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Gold Award Spotlight: It’s Time to Get Cheering
Meet Mackenzie, an inspiring Girl Scout Ambassador who has achieved the remarkable Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouts! Mackenzie rolled up her sleeves and created a fantastic summer cheer camp program aimed at making the world of cheerleading accessible to all kids in her community, no matter their family’s budget. With cheer camps and classes often costing families as much as $1000 per month, Mackenzie saw a real need for affordable options.
“Not enough people are able to get access to cheerleading camps because most are too expensive,” Mackenzie said. “Additionally, there were not enough cheerleading camps in the area. This led to a lack of knowledge and exposure for kids once they had reached middle school and wanted to try out for cheerleading. Currently, to learn about cheerleading there are no low cost options. Thus, both disadvantaging most families and leaving kids without the requisite skills to make the middle or high school teams.”
Her camp was offered to the community at $50 for a weekly session of two-and-a-half-hour evening classes, one for rising third through fifth grade students, and another for middle and high school students. The camp sessions not only taught essential cheer skills like tumbling and basic stunting, but also sparked inspiration among new cheer enthusiasts throughout her community. The campers reported a tremendous boost in their cheer knowledge, with nearly all of them recognizing their growth in key areas of cheerleading. Mackenzie looks forward to the future of her program.
“Campers self-reported their knowledge gain in the surveys that were given at camp. All campers reported learning about the sport and the components which included motions, jumps, tumbling, and stunts,” she shared. “97% of campers reported learning about tumbling and 95% of campers reported learning about stunting. My project will be sustained because I gave the program that I created to the coach of the Hickory High School Cheerleading team and she will be continuing the camps annually.”
Congratulations, Mackenzie! You are truly making a difference!
