On December 26, 2011, Alliance High School senior Bridget Ackermen and sophomore Ashley Quick boarded a plane to England as members of the All American Varsity Universal Cheerleading Association (UCA) to cheer and dance in the London New Year’s Day parade. The girls were chosen to make the trip to London after trying out at a summer cheerleading camp.

In England the girls participated in several activities everyday and each day they did something different. One of the activites had the girls taking a ride on The Eye, which is a ferris wheel that overlooks London. They also visited monuments such as Big Ben, St.Pauls Catherdeal, Westminster  Abbey, the street where Mary Poppins was fimed, and many more.

“My favorite thing was when at night we would go on the bridge with a group of people we met and we and would look at the scenery… all you would see would be the beautiful lights of the city,” said Bridget. Ashley’s favorite part about London was, “Being able to go shopping in Covent Gardens, Piccadilly Circus, and Portabello Road.”

The thing that surprised Ashley about London was that, “They aren’t always the nicest people. They don’t always have the greatest manners either. They are also really hard to understand with their strong accents.” What most impressed Bridget was meeting girls from all over the United States. She says some of them were nice and some weren’t so nice, but she enjoyed meeting another girl from Nebraska with whom she still keeps in touch. Bridget added, “Another thing I noticed is that the people in London are very posh. All the people dressed really nice and I didn’t see one person in sweat-pants. In our hotel we had a rule that we couldn’t leave our rooms in pjs and that included sweats. They wouldn’t even let you go to the resteraunt in that kind of attire.”

Aside from the viewing newsights and adopting new dress codes, the girls’ main purpose in England was to perform in the parade. For Bridget the parade was an unforgettable experience. She said, ” Participating in the parade was a feeling I can’t even explain, it almost brought me to tears because all these emotions were hitting me at once. The people were so excited to see us perform and everyone was taking pictures and videos. I never felt so appreciated as cheerleader.” For Ashley, “The parade went well; it rained the whole time though. But it was such a great experience no one cared that we were soaked and had to walk two miles and dance up to 35 times.”

Traveling to England was a once in a life time experience for the Alliance High School varsity cheerleaders. Perhaps in the future more Alliance cheerleaders can become All American Varisty Cheerleaders, make their way up to London, and experience a whole new perspective of the world.