Mini Cheer camp is exactly what it sounds like; A camp for little girls, ages kindergarten through sixth grade who get to experience evenings filled with spirit.  At this camp attendees did not need previous cheer experience. Many of the children who attended just want to be a cheerleader for a couple of days or desire to go to have a fun time with friends, which is expected because the high school cheerleaders just want the children who attend their camp to have fun.

Many good things said about the camp over the years including a statement from Natalie Beresford, a substitute teacher and special education teacher at Melissa Middle School. Beresford said, “I like sending my daughter Tracee to the camp because she loves being able to see the high school cheerleaders and she comes home every day after the camp and doesn’t stop talking about how much fun she had.” Another great thing said by Katie Prevo, a girl who has attended the camp since she was in kindergarten said, “Going to the camp is a lot of fun, I like being able to hang out with my friends that also want to be a cheerleader like me.” This camp occurs over summer in the middle of August. Melissa High School freshman, junior varsity, and varsity cheerleaders host this camp along with their coaches who are Brandy Jenkins, Brittany Owens and Julie Michelle Cruce Malone. The cheerleaders go over dance material, new cheers, stunts, jumps, and stretches that the campers will use the entire season. The camp lasts three days and during football season the girls get to perform with the high school cheerleaders for a pregame performance. The 2016 camp was very successful.

A Junior Varsity cheerleader, Kaiya Hotchkiss said, ¨ All the children had a fun time and caught onto the material very well. Every time we asked the children what they wanted to do, they all said they wanted was to stunt and tumble. These were by far their favorite parts of the camp!¨ Every year the camp gets more and more attendees. More people find out about it and want to put their children into cheer. It is a great experience for them because they get to bond with their other friends at camp, it teaches children how to work together as a team and helps build their leadership skills.