This week, Type One sat down with Kenna Hollander, a senior at Pine Crest School who is the head cheerleader of the Pine Crest football cheer team. On Friday nights, she can be found out on the field cheering on the football team, while out of school, she works with charities because helping the less fortunate is something she cares about deeply. She has been on the football cheer team for four years, and this year she became the sole senior and captain. She may be the only senior on the the team, but that has not stopped her from having a successful season filled with spirit.

Hollander began her cheering career when she was only four; she has loved it ever since. Not only does she show her skills on the Pine Crest Field, but she also cheers competitively outside of school with many other girls who share her love for cheer. When the time came to decide whether to cheer at school as well, she said “cheer is something really fun that I love to do, so I decided it would be a fun experience to continue at school too.”

While Kenna has been cheering at school, she has also had to balance one of the most difficult times of a student’s life. She is working on college applications and trying to keep her grades up at the same time. On balancing school and cheer, she said, “it has been a bit difficult because being the only senior captain requires a lot of difficult planning, but I have managed.”

Hollander said senior year has been “fun and exciting” while she shares all of her last PC moments with her fellow students and friends. She thinks that the best part of senior year has been how “the grade has come together and there has been a lot of excitement and privileges.” The things she was looking forward to before she graduates, were “being cheer captain, homecoming, and her senior night.” While the end of her senior year might be emotional for some, Kenna is cherishing her last moments at Pine Crest with her teammates and friends at school.

Kenna’s duties as cheer captain include “making routines, running practices, making sure the girls have all the information for games, and motivating the team.” Because she is the only cheer captain and senior this season, she has had to step up. It has affected her experience in a positive way as she said it “brought her closer with the girls” and taught her “to be more independent and become a leader and role model.”  One thing she wanted to do with the girls before she left was to have their annual cheer sleepover. She was happy by the end of the season to finally organize this lighthearted tradition especially because it has been a hard task to achieve in previous years.

Kenna enjoyed her time as a cheerleader at Pine Crest. Her future in cheer is still uncertain as she said it is “based on where I go to college, but it is still undecided.” The one thing that she loved most about cheer was the amazing friendships she made in the past four years. She will surely never forget about the times she had with the girls after spending multiple hours out on the field with many of her closest friends. The three words she would use to describe her time cheering would be exciting, motivational, and full of school spirit.

Cheering taught Kenna many important lessons throughout her experiences thus far. One important lesson she said cheer taught her was “to keep going and be a leader even when things get tough.” She would also recommend cheering to many others even if they are having doubts. She said to try it because “it adds to the high school experience” and that “football games on Friday nights were definitely some of my favorite times in high school.” Kenna will miss her teammates and look back on the incredible years she had during high school. Cheer has shaped her as a person and will forever have a spot in her heart.