The lights of the stadium shine down on the field as the crowd cheers in support of the team. The sound of cheerleaders leading the chants fills the air as they draw all the eyes onto them. However, when people look, instead of the normal purple and white pom poms they are used to seeing, they catch sight of shimmering gold instead. The cheerleading team has changed its pom pom color this season in support of the Childhood Cancer Awareness program.

With September being the national Childhood Cancer Awareness month, many teams including the Willis cheer team have begun showing support towards the program. They are helping to show the children going through hard times that they are not alone.

“I think it is important to raise awareness just so we can give them like a sense that we all care for them,” junior cheerleader Kyndall Schniffer said. “We can let them know that we know they are struggling, we know that it is hard, but at the end of the day they have a huge support system even if they can’t see us.”

Out of the various colors in the world that represent different diseases, like pink for breast cancer awareness or gray for brain cancer and asthma, the cheerleading team is using the distinctive color of gold. Gold is the international color that represents childhood cancer.

“I think that the color is special because its very easy to spot in a crowd,” junior Desaray Wilkerson said. “People see the shine of the material in the crowd at games and get to see us cheer on our team and still support the awareness.”

There are many diseases in the world that devastate so many families in every part of the world. So many deserve to be recognized, and the cheerleading team is just taking one small part to do what they can to show support.

“We have many children who are fighting cancer in our community,” Wildkat cheerleading coach Shelby Thiel said. “We want to make sure that they feel supported and cared for, no matter where or who they are.”