The Cal Poly Stunt Team pictured in a routine at the homecoming football game.
As a member of the Cal Poly cheer/stunt team, I speak on behalf of each and every one of my teammates when I say we deserve priority registration. Cal Poly’s cheer team is “in season,” as other athletes would say, almost year-round. We delegate an equal — sometimes even greater — amount of time and effort to serving our school, when compared to other groups on campus who are given priority registration.
The Cal Poly Mustang Band, which has nearly 200 students, gets priority registration. Color guard gets it as well.
Cheer, with 35 members, does not. We must attend more games than any athletic group on campus — exceeding the amount of games football players, basketball players and volleyball players combined. This time commitment alone should allow us to have priority.
We practice two or more times a week almost year-round and attend between two and three games a week during basketball season. We are advised not to schedule classes after 5 p.m., which is extremely hard to do for any Cal Poly student, especially on a late rotation schedule. In the past, teammates have had to quit the team because of classes that conflicted with practice times.
The cheer team is a huge part of the school and athletics. So much of our time is dedicated toward practicing, competing, cheering at athletic events and attending campus-sanctioned events when we are asked to. In addition, we are involved in the community, such as when we were at the grand opening of Sports Authority and cheered at the San Luis Obispo Holiday Parade.
Summer practices started in early August. On our down time, we went throughout San Luis Obispo County to local businesses putting up posters and passing out schedules for the Cal Poly Athletics. We love doing this; it’s our job. But this is a job that we are not fairly ‘paid’ for.
Although cheerleaders have sent letters asking Cal Poly for priority registration, the university refuses to give an additional 35 people priority.
Yes, we’ve made it work without this convenience. But priority registration would make our lives so much easier. Other students wouldn’t see or feel the effects of us getting priority, but it’s more than just making our lives easier.
If administration still denies our request, my teammates and I ask for an actual set of qualifications that specify exactly what it takes to be eligible for priority. Under current circumstances, it is unclear why certain groups on campus have priority, while we have fought for this and turned down time and time again.