She has been cheering for her school and in competition since third grade.
“Knowing how to dance helps with picking up moves quickly,” she said.
That ability helped her and fellow student Megan Bias, an eighth-grader who lives down the street from her, be chosen as part of the Universal Cheerleading Association All-American Cheerleader Squad that performed in Philadelphia’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in November.
Tryouts were held during a cheerleading camp at Wright State University that their school team attended last summer.
“These two girls proudly represented Bellbrook Middle School on a squad of 195 cheerleaders from all over the country,” said Debi Schwieterman, their cheerleading coach and a science teacher at their school. “They spent two chilly, whirlwind, fun-filled days learning and perfecting the routine they performed.”
The parade was televised in five states along the East Coast, she said.
“It was kind of nerve-wracking,” Kress said, “but meeting all the new people and the experience of being in a really big parade was really cool.”
Kress is the daughter of Tim and Kim Kress of Sugarcreek Twp.
Megan is the daughter of Bob and Sharon Bias. She takes 11 dance classes a week, but her goal in life is to be a surgeon. She started dancing at age 3 and cheerleading in the third grade.
Her other fun activity is tennis.
“The parade was on my birthday,” Bias said. “We went on a walking tour of Philadelphia and got to see the Liberty Bell.”
She and her family also had dinner on a boat on the Delaware River.
“It was an experience of a lifetime,” she said.
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