The Triangle

Issue date: 2/8/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Steve Vacariello

There may not be any members of the Drexel football team on the Philadelphia Eagles, but there is a student who is a member of the Eagles organization.

Rachel Washburn, a sophomore majoring in history and politics, is a cheerleader for the Birds, but unlike most cheerleaders, she has also built a strong connection with the ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps) program at Drexel.

Washburn, a former member of the Drexel dance team, was a gymnast for 10 years, but didn't start dancing until high school and was never a cheerleader until she made the Eagles squad.

As a dancer of four years, Washburn hoped her experience would be enough to make the team.

Initially, 600 girls tried out to be an Eagles cheerleader. After open calls, Washburn made the cut down to 150 and again to 110 to make the semifinals.

After learning a new routine at the NovaCare Complex in front of judges, it was cut to only 60 girls. At this point, Washburn only had a few events remaining before finding out whether she made the team or not. But once she made it to the final auditions, she said she was confident that she would make the squad.

She took part in a beauty and fitness pageant where she walked in a swimsuit and posed for the audience, and then worked on a dance with two other girls for the competition.

Eventually, she was interviewed by Barbara Zaun, the director of cheerleading, and one of her choreographers, Suzy Zucker. She was asked, "What's the best advice you have ever received?"

Thanks to her involvement with ROTC at Drexel, Washburn was well prepared for this question.

"[The best advice was] from my training NCO, and after a long day of training, I was told, 'The road to success is littered with failures. Don't get caught up in the little things and only focus on the final mission,'" Washburn recalled.

With only 38 girls on the team, Washburn called a hotline the next day and was forced to wait for almost all the girls' names to be called. She was the penultimate person on the list.

Once she called the hotline and had to face whether she was going to make the team or not, she said she became incredibly nervous. But when her name was called, her dream became a reality.

"I heard my name and I freaked out and told a bunch of people, including my two ROTC friends," Washburn said.

 Washburn isn't the only woman with an affiliation with Drexel.

Continued...

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