By Andrew Doran
Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate? CI!
The CI Cheer is one of the most unique clubs that is located at CI. The group of both women and men go out and cheer for CI teams, even though the University doesn’t have a single NCAA sanctioned sports team. Alexandria Calderon, President of CI Cheer, said it’s not about the lack of sports, but the spirit that goes into having a great cheer squad. “We get to focus a lot on ourselves and our team,” said Calderon. “It’s for us and our enjoyment It’s fun more than anything.”
Before Calderon came to CI, she had been in cheer her entire life. When she decided that she was going to attend CI, she became even more excited because there was a cheer team on campus. “Having a cheer team was kind of like an added bonus,” said Calderon.
As CI continues to mature, the cheer squad is doing the same thing as well. Calderon talked about how she is hoping to leave a foundation that will be able to outlive her time at CI. Calderon has changed the club rules and how practices are run. In light of these changes, the foundation is going to be stronger going into the future, one that hopefully means that CI competes in competitions going forward.
“I want the school to get more outside recognition,” said Calderon. “We have a couple of boys on our team and we want to be able to grow that so in the future we can compete. We are co-ed, but we don’t have enough boys to compete. That’s kind of our stopping factor right now.”
In addition to getting more involved with the functions and sporting events that are happening on campus, CI Cheer is making an effort to get involved with nonprofits from the surrounding area. One of these nonprofits includes the Boys and Girls Club where they do showcases to outwardly express their CI spirit.
Even though this academic year is coming to a close, Calderon was able to reflect on what makes being on the CI Cheer team special. “Seeing everyone come together for small things,” said Calderon. “Seeing everyone have lunch together at the cafe, who would have thought we would have become good friends without the team. We get excited just to be around each other.”
