Now that she’s back for her final semester, Brownsville Veterans Memorial head cheerleader Valeria Perez says it was definitely worth the trouble to save up her money and perform in the London New Year’s Day Parade in front of the crowds on Piccadilly Square and Westminster Abbey.
As a Veterans Memorial Early College High School cheerleader, Perez has attended Varsity Spirit Association summer cheerleading camps since she was a freshman. One of the perks of being selected an All American at those camps, as she has at several, is the opportunity to perform in well-known events such as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, or the Pearl Harbor Day Parade in Hawaii.
“I saw London and I thought that would be real neat. I had known about it since freshman year, but it seemed unattainable, like it was a reach, so I started saving my money, selling cupcakes, baking cakes, selling pastries so I could reach that dream,” Valeria said this past week at the end of a school day, after cheerleading practice but before starting her homework.
Perez was part of a group of about 300 Varsity Spirit Association cheerleaders who appeared in this year’s parade. She said the reception they got was surprising.
“I remember the people were looking at us like we were so amazing, like different creatures. I remember me and some friends I had made through the whole program, we were sitting on the sidewalk eating our sandwiches before we were about to perform, and we had people like taking pictures of us. It was so funny. They just thought we were really amazing. ‘Oh, the American cheerleaders.’ It was really amazing. It was neat,” she said.
Valeria and her parents stayed in a hotel right in the middle of everything.
“The atmosphere was so welcoming. I thought the buildings and the streets were beautiful. Everyone was so friendly. And then on New Year’s Eve, everyone went outside of the hotel because the hotel was outside the Tower of London, where the queen has her crown jewels … it’s a beautiful tower … we were all watching the fireworks. We all did the countdown. It was amazing,” she said again.
As the day of the parade approached, the organization that runs the parade “sent us a video of the routine we had to learn. We had to know it front and backward, and there were different ripples,” Valeria said.
“We would do cheers and call-outs and say little things during the parade with the crowd, and then once we got to one of the grandstands we would start dancing and do our performance and then do call-outs and cheers to the crowd.”
Once they were on the ground in London being in the parade was like cheerleading itself, more fun than work, she said.
“I think it was a lot of pressure going in. You’re told you’re the best of the best during those camps, so there’s a lot of pressure going in, but once we were there the environment, the teachers and the staff that were there made it feel natural.”
Perez leads the varsity Veterans Memorial Cheer Squad. Veterans Memorial also has a dance team, the Chargerettes.
“The dancers do halftime, we do sideline,” she said, describing the work of putting on the shows at games as more fun than work.
“I think it’s fun. It’s a lot of work during the summer getting all of the girls to learn the cheers and do the dances, but once it comes to performing, which the games are like our performance, it’s pure fun. I love it. All of the girls love it. It’s just an amazing experience because cheering for our school, which is like our job, is not like a job because all we’re doing is having fun,” she said.
Valeria has wanted to be a cheerleader since eighth grade.
“I remember I was a dancer in middle school, actually, and there’s this event called band night where the middle school dancers go and perform with the high school dancers at a football game, and being with those dancers and watching the high school cheerleaders on the sideline, … I decided I did want to be a cheerleader … It was my favorite part of dancing, which is performing and showing off, and showing my skills, plus having all the energy and spirit, and all the excitement that comes along with cheerleading.”
Perez keeps a busy schedule, maintaining her position as a top 10% student academically. She said most of her classes are Advanced Placement and Dual Enrollment.
“So I get out of school a 4:10 p.m. and that’s when I set up my calendar, what I have to do,” she said. “From 4:30-7 it’s practice, and then I’ll get home at 7:30 and that’s when I’ll do my homework and so on. But juggling everything that’s when it gets difficult. I’m also in a church group called ECYD that meets from 7:30 to 9. It fluctuates and if there’s a conflict, I’ll just have to push back my homework or do it at school in my off periods,” she said.
Perez plans to attend the University of Texas at Austin and pursue an undergraduate degree in psychology before going on to law school and eventually a career as a personal injury lawyer.
She said an internship with Brownsville attorney Juan Magallanes inspired her in that direction.
Perez is the daughter of Mark and Hilda Perez, owners of the Toddle Inn restaurant in Brownsville.
