May 1st was a very important day for me. After a week filled with SDA shows and chaos, I woke up the following Sunday morning to drive up to my most important tryout yet- Syracuse University Cheerleading. I had already missed the first day of tryouts which unfortunately was the day of the Saturday SDA show, so I had already sent in a skills video to compensate, and would head up for the final day. Running on barely any sleep and fighting a pretty wicked cold, I was up by 6am and soon en route to Syracuse University, my future home.

A car service picked me up at my house, as it was my brothers confirmation, so both my parents had to stay behind. As if this wasn’t a challenging and nerve wracking enough event, I had to handle it on my own and talk myself through endless butterflies for a 3 hour car ride.

When I arrived, I couldn’t believe this was real life. All nerves aside I knew I had to perform, and to the absolute best of my ability. I had missed Day 1, the day all material was taught, so I already felt at a disadvantage. I was emailed videos of the dance and cheer we were being judged on late the night before, which with my luck I wasn’t able to open, therefore unable to learn. I put myself in my zone and quickly picked up everything during the tryout shortly upon arriving. As I looked around I knew this wasn’t going to be easy, but I’ve always lived by the idea of making your dreams a reality.

After 5 round of cuts, I was one of the few remaining. I tumbled, jumped, stunted, danced, and cheered my heart out for 4 long hours, just to be left hanging. I was told they’d release the final roster within a week or so- and thus began the most stressful week of my life.

I cried as soon as I got in the car. There were only so many spots and I just didn’t think it was possible. I beat myself up for things I would’ve could’ve should’ve done better, but that was just my nature. I finally relaxed, and convinced myself I didn’t make it and it was okay.

Throughout the week I was waiting, I found myself always looking at pictures or videos of Syracuse Cheerleading. I couldn’t help myself, I so badly wanted to be apart of this team, and more importantly extend my cheerleading career. Nothing could excite me more than Division 1 cheerleading… but Division 1 cheerleading? It was seeming more and more like a pipe dream.

I received a text from a coach during my senior high school cheer dinner asking if I was definitely attending Syracuse in the fall. I could not help but get overly excited, however I soon caught myself and decided to not get my hopes up. Something about the exchange of texts made me all too excited, and had most of my friends and family convinced I was set, while I wouldn’t let myself believe it until I saw the final roster.

Sure enough, on Tuesday May 10th, I was sitting in 3rd period refreshing my email like crazy as I had been doing for 10 days then, praying for that roster to be released. An email popped up with the subject line “Cuse Cheer Roster.” My heart stopped. I eagerly opened it and saw my name and just screamed out loud. I let my teacher know what happened and she let me go into the hall to share the news. I’m so blessed to have the support of such great friends and family. May 10th became what I think is the second best day of my life. I cannot wait to see what Syracuse holds for me, and couldn’t be any happier to continue my cheer career. GO ORANGE!!!