The Cheetahs

By Celeste Colon, 4^th Grade Contributing Writer

The Cheetahs are a group of third and fourth graders that step with a fun beat for entertainment. The Cheetahs practice with coach, Ms. Elizabeth Perez, SETSS Teacher.

The Cheetahs are M’Asia Butler, of class 103, Nyaisa Santana, of class 303, Shiann Brown, Saniya Everett, Kasey Gonzalez, Desiree Martinez, Ashli Maximo, and Alexander Santana, of class 401, Dejahnee Paniagua, of class 402, and Crystal Nicholas, of class 403. The Baby Cheetahs are Kaelyn Daniel and Timani Taylor, of PK-02, and Alyssa Puckering of K-053.

Everyone in this group enjoys stepping with the team, but for different reasons. Gonzalez and Everett like it because it is exciting and they have the opportunity to perform onstage. Nicholas, co-captain, likes it because it’s entertaining. Santana likes it because his older sister dreamt to be a stepper, so he was excited to be able to live her dream. Brown, the team captain, stated, “[Stepping gives] you air and I feel wild.”

Everyone learned the steps at different speeds, but Brown learned faster than the others. Brown states it’s easy because, “once you learn it, you do it quick.” Gonzalez says it’s a little bit of both, “I learned fast of course, but a little slow at some parts of stepping.” Everett stated, “I learned fast because it’s easy to me as always!”

It only took Brown two days to learn the steps for 214X Idol and the March Awards Ceremonies. Gonzalez said, “It took me three and a half days.” Santana wants to improve on his moves to make Coach Perez proud.