GHS students qualify for nati’l cheerleading team: DeVries sisters raising travel funds for performances in London and Orlando
After making the All American Cheer Team at a recent cheerleading camp and qualifying for the 2015-2016 Varsity Spirit Cheer Tours, two local sisters are hard at work raising money for the travel expenses involved with trips they will be taking in December.
Gainesville High School junior Lexi DeVries will join other 10th- through 12th-grade cheerleaders in traveling to London, England, for a seven-day trip where she will perform in London’s New Year’s parade in front of what is expected to be more than 1 million people. Lexi’s sister Jaima, a GHS freshman, will be traveling with other sixth- through ninth-graders to Disney World in Orlando, Florida, for five days where she will perform in a pre-parade performance. Two other GHS cheerleaders qualified for the trip, but they are not planning on attending, the DeVries sisters said.
The girls were chosen to be part of the All American Cheer Team after Universal Cheerleaders Association staff members evaluated the girls during a recent tryout session. In that session, they had to learn and perform a dance and cheer and be evaluated on a toe-touch jump and another cheerleading jump of their own choosing.
“We’re so excited about this,” Lexi said in a recent interview with the Times. “Jaima has never been to Disney World, and I’ve never been to England before, so it’ll all be new to us.”
The girls have set up a GoFundMe account where area residents can donate to their cause. The fund currently has more than $1,700.
To donate to the DeVries sisters, log on to http://www.gofundme.com/zqp7bh9 or call Lexi at 417-989-1236.
<p>Gainesville freshman Jaima DeVries, left, and her sister Lexi, a junior, are currently raising funds to travel to perform in London, England, and to Disney World in Orlando, Florida, after the pair qualified for the Universal Cheerleaders Association’s All American Cheer Team. The girls have raised $1,700 toward their $5,000 goal.</p>
