The cheer squad at Northwestern State University is a spirit team that performs at games and competitions. The cheer team has won the University World Cup Cheerleading Championships for three years in a row and competes at Nationals in the game day and traditional competitions.
Along with two competitions, this year allowed the team to cheer for NSU’s first football win in nearly three years and gave them the opportunity to keep school spirit alive during the game.
Andrew Dreher is a sophomore biology major and began cheering at NSU in his freshman year. After a football injury in his senior year of high school, Dreher started cheering to continue to support his fellow athletes on game day.
“Going into this year, it was back-to-back interceptions and touchdowns, and it all culminated with rushing the field,” Dreher said. “There’s something different with being on the field and feeling more connected, like you could really do something.”
Cheer’s motto is to improve by one percent every day, and this year the team started with two new skill coaches—Jorian Dodd and Aaron Dotson.
Honor Camus, a senior sports and recreation major, started cheering when she was four years old and chose to continue at NSU because she wanted to follow her passion for cheering in college. “You just have to keep trucking through and working hard. Keep finding things that you enjoy in cheer to make sure that you keep the same fire that you had,” Camus said.
Camus is also one of the cheer captains and appreciates the impact of the new coaches. “We needed more coaches, and it’s crazy since they’re my closest friends, but I’m looking forward to seeing the execution of the little things improve and to bring home a gold medal from Nationals,” Camus said.
Being a part of the cheer team is more than getting together for practices, games and competitions but being part of a family. Hunter Thomas is a senior communication major and cheer captain who has been cheering for NSU since his sophomore year, and his favorite part about cheerleading is the “Demon Fam” that’s included.
He believes that even thirty years from now, he’ll be keeping in touch with his teammates. “I can call every single person on this team a brother or sister because we’re always here for each other and always bonding and growing close to each other,” Thomas said.
The bond between NSU’s cheer squad can bring a warm and personal touch to choreography like stunts, tumbling, and routines to showcase NSU’s school spirit and talent around campus. NSU cheerleaders practice year-round, not only for competitions, but also for the sports and students residing at NSU.
