CHS cheerleaders prepare for regionals

​By: Caleb Towne, Contributing Writer

Centralia High School (CHS) cheerleaders have been working hard since June in preparation for the upcoming regional competition.

Regionals will be held on September 24th, in Kansas City. There are 11 CHS students participating in the competition.


CHS Sophomore, Jesiha Horton, is a current cheerleader preparing for competition. “I'm a little nervous. I’ve never competed before, and I really want to do well,” said Horton.

Regionals consist of around six teams. “If we place in the top five at regionals, we are able to move on to state competition. State will be held December 10th and 11th in Cape Girardeau,” said Kropf.

It takes a lot of time and dedication to get ready for competitions. When coming up with a routine there are specific guidelines the cheerleaders need to follow to qualify. “We have to include motions, stunts, pyramids, tumbling and jumps. Along with that, we have to do a variety of formations and transitions. We also have to be clean, loud and involve the crowd,” said Kropf.

Choreographing the routines can be a challenge. “I come up with most of the routine with some input from seniors. I also have a person who helps me, named Teri Krueger. Krueger used to cheer at Mizzou and used to help me coach,” said Kropf.

Kropf has been the cheerleading coach and a 5th-grade teacher in Centralia for 15 years. Kropf taught social studies her first year, then taught reading and writing for 13 years. Kropf currently teaches 5th grade math.