Senior Mackenzie Evans is a varsity cheerleader who began her career cheering on the sidelines for youth programs. Evans’ mom was also a cheerleader when she was younger.

Was there any reason you got into cheerleading?

My mom was a cheerleader when she was younger, so I started doing like sideline cheer for youth programs. I worked my way up to doing competitive cheer and now I’m at the high school level.

What events do you cheer at?

We cheer at all the football games. We don’t cheer at scrimmages, but the ten regular season games, we have we cheer at.

How did you feel the very first time you cheered?

I felt like I was going to have a heart attack before I performed, and when I got on the floor I just blanked and almost forgot the routine. Luckily, my muscle memory just kicked in. After I was done couldn’t even remember performing.

That’s wonderful. Do you feel great when you’re performing? Or nervous? How do you feel?

I love cheerleading. It just makes me really happy. Whenever something good hits the routine, I just feel so proud of myself. It just makes me want to smile that much more.

You said that your mom grew up as a cheerleader. Do you think that you make her proud?

My mom is really supportive of me and she comes to my competitions. Just because there are so many, she can’t come to all of them. She really encourages me and tells me that I’m great.