Selinsgrove student faces real balancing act

Selinsgsrove student ready to make her move up

By Tricia Pursell The Daily Item

SELINSGROVE — Family photos show her as a little girl, performing her own cute cheers at Penn State football games.

This fall, 20-year-old Kilene Smith, of Selinsgrove, will fulfill her dream to do it for real as a member of the large co-ed cheerleading squad at University Park.

The 2008 Selinsgrove Area High School graduate was chosen as one of four new members of the team this year after four long days of tryouts, consisting of cheering, dance, tumbling, stunting and an interview.

She was nervous, she said, "but I went in with confidence in myself. I decided I would just do my best, and whatever happened, happened."

Well, her strategy worked.

She will begin practicing with the squad in August.

"I'm very excited," Smith said. "I know it's going to be so much fun, such a memorable experience."

Yet, she said, she's also a little anxious — and rightly so.

While used to cheering in front of smaller crowds — anything from 3,000 to 9,000 at high school games, she will now be cheering in front of the 100,000-plus crowd at Beaver Stadium.

Formerly a cheerleader for Towson University, she has cheered for larger games, such as the Towson-Navy and Delaware-Towson contests.

"I've experienced big games," she said, "but never as big as this is going to be."

While with the University Park squad, she will be tumbling, flying and stunting, and hopes to travel to a number of away games, especially Ohio State. But the junior will have to wait one more year before she can choose her own schedule. Seniors have first pick.

Smith attributes her success to the encouragement of her family and friends, as well as to her extensive cheering background.

"So many years of hard work," she said with a sigh. "So many years."

Her mother was a former cheerleading coach for Selinsgrove. So technically, she said, "Ever since I was born, I've been involved in cheering."

A gymnast from ages 4 to 11, she was the state champion on the balance beam. She has been cheering competitively since she was 12, and was a cheerleader for the Selinsgrove football and basketball teams.

She was known as the "little blond girl that does back flips," she remembers.

The 5-foot-1/2-inch athlete has also been found at the top of a famous cheerleading pyramid.

"I like performing," Smith said.

No one likes practicing, she admitted, "but when I get in front of a crowd, it just makes everything worth it."

Smith was also on the homecoming and prom courts in high school, and had a dream to portray Cinderella in Disneyworld — until she learned she was too short.

But it's ok. She has other plans — which she hopes also include moving south, though "Selinsgrove will always be home," she said. A nutrition major, she plans to become a wellness coach.

During the summer, Smith waitresses and coaches at cheer camps all along the east coast.

This year, she said, she will be focusing on an internship, as she transitions into what she and her friends call their "grown-up jobs," she joked.

Meanwhile, she's going to enjoy her dream — one which, though a big deal, she doesn't suspect will interfere with her academics or her social life.

Over the years, having always attended practices and games, she's become very good at balancing, planning and scheduling.

"I've always been really close with the people I cheer with," she said.

Those few friendships have been good ones. And she values quality over quantity anyway, she said.

She plans to involve everyone she loves in her life as much as possible, she said, but they also all know what to prepare for, for now.

"They know I'm going to be busy," she smiled.

Smith will transfer from the Mont Alto Penn State campus, where she attended for her sophomore year and was the captain of the cheerleading squad.

"Kilene is an exceptional cheerleader," Mont Alto head cheerleading coach Christina Yoder commented in the university's website announcement. "She's a tremendous athlete and has a bright personality. She trained very hard for these tryouts and all the hard work certainly paid off."

She called the University Park squad the "best of the best" of the Penn State University system.

Smith said it takes the right kind of personality to be a cheerleader, as well as strength, coordination, endurance, and flexibility.

"Cheerleading is a sport, and deserves to be known as a sport," she said.

On top of the necessary athleticism, this sport also requires a positive attitude.

n E-mail comments to tpursell@dailyitem.com.

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