SOMETHING TO CHEER FOR: Princeton High School’s Varsity Cheer Team made history last month by qualifying for national championships, taking place in Florida early next year. Now, they just have to raise funds to pay for the trip.
By Anne Levin
At a regional competition on November 16, the members of Princeton High School’s (PHS) Varsity Cheer Team were elated to hear they had qualified for the Universal Cheerleaders Association’s (UCA) National Championships. At the event in Orlando, Fla, scheduled for February 6 and 7, the team will go up against high schools from all over the country.
The coveted honor was a first for the PHS squad. But it didn’t take long for the members, their coaches, and parents to realize that funds needed to be raised to pay for the transportation, meals, hotels, and other expenses that traveling to the competition would entail.
“We’ve been trying to get the word out there,” said co-captain Valeria Monroy, a senior at PHS and a cheerleader since her freshman year. “Right now, our goal is $60,000, which we know is a lot. We’ve been trying to look for ways to go around it. Getting a little more than half of that amount would be helpful.”
The PHS Cheer Team has close to 40 members from 9th to 12th grades. They began the season in August by attending UC Cheer Camp with teams from around the nation. They cheered on the PHS football team, something they are happy to do.
“But we also look forward to competitions,” said Valeria. “I think a lot of people associate what we do with football and basketball, on the sidelines. We love to be there and support them, but our whole season is for these competitions. And it’s so exciting because we have never gotten much further than regionals, until now.”
The cheer team had a winning season, taking first place in the Game Day division at the Colonial Valley Conference (CVC) competition, according to Jen Fox, who is the parent of one of the team members.
“Princeton has not won first place in over 15 years,” she wrote in an email. “They competed at the UC Regional Competition and received their first ever “bid” to Nationals, going up against high schools from around the country in February 2026.”
Valeria loves cheering because she grew up studying “every style” of dance. “I love the dance part of it. But I also think it’s a really good sport based on teamwork,” she said. “You rely on each other. If one person isn’t there, it affects the whole team.”
Parents tend to be “very supportive” despite the chance of injury with participants being thrown into the air and polishing off different stunts. “It’s like any other sport,” Valeria said. “There are a lot of skills involved. We learned a lot of them when we went to camp last summer.”
Funds raised go toward travel, accommodations, and entry fees for the competition, and are made to the Princeton High School Football & Cheer Boosters, a 501(c)(3) organization. Visit https://bit.ly/4a2e2Mj.