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T HE G REEN W AVE G AZET TE
F ALL 2015
WWW.GREENWAVEGAZETTE.ORG
Living Her Dream
I NSIDE THIS ISSUE :
Alyssa Johnson is a flyer for the University of
Louisville Cardinals Division I Cheer Team
pion for her all-star team, the
Gymtyme all-stars. “Winning isn’t
the whole picture; we focus on
being humble and becoming a family,” said Johnson.
Madison Contrino
Staff Writer
Alyssa Johnson is a talented young
woman who is lucky enough to be
living her dream of cheering for a
Division I college program. Presently a junior at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, she cheered for
one year while attending Abington
High School (Class of 2013), focusing mainly on cheering with her allstar team. Now she is a flyer for the
Cards cheer team, cheering at their
ACC Division I football games and
competing with her team in national
collegiate cheerleading competitions.
Recently we interviewed Johnson by
phone, as she’s currently living in
Kentucky. We asked her what it was
like being part of such an amazing
team. Johnson said being a member
of such a high caliber team is exciting because it helps you push yourself, and encourages everyone to
work hard to be the best they can
be. The Cardinals practice five days
a week during competition season
and three days a week when it’s not.
Alyssa Johnson cheering for the Louisville
Cardinals (Photo courtesy of Heidi Johnson)
When we asked her how long she
has been cheering, Johnson said she
started doing gymnastics as a child
and then decided to start cheer at
the age of 10. Her goal for her allstar and college team was to be on
top. Johnson is a two time Collegiate National Champion with the
Cardinals and a 2015 World Cham-
Knowing that Alyssa went to AHS,
we asked her how she balanced her
time between school and cheerleading. “School always comes before
cheer,” said Johnson. “If you don’t
get good grades, you don’t cheer.
It’s definitely a lot, but when school
is over you go to practice and then
get to be with your friends and
family.” Since Johnson is an all-star
cheerleader, she travels all over the
country for big competitions. She
has made many different relationships with both men and women
from all over the U.S. For anyone
out there that wishes to become like
Johnson, she has the following
advice. “School is number one. I
learned that the hard way. Study and
get good grades,” said Johnson.
Everyone should follow their
dreams; if you believe that you can’t
do it, read Alyssa Johnson’s story.
AHS students can go on to do pretty
amazing things!
U NSUNG H ERO :
B RIAN D IVER
(P AGE 2)
T EACHER
S POTLIGHT :
M RS . H OWELL
(P AGE 3)
A LUMNI
S PEAK
(P AGE 4)
C OLLEEN
O’N EIL
(P AGE 5)
“C LUE ”
P REVIEW
(P AGE 6)
M IKE H AZEN
(P AGE 7)
D ONALD
T RUMP
(P AGE 10)
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