The Orono High School cheerleading team returned after a one-year hiatus, and the team has made some dramatic improvements.

Over the summer, the team, coached by math teacher Kristin VanDenheuvel, went to a nationally run camp in St. Cloud, Minnesota where they had “intense training” and were “evaluated each night on the things they learned.”

“The camp was an awesome experience,” said OHS cheerleader Makena Yunker.

According to Yunker, “[The team] improved more at the camp than it ever has.” At camp, the team won the “most improved” award. Yunker said the team “hopes to carry [this] through the school year.”

The team has been around OHS since the start of the high school in 1950. “Last year was the first year in school history where there was no cheerleading team,” VanDenheuvel said.

She stated that last year there was not “enough interest” in the program, and “there are much smaller numbers than in the past.”

Responsibilities of the team include cheering at the football games and cheering at the boys and girls soccer games. Other responsibilities include fundraising and putting up locker posters.

According to VanDenheuvel, “It’s just like any other sport. We have practice everyday, and we condition.” So far this year, the team has been really busy and “has lots of crowd support.”

In the future VanDenheuvel says that she “would like to incorporate some gymnastics and tumbling, and maybe even some guys, to the team.”

VanDenheuvel also wants the program grow to a level it used to be at.

The team used to have numbers exceeding twenty around a decade ago, while the current team sits at six members. She coached the cheerleading squad from 2000-2006 and then reclaimed the position again this year.

The cheerleading team is extremely excited for this year, and according to Yunker, “This year is going to be the best yet.”

Harry Hutter is Advertising Editor of The Spartan Speaks