After four decades, Charger cheer is back! The new 48-member, all-gender, no-cut team made their debut at the boys varsity basketball game on December 3, where they honored cheer alumni Karroll Candelaria-Bauer ’81, Becki Branch ’84, Dee-Dee Butterfield ’84, and Robin Napoleone ’84.
The squad was founded by seniors Miel Padilla and Izzy Romero with the goal of boosting team spirit and school pride, which they certainly achieved at their first game after only two weeks of practice. They’ll be cheering at all home varsity boys and girls basketball games.
Because the Academy was not co-ed in its earliest years, the first Academy cheerleaders were girls – sisters, cousins, friends and girlfriends – from other schools. In 1983, when the team was made up of Academy girls, the yearbook noted that “the squad believed that cheerleading didn’t just mean leading the crowd at games, but that it also meant raising all-around school spirit…. Thus, besides sports, the cheerleaders supported many other activities. For instance, they painted ‘good luck’ signs for the Drama Department and the Band, and they helped make decorations for the Youth and Government dance.” However, the following school year, the cheer team chose to disband, citing, in a letter to the editor of The Advocate, that the boys were disrespectful and treated the team ungratefully.
The goals of today’s cheer team are unchanged, says cheer coach and Academy parent Cristin Kiburz. “Their ultimate goal is to raise all-around school spirit. This is exactly why Miel and Izzy went to the Academy administration this year to request starting a cheerleading team.”
