[StBernard] SMELLS LIKE KATRINA SPIRIT

[Westley Annis]

SMELLS LIKE KATRINA SPIRIT
The storm stacked the odds against them, but 15 cheerleaders are putting on
their uniforms -- mold stains and all -- to defend their title 
Friday, March 24, 2006
By Barri Bronston
East Jefferson bureau 

The cheerleaders at Andrew Jackson High School in Chalmette lost their homes
and their school to Hurricane Katrina, scattering members of the
award-winning cheer team across the state and country. 

But they didn't lose their spirit, or the desire to come together after the
hurricane -- despite having no sponsor, coach or even uniforms -- to compete
Saturday in one of the region's biggest cheerleading competitions. 

When Stacie Seube learned the displaced cheerleaders wanted to try to
reorganize and sign up for the competition, the goal seemed almost
insurmountable. 

Seube, an Andrew Jackson biology teacher who served as the team's sponsor
before the hurricane and is now seven months pregnant, suggested that team
members try to find a way to attend the competition in Baton Rouge as a
group. 

But that wasn't good enough for this determined group. 

Out of the 33 original members, 15 cheerleaders -- two boys and 13 girls --
committed to the effort, often waking up before dawn to make the trek to a
gym in Harahan every weekend since late January. For Christine Rauber,
mother of team members Haley and Hannah, their dedication was and continues
to be nothing short of amazing. 

"To get teenagers to give up their Saturdays and Sundays -- I just wasn't
sure it could be done," she said. "But the first day they came, they were so
excited to see everyone. It was an emotional reunion. These kids lost just
about everything -- except each other." 

While the team members hope to repeat their championship in the 2004
Worldwide Spirit Association competition, what they really want is just to
compete: to show off the stunts, pyramids and acrobatics that before Katrina
they had worked so hard to perfect. 

Even more important, they say, is to reclaim some normalcy: to be together
again, to renew friendships and share experiences after one of the most
horrific events in their lives. 

"I didn't think I would see any of them ever again," said Rachelle Doss, 18,
a senior at St. Bernard Unified School. "I was so worried that some of my
friends had died. And we're all just best friends. We're like a family." 


Long-distance relationship 

Just getting together for weekend practices was a logistical nightmare. 

Sisters Haley and Hannah Rauber were at Ponchatoula High School in
Tangipahoa Parish. Sarah Hebert was at Fontainebleau High School in
Mandeville. Han Huynh was at Helen Cox High School in Harvey. And Kristin
Sullivan was 85 miles away at Dexter High School in Tylertown, Miss. 

Still, when Doss received a call from teammate and self-appointed coach and
choreographer Paul Nisse a couple of months ago asking whether she wanted to
try to put a team together for the tournament, she was ecstatic. Nisse, 18,
now a junior at Springfield High School in Livingston Parish, called other
cheerleaders and got similar reactions. 

"When Paul called, I was so excited," said Rosa Castellanos, 17, a junior
who attended school in Hattiesburg, Miss., before transferring to St.
Bernard Unified. "I had been looking forward to getting my letterman's
jacket this year, but this is the next best thing." 

Never mind that the team was down to 15 team members, had no sponsor and had
only a limited number of weekends to practice when normally they would have
begun preparing for the March competition in the summer. 

Although Seube, an Andrew Jackson alum now living in Prairieville, could not
continue as sponsor, she retrieved a box of blue and gold uniforms from her
destroyed Chalmette home and contacted former cheerleaders to see whether
they could donate their old uniforms to children who had lost theirs. 

The uniforms weren't in the best of condition, Seube said, but between
hand-scrubbing and machine-washing, she made them as presentable as
possible, even with a few lingering signs of mold. Doss proudly modeled her
jacket, which despite being freshly washed had mold stains on the lining.
Hebert sniffed her uniform and proclaimed: "This smells like my house. It
smells like Katrina." 


Glad to be together 

On Saturday, the second-to-last day of practice before the competition,
cheerleaders practiced their routine over and over again. Working in
clusters, they built a human pyramid, lifting the lighter cheerleaders to
the top and bracing themselves for the catch. There were occasional falls
and missteps, but each round of practice brought greater success. 

"This is a sport, no matter what people say," Nisse said during a break.
"Sometimes we freak people out with what we do, but that's the nature of
cheerleading." 

For this weekend's event at the Baton Rouge River Center, the Andrew Jackson
cheerleaders -- officially called the Andrew Jackson Colonial Elite
All-Stars -- are competing in Level 3, an intermediate level that Nisse said
will not showcase their full potential. To do so, Nisse said, would be
risky, considering what little time they have had to practice. 

"It's nothing extreme," he said. "It's bringing us down a step, but we need
to do that in order to look good. We're hoping to go back to reclaim our
title." 

Darren DeMoss, owner of Worldwide Spirit Association, said he is proud of
what the Andrew Jackson team, as well as all the other teams affected by
Katrina, have been able to achieve in such a short period of time. That in
itself is a reward, he said. 

"Andrew Jackson did something unique in how they got themselves together,"
he said. "But so many of these teams just started getting organized in
January. It's really amazing what the coaches and kids have done." 

As significant as the competition is, however, all 15 cheerleaders agreed
that winning awards takes second place to being together. "No matter how
upset I am," Doss said, "the minute I walk through that (gymnasium) door I'm
happy." 

Haley Rauber agreed. "I thought that when I first got here, I would totally
break down. But when we got together, it was as if we hadn't been apart. It
was just like normal." 

. . . . . . . 


Barri Bronston can be reached at bbronston at timespicayune.com or (504)
826-3448.