After three years of trying to get plans to build their own practice facility approved, the cheerleaders’ dream has become a reality. The cheerleaders always  have had to scramble for a space to practice, but on Oct. 17 the facility opened its doors giving them a stationary place to practice and making this problem a thing of the past.

The team and the coaches celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony the day it opened. “We are excited. We finally have our own place,” four-year varsity cheerleader Ashley Evert said.

According to varsity football and competition cheer coach Mandy Ratliff, the main purpose of building the facility is to expand the space in which the cheerleaders have to practice their routines.

The building is gray with a blue roof and is located across the street from the softball field and beside the Rising Starr Middle School practice field.  According to Ratliff, the facility is 90 feet by 60 feet. The varsity and competition cheer squads will use the facility along with the Rising Starr football team. According to Ratliff, because the Rising Starr team is also using the space,  the Fayette County Board of Education agreed to pay for the football team’s weight and locker rooms. The football players have a separate locker room that can only be accessed from the outside.

“We will have completely different spaces,” Ratliff said.  “We don’t mind because the county offered to help us with the finances because of their portion of the building,” Ratliff said. The building cost $110,000, she said.

For years, the cheerleaders have had to scramble to find a practice space to call their own. During the fall, the cheerleaders aren’t able to use the gym because they would have to share the space with the Lady Panthers’ volleyball teams. This year, the junior varsity cheerleading team is using the cafeteria, so the varsity team traveled to Brooks Elementary to practice in its gym. The cheerleaders have also practiced in the Starr’s Mill, Rising Starr Middle and Peeples Elementary gyms.  Ratliff said those practice spots weren’t that far from the high school, but it will be much more convenient to practice on campus.

It took 10 years to raise the money to build the facility, Ratliff said. The cheerleaders and the Rising Star football team’s booster clubs, SMHS, and the board all had a part in paying for the facility.  They held a variety of fundraisers over the years, including hosting “an invitational every year for high schools in Georgia with about 30 teams from around the state,” Ratliff said.  “We also create, print, and sell the Starr’s Mill Football Program that is sold throughout the season. We make about $30,000 a year from these two fundraisers.”

Some fundraisers were more efficient than others, according to four-year varsity cheerleader Taylor Haney. “Our ad sales in the football program were the most successful because we were able to sell ads to many businesses around town,” she said. According to Assistant Principal Allen Leonard, the booster clubs and Fayette County Board of Education provided funding for a majority of the building, and SMHS funded the rest. “Our school is lucky to have the amount of parent participation that we do,” Leonard said.

Because the cheerleaders have to pay for their trip to the state finals every year, all the money they raised throughout the years was not solely used for the construction of the building. “Even though we raise a lot of money each year, it was quickly spent,” Ratliff said. “The girls have made it to state finals every year, and that is a very expensive trip that we have to pay for.”

Ten years of hard work payed off and now the cheerleaders have a space they can consider a home for their team.

“I feel blessed we get our own building, and I’m so excited to think of the ease it will bring to future teams not having to go all the way to Brooks,” Haney said. “The building really symbolizes all our hard work, and it’s just a place for our team to bond and to call home.”