High School Cheers

High school cheers are a fundamental part of the experience of any student. Whether leading a pep rally, infusing spirit into a team during a game or representing their school in a cheerleading competition, these cheers live on in memory far past graduation.

Characteristics of High School Cheers

Understanding the purpose of high school cheers makes it easier to create memorable ones. In no particular order of importance, here are some of the reasons cheers exist in the first place.

Establish Identity

A high school is one of thousands throughout the nation, and a cheer establishes the identity of the school through several characteristics:

• High school colors
• High school mascot
• Initials of the school
• Name of the hometown

Some cheers, such as hello cheers, also introduce the individual cheerleaders themselves, in order to establish a relationship with their audience – part of the next purpose.

Promote a Common Cause

Cheerleading is, as the name suggests, the act of leading a group in accolades and encouragement of some cause, usually a sports team. School cheers are a force of unification for the school, giving both computer geek and heavy metal rocker a unifying cause they can rally behind. Cheers are usually done in ways that are rhythmically catchy and simple to repeat. As more and more people in the crowd join in, peer pressure helps to increase the momentum until the energy of an entire stadium is pushing a team to try harder for their fans.

Display Skill of the Cheerleaders

In spite of the stereotypes, designing and performing school cheers effectively is a difficult skill to master. Like any performing art, it requires both physical fitness as well as a mental acuity and ability to read a crowd. It's also about understanding when, where and to whom the cheer should be directed in order to manipulate the mood of the crowd. Since physical stunts are often used to attract the crowd's attention, there is another level of difficulty added.

In addition, the cheerleader is expected to be always "on" during a game. While athletes may be able to take a break on a bench when they are not playing, this is not so for a cheerleader. A cheerleader is expected to be constantly happy and supportive of not just the players but the entire crowd, using "spirit" even when simply moving from place to place during a cheer. Maintaining the happy smile and intense energy even in the face of a losing team or apathetic crowds is not easy, and a good cheer can be the anchor to keep motivation high for the squad going as well as the crowd.

Elements of Good High School Cheers

Here is an example of a school cheer that has been used effectively:

We're here to cheer our winning team,
Come on, everybody scream!
Feel the spirit movin' in
Cause tonight we're gonna win!
Say it proud, say it loud, E-H-S!
One more, E-H-S!

The most obvious part of the cheer is the use of rhyming couplets. This catches the attention of the ear simply through the use of homonyms, and the ear automatically begins to try and complete the sentences, committing them to short term memory in the same way that a popular song gets stuck in a person's head.

There is also a definite rhythm to the first four lines that comes to a climax in the last two lines with the syncopation of the school's initials (in this case, Madison's East High School). It helps that each of the letters has only one syllable; it adds to the driving power of the cheerleaders' (and, hopefully by the last line, the crowd's) shouts.

Most of the other words are also short, with the most syllables in the word everybody. When polysyllabic words need to be used, it is best that the sounds be enunciated almost separately, for example " EV-REE-BUH-DEE!" to increase the sense of rhythm within the cheer.

The Internet is a great source to find school cheers, but it is unethical (and sometimes illegal) to simply use someone else's cheers. A much better resource is within the history and imagination of each individual school. Making a cheer individual to a school is a gift that will be passed on to generations of students to come.

• Cute Hello Cheers
• Freshman Cheers for a Pep Rally
• School Cheers
• Cheerleading Quiz

• Words for Cheerleading Cheers
• Popular Cheers for Cheerleading
• Cheerleading Chants
• Football Cheers Chants
• Cheerleading Routines

• High School Varsity Letterman Jacket
• Junior High School Cheerleaders
• Slideshow:High School Basketball Cheers
• High School Cheerleading Stunts
• High School Cheerleaders