One subject I think I became a pro at and had a growth mindset was with cheerleading. I went into cheer my freshman year of high school not knowing what I was doing. I come from a dance background but wanted to try something new and become involved in my high school. I had never seen cheerleading or done cheerleading before. I walked into tryouts with a growth mindset. I was ready to learn new things and accept that I was going to be wrong a lot and had a lot to learn.
By overcoming the fear of tryouts, I made the team. I embraced the challenges of practice and the criticism from the coach and kept persisting and trying because I wanted to get better. By the middle of junior year, I was selected to be a captain. I overcame the challenges and learned everything I needed to know, in order to teach other people on the team. By the end of my senior year I was selected to be the assistant coach for my team.
I am now cheering here at UNE and am confident and can say that I know what I am doing and can help those around me who have never cheered before, and even those who have. Going into tryouts with a growth mindset opened the doors to so many opportunities, and my new love for cheer that I wouldn’t have found had I gone in with a fixed mindset.
