorizing words for a chant or cheer is probably what makes me the most nervous for tryouts because it takes me a while to memorize the words with the motions.” Lastly, Liberty was asked what her hopes are for the 2025-2026 season. She mentioned, “My hopes for the 2025-2026 cheer season would be that everyone on the team gets along and builds more friendships. I also hope everyone can have positive attitudes throughout the whole season because positive attitudes really do make a difference on the team. If one person on the team doesn’t trust someone or doesn’t have a positive attitude, then stunts at games may not hit how we want them to, and someone could get injured.” Preston also mentioned how she will show her leadership throughout the season. “As an upcoming senior, I plan on leading the team by always having a positive mindset towards everything we do at a practice or game, being respectful towards the coaches and other teammates, having a good work ethic, and by showing my teammates how much I care about Lewis Cass and the importance of school spirit, which is what a cheerleader should embody.”
The upcoming cheer season for Lewis Cass is looking bright. Girls are preparing for the upcoming season, now that they know the results are in, and the tryouts are over. Lewis Cass Cheer is hoping for an amazing season for all the sports they are cheering for, and a great season for themselves. Soon, the girls will attend the annual UCA Cheer Camp. Camp will teach them dances to use throughout the season, many cheers and chants to use, and fun stunts and tricks! This will be an amazing kickoff to their season and will get the girls excited and ready to cheer at the upcoming football season! Congratulations and best of luck to the future Lewis Cass Cheerleaders!
