Wildcats welcome new male cheerleader: ‘I knew my time would come’

When the new Wildcat varsity cheer squad takes the field at this year’s annual Red White football game, Erick Najera will proudly add his voice to the chants for the old home team. Najera won’t be the first male cheerleader at Lake Highlands High School – far from it. Mike Thomas and country recording artist Sonny Morgan made up 2 of the 6 cheerleaders in LHHS’ first graduating class, and the teams were often coed well into the 1980s.

It’s been decades, though, since the Wildcats had a guy on the squad, and making the team is something Najera has been preparing for, mentally and physically, for years.

“I have always wanted to be cheerleader,” says Najera. “I’ve watched many videos of how cool and fun stunts can be, as well as tumbling passes. Every time I watched videos related to that, I knew I wanted that to be me someday. Even though I never really joined a team, I knew my time would come.”

At Forest Meadow Junior High, Najera joined the track team and worked to distinguish himself as a sprinter. When he got older, he applied for a job at the Chick-fil-A near Skillman and Northwest Highway, where he continues working today. This fall, he began fitting Mustang Cheer Dallas tumbling classes in between his fast food shifts.

“To prepare myself for tryouts, I needed to mentally prepare myself for a boost of confidence,” says Najera. “I spent my time at Mustang very seriously. I tried my very best to do every skill at close to perfection level.”

Najera’s work schedule didn’t leave much room for attending Wildcat football games where he might study the moves he’d need during tryouts. Instead, he went to open gym Saturdays at Mustang or to a park near his home to go over and over the material he was learning.

“The most difficult thing to master was definitely the dance portion of the tryout,” says Najera. “I remember I submitted my tryout videos about 10-15 minutes before the deadline because I was struggling to get a good video of me doing the dance. It was quite hard to learn, especially since I had very little time because of work, but I still ended up recording and submitting the best one I could get.”

Najera says he’s proud of himself for making the team and for working hard throughout the year to gain cheerleading skills and the self-confidence to pull them off. He’s hoping more male students will audition in the future – especially if his example helps them overcome their fear. He envisions himself speaking to younger students about achieving their dreams – even dreams they believed were beyond their reach.

“I believe that is where it all starts. I never really had any role model to speak to me about such things,” says Najera. “I had no choice but to take the tougher route and be my own mentor about the things I wanted to do and accomplish. I appreciate Coach [Alan] Kirby seeing potential in me and always giving me a boost of confidence to try out, because he knew I could be successful.”

Najera plans to go to college and major in education, since he’s always wanted to become a teacher. He wants to be a middle school teacher, but he says his ultimate goal is to become a member of the Richardson ISD board of trustees.

“I have learned that no matter what you want to accomplish, you always need to try your very best,” Najera says. “The major part will come from your own confidence – not just your ability to do a certain task. This will help me in the future, because I now know that I must work much harder than what my previous self has done to accomplish a certain goal.”

Najera has a message for the students, parents, alums and community members who are ready for football season to get started again.

“Please come out and support us at the football games. I’m not sure what is up Coach Kirby’s sleeves for next year, but I can definitely tell that it will be different in a great and fun way for the crowd to enjoy and watch. Our pep rallies will most likely be a tad bit different, I’m assuming, but they will be super exciting to watch.”

The Wildcat varsity cheerleaders for 2021-22 are Lacurria Anderson, Paola Andrade, Mallory Baronoskie, Molly Bono, Ava Brooks, Evelyn Carroum, Grace Carroum, Laurel Dorminy, Hannah Grace Thomas, Morgan Hassell, Taylor Kendall, Isabella Mackenzie, Macy Martin, Caroline Meek, Lucy Kate Murray, Erick Najera, Millie Ramsey, Miranda Rinck, Olivia Schmiedeke and Peydinn Stockham. The mascots are Princess Dickson and Allison Truscott.