Survey Reveals What Cheerleaders Want to Do
According to a recent survey of 1,016 teen girls conducted by Varsity Brands, when concerned about an issue, cheerleaders are more likely than the average teen girl to volunteer (56% vs. 46%) and join an organization within their school (43% vs. 24%).
“While cheerleaders are recognized for spirit-raising activities all year long, they do so much more to benefit their communities and schools,” said Nicole Lauchaire, VP, Corporate Marketing & Communications at Varsity Brands.
“That’s why Varsity created National School Spirit Day three years ago. It is a great way to honor the accomplishments of cheerleaders and dancers who are making a difference in communities across the country.”
National School Spirit Day celebrates the leadership among cheerleaders and dancers and is meant to shine a spotlight on the character that being on a cheerleading or dance team builds as well as on all that they do to give back to their schools and communities.
Cheerleaders and dance teams have pledged to conduct at least four hours of community service in the week leading up to National School Spirit Day on September 9th.
Cheerleaders can visit the National School Spirit Day website (www.nationalschoolspiritday.com) to pledge their community service and learn more. Some of the service activities taking place this year include:
In addition to the Meals on Wheels community service with Kendall Jenner, in honor of the 10 year anniversary of 9/11, the Costa Mesa Cheerleading Squad is hosting a heroes rally to remember, mourn and never forget. They are raising funds to donate to a 9/11 charity as well as having a collection center to send overseas to troops. Truly a school and community event, it is not just the cheer team donating service time but also the football team and entire community.
Lady’s Island Middle School cheerleaders are collecting school supplies for the Franciscan Center of St. Helena Island, SC during the week of September 5-9th. The Franciscan Center is an outreach center staffed by approximately 60 volunteers that offers academic assistance, computer training, and adult English language classes to the community.
Shelby County West Middle School is celebrating National School Spirit Day by having a sleep-over and making hundreds of cards to send overseas to troops. They are writing customized messages in each card to give the soldiers a little love from home.
The St. Paul’s High School “Bulldogs” are cleaning their community park and the feeder school buses in their community and baking warm cookies to deliver at the local nursing home. In previous years, they have washed cars and cleaned the school buses inside outside for the upcoming Football season. They feel community is what drives them to become better examples in the school.
Taking a closer look at cheerleaders specifically, the Varsity Teen Girl Study also revealed the following:
- Cheerleaders are more likely than the general teen (57% vs. 46%) to hold a leadership position in or out of school; cheerleaders are more likely to be a part of Student Council (33% vs. 25%) and programs connected to the arts than the average teen girl.
- 81% of cheerleaders have grade point averages of 3.5
- Ninety-three (93) percent of teen girls participate in one or more activities at school.
- 65 percent of high school girls participate in a school sport. The top 10 most popular include track and field, soccer, tennis, basketball, volleyball, softball, cross country, swimming, cheerleading, and dance team.
- A majority say that playing some type of sport/spirit team generally makes them happier (78%), builds their overall confidence (73%) and helps to relieve stress (69%).
Varsity’s study surveyed 1,016 teen girls ages 13-18 to represent the roughly 14 million teen girls across the United States and sought to find out more about this teen demographic, how they spend their time, how influential they are as a group and where they hold the most power of influence.
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