Update from Head Cheerleading Coach Ashley Frankel

Dear Alumni, Parents, and Friends,

Greetings from Bison Country and the Bucknell Cheer program. I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful holiday season, and that your new year is off to a great start.

I am excited to provide this update on your 2022-2023 Bucknell University Cheerleading squad. We had a great fall, beginning with tryouts in late July that culminated in the biggest roster our program has had in years -- 18 women and two men. We trained and practiced together here on campus prior to classes beginning in preparation to attend the UCA College Camp at Scranton University on July 29-31. Our experience there was great, and your cheer program represented Bucknell well, winning Superior Awards for Fight Song Performance and Sideline Performance. In addition, we won the overall Outstanding Game Day Award for our athleticism used during a band music performance. That particular award was only given to two squads – us and Drexel.

Cheer Trophy

Shortly after our camp experience, we were a part of the exciting news when Bucky the Bison signed the country’s first NIL (name, image, and likeness) deal by a mascot in early September. Bucky signed a two-year deal with Service 1^st Federal Credit Union, and the deal resulted in a new department-wide initiative to make Bucky available for select paid appearances in the community. While this results in extra work on my end to schedule Bucky, it also allows the students who do the hard work of wearing the costume to be compensated financially for their time.

Our team cheered at all five of the home football games, culminating with the Senior Day game on Nov. 19, during which our two seniors, Morgan Oldfield and Raquel Rowell, were recognized. We also traveled to the Lehigh game in Bethlehem, Pa., for our annual football road trip.

We are in the midst of the basketball season at the moment, and having a larger squad has enabled us to split our numbers in such a way that we can now be on each baseline to cheer. In addition to all the home men’s and women’s basketball games, we were able to cheer at the season-opening wrestling match against Oklahoma State in Sojka Pavilion.

The squad is currently preparing to compete this spring. Our team keeps very busy between school work, practicing twice a week, lifting once a week, and tumbling once a week. Oh yeah, we also cheer at two games in between all of that!

Another highlight for us has been watching sophomore Jonathan Elliott sing the national anthem at the games in Sojka – he has a great voice and makes us all proud!

Our program has also been active in the community this year. In the fall, we participated in the Football Family Funfest at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium in August and ran a Halloween Trick-or-Treat event for the Junior Bison Club at the game against Colgate in late October. In addition, last weekend we were part of the National Girls and Women in Sports Day free clinic offered to the children in the surrounding communities.

In closing, we have a significant 24-hour period approaching for the cheer program. The annual One Herd One Day 24-Hour Giving Challenge will be on March 28-29 from 10:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m. I hope we can all come together in March to turn in a huge day for the cheerleading program. The funds we raise that day supplement our budget and allow us to enter competitions and travel to a few select games each year.

Thank you for your continued support of the athletes in our program. They very much appreciate it, and it helps us represent Bison Athletics to the very best of our abilities.

‘ray Bucknell!

Ashley Frankel
Head Cheerleading Coach
#RallyTheHerd

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