CPALIONS. ORG
STEVEY JOY CHAPMAN’ 21
Stevey Joy Chapman is among the most decorated athletes to graduate from CPA. This year, she competed with the University of Alabama’ s Co-Ed Cheerleading team to win the Universal Cheerleaders Association( UCA) Division 1A National Championship. In the spring of 2025, she also won her third gold medal competing with USA Cheer at the Cheerleading Worlds competition. Chapman shared that her success is a testament to God’ s perfect timing and the strengthening of her relationship with the Lord.
Chapman grew up excelling as a gymnast, but when middle school started, she tried out for cheerleading and fell in love with the team aspect. Chapman cheered sixth through twelfth grade at CPA and knew she wanted to challenge herself to cheer in college. Outside of school, she honed her skills working with tumbling and stunting coaches. She loved the challenge and how the sport is always evolving with new skills to learn. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, she had to submit videos online to try out for the University of Alabama’ s cheer team. On May 14th, 2021, her dreams came true:“ I finally heard that I made the team, and I remember the date because it was a life-changing day.”
The Alabama cheer team cheers for their football, volleyball, basketball, and gymnastics teams while also competing against other collegiate teams. Chapman shared how CPA helped prepare her to cheer on the sidelines,“ I give CPA a lot of credit for [ my gameday presence ] because I wouldn’ t have had great gameday skills and motions. That’ s where you learn to be a cheerleader, and that’ s the main part of what we do.” Balancing classes, practices, workouts, and games was a big adjustment for Chapman, but she quickly learned time management skills and“ loved every minute of it.” Two of her favorite memories cheering for Alabama were her freshman year at the Iron Bowl, which went into four overtimes, and playing the University of Georgia during the 2024 season in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Ultimately, Chapman wanted to cheer at Alabama because of their reputation as a top-three competition team. Although the team’ s talent was undeniable, Alabama could not break out of second place since Chapman’ s freshman year. Going into the 2025 season, they were determined to do everything they could,“ Ever since Nationals of 2024 when we made second, our whole team was in the gym. We wanted to start working now for Nationals 2025, and we all set a goal. We’ re not getting second place again.” When the time came to compete, their team was ready to leave it all on the floor. Chapman says she knew they were going to do it, and shared their intention as a team was to“ leave no doubt.” After successfully completing all the skills in their routine, the team was excited to go into the awards ceremony, but Chapman recalled hearing second place in years prior.
This time was different, Alabama became National Champions, and Chapman could not believe it,“ It was just crazy, and I’ m just so happy that even though it took me three losses that finally my senior year, it happened. It honestly is a testament to God’ s timing and His plan because I knew I wanted to go down there and win a National Championship with them. And it felt like I was running out of time because it was my senior year, but His timing and His plan are truly perfect.”
Outside of cheering for Alabama, Chapman has cheered with Team USA for the last three years, picking up a third gold medal this past spring. When a friend asked her to try out with them sophomore year, she had no expectations,“ I never thought that I would have the opportunity to do this. But it really has been the cherry on top, and again, just representing something that’ s greater than myself.” Chapman first began to understand what it means to represent something greater when she was at CPA. She says it has become a motto to live by, representing Alabama, USA, and the Lord to others.
Reflecting on her last four years at Alabama, Chapman says the Lord’ s faithfulness stands out to her. Throughout her cheerleading career, she sees how God has kept His promises. To current CPA students, she says,“ My biggest advice is to trust yourself and trust that the Lord has a plan for you. Go for it, but stay close to Him and cling to Him during decisions that you’ re making.”
This spring, Chapman graduated from the University of Alabama with a BS in Management with a concentration in Human Resources and a minor in Real Estate. In the fall, she will return to begin her Master’ s degree in Management with a concentration in Human Resources Analytics and use her fifth year of eligibility to continue cheering for the Crimson Tide.
53