The varsity pommie squad is going to do something they have never done before. After going to Lindbergh High School last year to compete for the first time, the pommies are taking it one step further.

Once the squad qualified for nationals at camp over the summer, it was a unanimous decision to seize the opportunity and go to Orlando this February.

“We chose to do one competition a year, and so we thought if we were going to do one, let’s go big and go to nationals,” Caroline Bequette, senior captain, said.

The only thing in their way is the cost of their trip. For everyone to go, the cost will be over $16,000.The entire squad has participated in what Stacy Taubman, head coach, called “non-stop fundraising.”

The team has sold candy to students, sold coffee to parents and teachers, worked at Ice and Fuel, served an alumnus brunch, sponsored a hat day, held a pommie clinic and plans to hold “Dancing with the Staff” Nov. 17, an event in which each pommie will take a teacher, create a dance with them and perform it in front of the school. The performance will take place in the Keating Theater.

Although $16,000 is a great deal to raise, Emily Suchanek, sophomore, believes they will reach the goal.

“We are a little worried about money, but we’ll make it,” Suchanek said.

Since this is the first year the squad will compete at nationals, Bequette said the group is not focused on winning.

“We’re not necessarily going to win first place,” Bequette said. “It’s more of a learning experience, especially for the younger girls.”

Taubman thinks the experience will not only help them, but the time spent together will bring them closer together.

“This team is really a family,” Taubman said. “When they look back 20 years from now, they’re not going to look back at how they placed. They’re going to look at the experience they had with these girls.”
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