The McDaniel cheer team is an iconic piece of school spirit. Stomp and Shake has brought floor-shattering stomps, accurate motions, and powerful routines that are more than just intense.

The cheer team saw a lot of success by excelling in competitions. 

“Last year our basketball cheer team won first place at the Falcon Rumble Cheer Competition,” senior captain Malia Glover stated. “That was our first time competing in the newly added Stomp and Shake category, and we competed against Parkrose.” 

The team is looking to step it up once again, and their commitment in the off-season proves just that. To prepare for the upcoming season, the team takes around five months to hold tryouts and then learn cheers that are a part of their catalog, which is their entire set of cheers. 

“We make the teams in April, and by the last day of school, the varsity catalog has already been finished. The cheerleaders already know all of the cheers for the next upcoming football season, so August is a refresher,” head coach Sharlivia Slaughter explained.

During the summer months, Slaughter added that for cheerleaders to move along in varsity, they have to learn about four to eight cheers per practice. Their hard work in the offseason paid off, with a catalog of around 50 cheers. 

The team has a senior-heavy program, which helps their chemistry on the field. 

“This team has 14 seniors!” senior Lilah Pearl exclaimed.

 The style of Stomp and Shake is different than traditional cheer, so it’s helpful to have a program that’s practiced it for several years. 

 “Stomp and Shake is more about making your body flow, shaking, and moving to a beat. traditional cheer is more about sharpness, stunts, and flips, ”Glover said.

McDaniel cheer is paving the way for Stomp and Shake in the state of Oregon. 

“We have so many coaches in the state of Oregon that are so stuck still on traditional that they have a hard time embracing that Stomp and Shake can be taught if you have the right kids to do it,” Slaughter explained. “There is a lot of programs where kids don’t think they could be a part of because they don’t feel like they’d be represented to do cheer. So I’m lucky that here at McDaniel we embrace what the kids want to do.”

The team also participates in community events, and they did four separate Juneteenth events over the summer: one event at Nike World Headquarters; another at Lake Oswego; the third for the City of Tigard: and lastly the fourth for Cambia Health Insurance.

The team recently looked forward to the Homecoming game where they performed some of their crowd-favorite routines like “Rowdy”, “Survival” and “Rock it.” 

To sum up the season’s goals, Slaughter stated that it was about enjoying the experience. 

“What I’m looking forward to this season honestly is pure joy. I want to see the cheer team enjoy what they do, enjoy being cheerleaders for this school, and enjoy being out there with each other this year,” Slaughter said.