Addison Whitman in final 16 for Georgia Cheerleader of the Year
Gordon Lee senior Addison Whitman is used to performing under pressure.
As a cheerleader, she performs routines in front of football crowds on Friday nights, on Saturdays during the fall as part of the school’s competition cheer squad and later in the spring as a standout sprinter and pole vaulter on the track team.
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that she aced her latest performance.
On Aug. 6 at Columbus State University, Whitman was one of the 16 cheerleaders selected for the GACA All-State Cheerleading Team. The honor not earned her a small scholarship, but also kept her in the running for the biggest prize of all — the title of Georgia Cheerleader of the Year for 2016.
Each year, some 200 cheerleaders from around the state are nominated by their coaches to vie for the title. The nominees are judged on things such as academics, community service, honors and other athletics. The cheerleaders are required to document all of their activities and submit letters of recommendation, as well as
write an essay explaining how cheerleading has impacted their lives, what they have learned from it and how they will use its lessons in the future.
From the pool of nominees, only 40 were selected to compete in Columbus. After an interview process, they performed a two-minute cheerleading routine and from there, the final 16 were chosen.
The winner and runner-up, who will be given additional scholarships, will be announced at the GHSA State Cheerleading Championships back in Columbus on Nov. 12.
“It feels really good (to be in the Top 16),” Whitman said after a recent practice with her squad. “It’s definitely a confidence booster and it was a big stress relief once it was over because I’ve put so much hard work into it.”
Longtime Gordon Lee High cheer coach Mandy Sturdivant said she was confident that Whitman would put on a show in Columbus.
“I think it’s fantastic that she’s in the Top 16,” Sturdivant said. “She’s worked very hard. As far as talent goes, she was one of the best there that day. I had no doubt when she finished her performance that she would be in the Top 16. She had a phenomenal day.”
Whitman said it was great just be nominated.
“Mrs. Sturdivant takes (the award) very seriously, which is how I think it should be because it really is an honor,” she said.
Nominations are hard to come by at Gordon Lee because Sturdivant said she knows just how difficult a process it is and what all is involved.
“I haven’t nominated anyone since Allyson Quinn was a senior (in 2007),” Sturdivant explained. It’s a threestep process. You have to be very involved in your community and your school, as well as cheerleading. We have many very talented, very athletic cheerleaders, so as far as that component, I feel like they would do very, very well.
“But you have to also be a very wellrounded cheerleader and Addison’s been a class officer, she’s been on the Homecoming Court, she’s been the yearbook editor and she does lots of community service, so I felt she had all of that. Then, in addition, she takes dual-enrollment (classes) and she has very good grades so I thought she would have a great chance to make it through that initial cut.
“It’s a tremendous amount of work with all the letters and essays and verifying everything along the way to complete the process on the front end. If it went solely by (cheerleading) ability, I have nine very talented seniors and they all could have gone and held their own and done well. But to make it through all three of those levels to get to that final step, it’s very difficult.”
Whitman has worked with A Paw And A Prayer, a pet rescue and adoption service in the Chattanooga area, and Cameron’s Cause, a foundation created to help families who are facing catastrophic illnesses with their children and who need help with end of life needs. The foundation is named for former Gordon Lee football player, Cameron Scroggins, who passed away in 2013 after a battle with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.
She said cheerleading as taught her many things that she uses on a daily basis.
“Cheerleading has taught me to perser- vere, to be a hard worker, and most of all, to be a leader,” she added. “I think it will definitely help me in the workplace because I’ve learned that things don’t come easy. You have to work for them.”
Whitman has plans to go on to college and is eyeing the University of Georgia where she plans to study pre-med. She said she doesn’t know yet if her cheerleading career will continue after high school, but that being able to put 2016 Georgia Cheerleader of the Year on her college application would look really good.
“To be the Cheerleader of the Year would be great,” she said. “I love cheerleading and I think it would be good for colleges to see that. I haven’t really decided yet if I want to cheer in college, but if I do, I think this whole experience will really look good in coaches’ eyes. Plus, it would be big for cheerleading at Gordon Lee. We take it seriously here, just as seriously as the other sports and it would be really great to win.”
Gordon Lee has never had a Cheerleader of the Year winner, although Quinn — who ironically went on to cheer at Georgia — was runner-up the year she was nominated. But Sturdivant said seeing Whitman win would be great for the program as a whole.
“Addison is competing against everyone from Class 1A to Class 7A and even ones in the co-ed (cheer) programs,” she explained. “So to have someone from a small school like Gordon Lee up for Cheerleader of the Year in the state of Georgia is great and to have her win would be amazing.”