Love, Care, Serve La Grande School District
|
www.lagrandesd.org
|
March 2024
La Grande High School, La Grande Middle School, Central Elementary, Greenwood Elementary, Island City Elementary
Connect with La Grande School District Anytime, Anywhere.
ANOTHER KIND OF ATHLETE
Plus
1. Know what’s going on at school 2. Connect with teachers and administrators 3. Stay up-to-date on school Information • Cafeteria Menus • Events • Staff Directory • Alerts • Athletics
LHS Cheerleading program makes debut BY TRISH YERGES
The La Grande High School (LHS) fall and winter sports events have featured another talented team of athletes making their debut, the Tigers cheerleading team, led by head coach Kimberly Westenskow and assistant coach Kearsten Conner. “I don’t think we’ve had a cheerleading program for over ten years,” Chelsea Hurliman, LHS principal said. “It’s just a great addition to the high school, and I’m very proud of them.” The team has a good time practicing, and their parents are supporting them by attending the games where they perform. “It has brought a layer of team spirit and school spirit to our assemblies and sporting events,” Hurliman said.
EARLY ORGANIZATION Head Coach Westenskow has been teaching with the district for five years, teaching Health I & II, English Language Learners for grades 6 -12, and Fitness for Life for grades 9 – 12. She became interested in forming a cheerleading team when she noticed there was no dance or cheerleading team. This seemed unusual to her because she had come from a high school whose dance team won national championships, so she wanted to do something for La Grande High School and at the same time boost the school spirit among the kids. Some kids were showing an interest so Westenskow approached administration. She was advised to put on a summer camp to see what kind of interest it would attract. She did that during Covid, and eight girls attended.
She returned to the administration and proposed that she get the cheer team up and running, but since it was during Covid, it just wasn’t the right time to organize this. After things settled down, even more girls expressed an interest, so she again returned to administration and said, “Okay, let’s do this.” “I put up a sign-up sheet at the high school, and we had try-outs. Before I knew it, we had 21 girls on the team,” Westenskow said. “That was in May 2023, and then we started practicing throughout the summer.” To help the team get organized initially, Margo Kiki, offered her assistance through the summer, and she got the cheers together. “She was just so helpful,” Westenskow said. Then Kearsten Conner was hired as assistant coach, which was a big help to Westenskow. See Cheerleading on page 11