This school year marks the official relaunching of the Rhodes cheer team after its year-long absence. In recent years, the team has been instrumental in bolstering school spirit and the encouragement of “Roll Lynx!” during sporting events. The 2016-2017 school year was a big year for the program due to the addition of its first ever official coach, which enabled the team to safely perform cheer stunts and tumbling for the first time. However, after the end of such a powerful year, there was a lack of communication among the Athletic Department, the program and its graduating seniors. This resulted in an inability to secure funds for the 2017-2018 school year. But now, after a yearlong hiatus, the program will be back.

The reemergence of the program has been a long process.

“Over the summer, Spring Smith came to me with a lot of wonderful ideas about how to bring school spirit to our campus,” Jordana Terrell ’20 said.

With Terrell having experience cheerleading and Smith being passionate about school spirit, the two soon drafted a constitution for the program and began working closely with Club Sports Director Meghan Keelan to talk about the next steps. With the strong help and support of Director of New Student Programs and Leadership Ira Lawson and Keelan, the program was able to find an experienced coach.

“We want a strong presence of school spirit at Rhodes, and to me the cheerleading team is one of the groups who helps lead that charge,” Lawson said.

The goal has been to have the program up for the football game on Parent’s Weekend in order to show visiting parents the sense of Lynx pride on campus. Though the team has not had a lot of time to practice, they have put in a great deal of effort in order to be ready for this game.

“Although you won’t see all of our new stunts and tumbling skills at our first game, we will be showing off what we’ve learned these past two weeks,” Terrell said.

She also encouraged anyone who is interested in cheer, no matter their skill set, to reach out and become a part of the team. There are also options for people who want to become a part of the team on a less committed basis. The whole goal of the program has been to boost school morale and to encourage the campus community to come together and show Lynx pride.