Bright and early, at 4:30 a.m. on Jan. 31, rows of students in matching t-shirts filed into a bus and excitement filled the air as the Miami Palmetto Senior High cheerleading team began their journey to Universal Studios.
The trip is part of head cheerleading coach Nina Pozo and the cheer captains’ efforts to bring the team closer through team-building exercises and experiences. Before the trip, Varsity Cheerleader Valeria Abril predicted that the outing would connect the girls through the fun of the park and a much less thrilling prospect: the four-hour-long bus ride.
“I definitely think the team is going to grow closer and bond more from this experience because being on a bus together for four hours — even if you’re going to be asleep half the time — is a lot of time to spend with people,” Abril said.
Most of the cheerleaders, including Abril herself, went into the trip looking forward to bonding with their fellow teammates and spending time growing closer as a group.
“I’m excited to talk and get to know each other better, especially with the mixing of friend groups. Putting us all in the same place — that’s a really good way of mixing us all together,” Abril said.
The efforts could not have been more effective according to senior cheerleader Leslie Sullivan.
“I think that the trip definitely made the team grow closer, and it made it [possible] for us to spend some time together outside of just practice,” Sullivan said.
The trip is only one of many activities the team has done this year, including a Christmas lunch at school, and varsity and junior varsity pool parties at the start of the year.
“We had our Christmas lunch where Coach Nina had Chipotle catering and we all ate together. It was really cute, we all pulled up in comfy-cute pajamas. It was really nice, really fun,” Abril said. “My favorite one was the pool party we had before school started. The varsity pool party was amazing, it was great — we played games, we ate food, we had so much fun and it really started off the season on the right foot.”
Some of the girls are hoping that the trip to Universal Studios will become an annual tradition, helping the team come together and celebrating a successful first half of the school year.
“It’s been this team for around six months now, so it’s kind of a celebration of how far we’ve come,” Abril said. “I think Coach Nina will try to make it a tradition – I think it should be a tradition because it’s very nice. It’s a super fun activity – who doesn’t love going to a theme park? Who doesn’t love spending time with their friends?”
