For sophomore Joy Taylor, cheer is everything.

“I don’t really get a lot of free time,” Taylor said. “I’m on varsity. We have practices three or four days a week.”

Taylor has been on the cheerleading team since freshman year and said she has really grown from the experience.

“I was basically the one calling the cheers, calling the signs and everything when I was on JV,” she said. “It made me realize that I had to be on top of my game so I could help others be on top of theirs.”

Taylor said cheer can be very hard work with all the laps, wall sits, push ups, planks, tumbles and all the other conditioning that the team does.

However hard it may be, Taylor has made many friends along the way.

“I like the bond that we have because it also makes it easier to endure the long practices.”