Science Cheerleaders on The Today Show

Make no mistake: the Science Cheerleaders are getting attention. In addition to their previous appearances with the public, they've appeared in stories across a wide range of media (try to think of another cheerleading squad that appears on ESPN, CNN, and The Chronicle of Higher Education!). Their latest appearance? The Today Show on Friday morning, September 21! You can watch the video on the Science Cheerleader site here. It's a great story, told without snark or irony, making it well worth the wait (some of the footage was shot in April!).

I was on hand during the Science & Engineering Festival, manning the booth while the SciCheers did their cool science cheer thing. It's good to be the gofer, but I've got to lose some weight if I'm going to continue wearing the SciCheer shirts!

Hanging out at the SciCheer booth with Erin (degrees in biology and psychology, with a Ph.D. and Master's degree in the works) and Allison (degrees in chemistry and biology).

The 2012 Science Cheerleader squad with their fearless gopher. Yes, folks, that's a real job, and no, you can't have it.

Backstage at Science Cheerleader

Greetings, readers! I've been rather busy in my "free" time lately. The Science Cheerleaders' second appearance at the USA Science & Engineering Festival is about a month away, and the details are voluminous: who's coming, what are the ladies' degrees, what days are they performing, and more--all that stuff needs to be tracked, and that's what I'm more or less responsible for doing as their Event Manager.

The job has become more complex over the past two years, primarily because the sheer number of Science Cheerleaders has grown so dramatically. In October 2010, when they first performed, 11 ladies took the stage, backed up by a fearless staff of four (Darlene, me, Laura, and John). As of this writing, we have over 20 SciCheers performing at USASEF and 170 professional SciCheers in our database, spanning nearly dozens of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) disciplines and most of the NFL--with the NBA arm of the cheerleaders growing as well. The writing staff has grown, though not necessarily the event staff, so if you come to the USASEF and I look a little sleepy, just give me a nudge.

Regardless of the size of our staff, the Science Cheerleaders are appearing in more and more places (with more to come), and are making a great impact wherever they go. What's really great to see is the enthusiasm of the cheerleaders themselves after attending these events. They want to do more, which is great, because they ARE the message, and if the message is upbeat, the organizational work is worth it.

*

The Science Cheerleaders have been able to tap into the three 3-4 million girls and young women in the U.S. who are now pursuing cheerleading in some capacity. Science Cheerleader is subversive in a way: Darlene is trying to turn cheerleaders into "geeks"--or, more precisely, STEM-minded citizens.

And yes, the SciCheers will attract other audiences as well, including boys and men, but so what? But here's another subversive aspect of Darlene's vision: it forces males--and others--to think twice about their stereotypes and assumptions. Why are you treating a cheerleader--or any woman, for that matter--like she's an idiot? Why not act like a gentleman and assume you're talking to another thinking creature? Because the odds are pretty good, inside cheerleading and out, that you are.

*

So okay, I've got one of the coolest geek jobs imaginable: "Living the dream," as one of my fellow geeks calls it. But the point is not (solely) to hang around with bright, beautiful women. There are multiple messages and multiple strategies going on here, and I'm still learning about them as I go about my merry way, arranging spreadsheets and event itineraries. The Science Cheerleaders are about more than a group of pretty faces.

Science Cheerleaders on Super Bowl Sunday!

Howdy, all! The New England Patriots have some wicked-smaht ladies on their cheerleading squad. We (Darlene Cavalier and I) managed to interview seven of them. Watch for them on the sidelines on Super Bowl Sunday! Giants fans, you need to lobby for a cheerleading squad!

Trish, Environmental Engineer
Amanda, Doctor of Pharmacy
Sarah, Math Lover
Asia, Prepping for Medical School 
Jessica, Future Active Duty Officer, United States Army Nurse Corps
Britni, Cheerleader with Psychology Degree
Brianna, Majoring in Biology & Chemistry and a Future Dentist (pictured below)


Goooo science!

A World Record!

While I didn't have the pleasure of attending, I had the privilege of handling the paperwork and logistics for the World's Largest Cheer last month. Previous entries can be found here and here. The video can be found here. And, as Dar noted, the cheer was for science and we beat China (always fun!). What will we do next? Guess you'll just have to check here or ScienceCheerleader.com!

Gooooo science!

World's Largest Science Cheer, Continued

The cheer went off pretty much as scheduled today!

You don't quite realize how many cheerleaders 1,200+ people are until you get them all into one room. However, the Science Cheerleaders and Pop Warner did it. The cheer timed out at around 5 minutes, 15 seconds. We'll just wait and see how many people the Guinness Book of World Records folks accept for our attempt. Without an official adjudicator on site, we had to submit our evidence to them via mail (to the United Kingdom, no less!), but Dar and I are hopeful and happy with the way the event turned out. Of course you know that we now have other Science Cheerleader activities in the works for the future. But that, Dear Readers, is another story.

In the meantime, goooooo science!

The Next Science Cheerleader Adventure

Here's what I've been working on since November 1: going for the World's Largest Science Cheer. Gooooo Science!

The Science Cheerleaders Strike Again!

School's in session, and that means science fairs, science-themed events, and other educational stuff can be found everywhere. And where there's science, you can now find the Science Cheerleaders! This past weekend, SciCheers Ada, Heidi, Melissa, Sammi Jo, and Sandra (along with the ever-fearless Darlene) showed up at the Hispanic Engineering, Science, Technology (HESTEC) Week event at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg, Texas. The fan base keeps a-building!

The SciCheers are seen here with "Dr. Zen." No idea who he is, but his website can be found here: http://www.utpa.edu/faculty/zfaulkes/.

 Also appearing at the HESTEC was our friend and Creative Director, Ms. United States, Laura Eilers.

Man, I need to get out more! These are fun events. Right now, however, it looks like the earliest that the Cheer Operations Ninja will appear at a SciCheer event will be next April. Earlier activities are always possible, of course, so ya never know.

In addition to all the performing, SciCheer has been busy in other venues as well:

• They were named an "innovator for the public" by Ashoka Changemakers.
• Dar was interviewed by a space advocate buddy of mine, Michael Doornbos, on Evadot.com.
• Summer, the aerospace engineer SciCheer, interviewed Shuttle Astronaut Sandra Magnus, the last female to fly on the final Shuttle mission.
 

Anyhow, there's plenty going on in the world of Science Cheerleader to keep me busy (someone's got to keep the paperwork flowing!). Drop on by the site and see what's next!



Braggin' on the Original Science Cheerleader

It's been awhile since I've done this, but I have to share Darlene's latest exploit: she won an Emmy. Okay, it's a Sports Emmy, but so the heck what?!? In this case, for those of you who don't automatically click on links, I'll just note that the "Science of the NFL" series, a concept Dar sold to the National Science Foundation and NBC Sports, appeared both on TV and the web (as introduced by the Science Cheerleaders). The series was honored for Outstanding New Approaches Sports Programming.

Goooooo Dar!

Speaking of ISDC...

Dar gave me a little space on Science Cheerleader.com to talk about the conference. Huzzah!

We're actually making good progress on things. We've got our locations nailed down, along with conference tracks, most of the meal menus, and trade show space mapped out. I've got a good team helping keep me sane as we head into the home stretch. Now all we need are the attendees, exhibitors, and sponors all in place to make it happen.

Excitement continues!

The Barting Life

If I'm not at my day job, I'm working on ISDC stuff or stuff for Darlene the Science Cheerleader. If I'm not typing anything of value or interest here, it's because I'm durned busy. Be happy you're not me: I consider work fun.

Potpourri CLVIII


Tomorrow's my first day off (from the day job) since last Sunday. I know, I know, be happy you have a job...but jeez, since when is a proposal enough of an "emergency" to miss Da Bears in a championship game against the Packers? Sigh...just whining, don't mind me. There's still lots of interesting stuff going on out there in Cyberland, so I might as well share what bits of junk--er, important and interesting information, that is--I've found in my electronic travels. Enjoy if or as you see fit.

Starting from the top of the pile (most recent), and unfortunately it's a bummer: another warning from Norm Augustine that America is falling behind and in trouble in science and technology. I suppose we need a fire lit under us occasionally to get us moving; still, it'd be nice if Norm would offer more suggestions and fewer warnings, ya know?

From the Down Under Defense Expert (DUDE), a little humorous lesson on "things not to do."

My buddy Dar sat for a good interview on the origins of Science Cheerleader. Dar picked on her posture, I was ready to pick on the interviewer: for gosh sakes, if you're interested in your subject, put some effort into showing it! And if you're not interested in your subject, work doubly hard--or change your line of work. Or something. The interview is good from a content standpoint, as I learned a little bit more of the background to this epic I've signed up to do paperwork for, but sheesh, that interviewer could stand to learn a few things.

From Father Dan: a video about...Lala the Penguin? Yep. Also, an elderly married couple who've still "got it."

Here's something else that made me smile, though inexplicably: Sad Star Trek.

From Lin:

• A toy for...um, whoever feels like riding a unicycle but doesn't want to put in the work?
• An article on how more students are attending college, but fewer are seeing a benefit from it. The author suggests a couple of reasons for the hows and whys, most of which will probably annoy educators. But really: I had to go to grad school to get the credentials to convince employers that an English major could work in technical fields like defense or aerospace. A B.A. in English degree and a dozen years in the hospitality biz weren't going to do it: I had to prove myself by spending a serious sum. I did learn useful things, but I was essentially still the same person. Was the degree really NEEDED to work where I am now? Silly question now, as here I am. But I can't help wonder if there were other choices I could have made that might not have cost as much.

A blog by someone who didn't last very long as a food critic. A pity, really, but the writing is hilarioius.

Some of the usual back-and-forth continues in Chicago, as airlines that stand to benefit (in the long run) from an expansion at O'Hare International Airport are suing the city because they're trying to start funding and building NOW, when the economy sucks and no one's got any money. Bottom line? My guess: all the expenses, from construction to legal fees, will end up being paid in large part by those of us foolish or unlucky enough to have to travel through ORD.

I've probably posted this before, but it's still cool: a TED talk translated into a cartoon; this one is on where ideas come from.

From Martin, this is reportedly a good site on space exploration. Gotta confess, I haven't found time to visit it yet. There was a time when I did stuff for fun, not because it was my job or some sort of compulsion.

A rabbi on Sarah Palin and “blood libel.”

From Dar, a suggested method of clearing the system. Hm. Sounds like a science project...not something I'm going to try while I'm in the middle of running a conference.

From BoingBoing.net, Engadget, and other places:

• The life of a “missileer” in the ICBM trenches.
• Don’t count out the F-15 Eagle quite yet.
• Alternate universe movie posters? Why not? 
• A blog on how the states of California and Texas might deal with a coyote problem.
• What does it take to make a planet habitable? This site from JPL offers some interesting food for thought.
• Been awhile since I read Fred on Everything, but he has some thought-provoking prose here on how Americans spend.

This T-shirt crystallizes my thoughts on 2010 rather well:

From my NASA PAO feed: a story that the Fermi Space Telescope has detected antimatter over thunderstorms on Earth. And you wonder why you should be careful around lightning? SHAZAAAAM!!

On the NASA front, there are more layoffs coming, but you have to dig about three paragraphs into this story to learn that...and really, who has time to do that anymore?

So this TSA agent got convicted of planting some sort of malware into the administration's computer system. No telling what the malware DID or WILL DO, however...

My grandparents were Depression-era people, and they still advised me to buy stocks because they believed in the long-term growth of the United States. Younger folks’ pessimism is foolish, short-term and long-term because “buy low, sell high” has been an investment rule since stocks were first sold. And, again thinking long-term, you don't get a prosperous society by depending on the government to "create" prosperity. You get long-term prosperity when the government gets out of the way well enough that private individuals and companies can start enterprises that make a profit and create jobs. Do they teach that anymore?

Avoiding writer’s block by stopping while you’re ahead.Something fun for a change to end this segment: Disney short subject on musical instruments. This is actually really cool.


A skull made out of McDonald’s fries. Why?

Confessions of a Walt Disney World cast member (not me, I hasten to add: I wouldn't be stupid enough to say this sort of stuff on the internet).

A friend found a shirt that conveys my mixed duties at Science Cheerleader: half gofer (gopher), half ninja.


Peace and happy thoughts, y'all.

Out and About with Your Humble Narrator

The holidays have brought their own special flavor of busy once again. I think I've attended five work-related Christmas parties in the last week. My supply of extroversion is just about shot, but I had a reasonable amount of fun. Beats not being invited, I s'pose.

This evening is my church's annual German service, and so for the second or third year in a row I will be demolishing scripture in my maternal grandmother's mother tongue. I was half-tempted to read my verses in Klingon to see if anyone noticed, but Pastor sprechen zie Deutsch and might take umbrage.

I gave a brief marketing presentation at the Space & Missile Defense Working Group (SMDWG--we love acronyms here in Huntsville) to pitch ISDC 2011. I'm hoping for a little more time at next month's meeting.

In other business, the Science Cheerleaders have a little holiday cheer posted on the SciCheer site and YouTube.




Your Humble Narrator appears in the credits for helping with the lyrics. My new title with SciCheer is now Cheer Operations Ninja because I tend to stay out of the videos and do a lot of the unseen things for the group...and I'm quite comfortable there, thank you. I also posted a blog for Dar's Science for Citizens site. Dar herself posted some new information and thoughts about citizen science on her site. I need to read the post and all related materials/links before commenting, but rest assured I will. Well before the pretty ladies in superhero uniforms appeared, Dar was writing a lot about citizens participating in public debates about science and technology policy--and that is how I got involved with SciCheer, regardless of any wild rumors you're likely to hear.

How I Landed a Gig Working for the Science Cheerleaders

I was going to write a boilerplate answer to the question I get most often in connection to my Science Cheerleader work: "How did you land that gig in the first place?" However, the real answer is long, boring, and takes awhile because I've been e-chatting and doing work with/for Darlene for a couple years now. People have no patience for long, drawn-out answers, they want the sound byte. Never fear, Dar herself provided the short, pithy answer:

"I hand picked ya, dude!"

So now you know. :-)

In Defense of Cheerleaders

This topic has been on my mind for awhile, especially since I started reading blogs reacting negatively against my friends the Science Cheerleaders. As usual, I'll be taking a different tack with this than some others like my e-buddy Andrea Kuszewski, who's an actual scientist. I'm the marketing guy/go-fer for SciCheer, an English major. This is my view from the gopher hole.

The title of this essay is likely to raise hackles with one or two of my readers (and I still love all 20 of you who take the time). After all, cheerleaders "have it all," as Science Cheerleader Summer put it to me: the looks and the brains.

My own contact with cheerleaders in high school was sporadic. I had a few in my classes over the years. And while they were easy on the eyes, I was hard on the ears, and therefore dated none of them. I didn't take it personally. I took bullying by the football players they were cheering on a little more personally, but I got over it. I was a member in good standing with the Last Kid Picked for Kickball Club, Local 708. That doesn't mean I couldn't respect what athletic or attractive people could do on the football field. I suspect some of that old high school resentment fuels much of the anti-SciCheer feeling.

And of course there's old-school feminism, which says that "Looks shouldn't matter. By focusing on their looks, you're objectifying women and setting unrealistic expectations for girls who are not similarly endowed." Okay, fine: the Good Lord didn't distribute symmetrical features, energetic metabolisms, excellent coordination, and the rest equally. But these women didn't HAVE to become cheerleaders. Given the course loads required for a lot of the subjects they're taking (or did take), cheerleading is probably more of a hassle than a benefit. I mentioned in a previous entry how many times these ladies work out during a season. They became cheerleaders because they liked to dance and perform. And yes, part of that performance often includes a little teasing of the males of the species. That is still legal, last time I looked.

I think some folks are missing the point of this exercise. The goal is not to make science-minded girls into cheerleaders (though they're most certainly welcome to try); the goal is to make scientists and engineers out of cheerleaders: get them thinking about more than just looking pretty and being in shape. Just as smart folks have some stereotypes about cheerleaders and athletes, so too do those folks have stereotypes about geeks (I know: you're utterly shocked). As Darlene noted, there's a perception among the general public that female scientists are "pale, frumpy lab rats" or just a drag at parties (I'm thinking Daria). Maybe these pretty ladies who dig science don't want to give up their mascara.

Another thing I like about cheerleaders is that they are optimists. They have to be, either by inclination or training (try being upbeat if your team is getting their butts kicked for four quarters). I read somewhere that anyone who was an optimist must be an idiot because the world is in such a sorry state, the optimist must not get it, is clueless, etc. That, too, strikes me as a very intellectual attitude. The assumption that optimism = cluelessness overlooks the emotional effort involved in keeping a positive attitude despite it all. Darlene, the original Science Cheerleader, is optimistic by nature, but she's taking on serious problems, like the lack of scientific literacy or public engagement in scientific or technical issues. Such problems have a long-term impact on the nation's educational and economic future, and yes, it's very easy to become pessimistic in the face of that. To which Dar, the optimist, would say, "Yes, BUT..." and then point to her Science Cheerleader web site and the performing team she's created and cheer, "Goooo, science!"

So it's not just a matter of Dar and the Science Cheerleaders "sexing up" science, but perhaps that they also are doing so happily, cheerfully, optimistically--and some folks just don't like that. They were pessimistic in their youth, and the relentless cheerfulness of cheerleaders bugged them back in the day. Now they're Serious Professionals, and the cheerleaders still bug them. And what's worse, now the cheerleaders want IN to their world (see also Legally Blonde with the delightful Reese Witherspoon). How dare they!?

Pessimism has infiltrated much of our scientific and technical culture, and I'm not immune by any means. Advances continue in this country, but they are often met with environmental or cultural doomsayers ("It will disrupt the habitat of the Lesser Patagonian Trivit!" "The government can do it better." "It costs too much!" "It has a .0000001% chance of causing cancer!" "The Chinese can do it cheaper!" "We don't have a procedure for that." "That's too far away!" "We already tried that, it will never work." "It will only benefit the rich." "It's too dangerous!" Et cetera). Optimists assume they can do things, play to win, and actively seek solutions to the "no-win scenario." 

I say let the optimists and the cheerleaders in. They could only brighten up the place.

Follow-Up, 11/22/10

Dar, being the optimist that she is, did point out to me that most of the articles and blogs we've seen re: the Science Cheerleaders have been overwhelmingly positive. And she is, of course, quite correct. Bad habit I picked up as a kid. Get four A's and a B on the report card and hear "What'd you get the B in, son?" enough, and these things happen. I'd have to dig around some more, but my guess is that the two negative posts Andrea found are among the rare few. And if you get an attaboy (or, I guess in the Science Cheerleaders' case, attagirls) from CNN, you must be doing something right. Far be it for me to rain on the parade.

The Nastiness that is Leukemia

I haven't provided an update on my little buddy Morgan since her months-long battle with leukemia seemed to have subsided, with medical arts and sciences up 1-0. Much like a building not falling down, an 8-year-old who's life is returning to relative normalcy doesn't make headlines. Well, that'll teach me to take my eye off the ball. Dar sent me a message that Morgan was back in the hospital because so was the leukemia. If I understand things correctly, the cancer wasn't really in remission, just hiding(?). How else to explain Morgan's elevated white cell count?

Anyhow, Ame (Morgan's mom), Morgan, and Dar have been working out this whole thing together. As usual, Morgan's spirit continues to amuse and inspire me. How else do you explain Morgan's notice to her nurses?

Morgan and Ame are not known to me personally; I know them electronically through Dar. I'm not one who's terribly good or comfortable with kids (just ask my sister or cousins about how "well" I deal with family visits). But Dar sent me a picture of Morgan with her daughter that won me over because it just blew my mind....

So there's Morgan, head smooth as a ping pong ball from whatever chemo they're giving her, and she's got a smile on that lights up a room. I keep hard copies of this photo by my computer at work and here at home to remind me of the need for spirit regardless of the situation. I mean, seriously: what the heck do I have to worry about in comparison? As my mother likes to remind me, "It could be worse." And yeah, it always could be. But even if it is worse, that doesn't stop some people from smiling enough to light up the room. I want to be that guy.

The Science Cheerleaders Performing

And because my prose can't do them justice, here's a video of the Science Cheerleaders in action, courtesy of Randy Olson:



Note that Your Humble Narrator managed to make the credits... :-)

Also note: Darlene has added a site if you're interested in booking the Science Cheerleaders for your science-themed event: http://www.sciencecheerleader.com/bring-the-science-cheerleaders-to-your-next-big-event/

Live On the Road with the Science Cheerleaders

Background

If you’ve never been a cheerleader in high school, college, etc., that probably hasn’t stopped you from forming or having opinions about who they might be. Stereotypes abound:

Flighty.

Dumb.

Blonde.

(Fill in the blank).

There’s a group of past and current professional cheerleaders who will argue those stereotypes with you, and they are the Science Cheerleaders.

The original Science Cheerleader is Darlene Cavalier, who decided to embrace her previous career as a Philadelphia ‘76ers cheerleader as a fun and unique way to promote public science literacy, do-it-yourself science, and public engagement in science and technology policy. Her tagline is “Goooo, Science!”

Now Darlene has company, as she debuted a troupe of 11 women whose day jobs are in the science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) fields, and whose not-so-secret identities were or are professional cheerleaders. Their careers range from aerospace engineer to medical researcher to computer programmer, doctor, nurse, and other healthcare-related professions. And where better for Science Cheerleaders to appear than at the inaugural Science & Engineering Festival in Washington, DC?

As Outreach Director, I got to tag along on the project as booth manager and lead logistician. (How I got that gig is a blog for another day.) What follows is a very high-level summary of more than three months’ work performed by many people.

Cheering for Science

So how, exactly, do you roll out Science Cheerleaders to an unsuspecting world? By having them do STEM-themed cheers, of course.

In addition to cheers, the show required music and dance routines. For these we turned to Laura, a choreographer at GoingPro Entertainment. Laura absorbed what Darlene had put together for a “Brain Makeover” science literacy project with the Philadelphia ‘76ers cheerleading squad, and then put her choreographer/cheerleader’s imagination to work. One of my personal favorite cheers runs something like this:

Addition! Subtraction! It gives me satisfaction!
Algebra! Chemistry! Math is where I want to be.

Throw in dance routines performed to “Weird Science,” “She Blinded Me With Science,” (and a couple others), and you have a general idea of what-all went into the show.

And, of course, what’s a cheerleader with a cute outfit (excuse me, uniform) to wear? Angela King Designs, Inc. came up with something that looked like it belonged on a team of superheroines, complete with SciCheer molecule logos:

Coming Together

A lot of this was still theoretical, even though I had pictures of all of the Cheerleaders and had read and edited their interviews and translated that information into trading cards (more on that later). Laura sent videos of the dance routines they had to memorize by email link and left them to it to be ready when they got to Washington. But would all of this really come together?

We started filtering into a hotel in the Dupont Circle area and eventually met in a conference room for a team meeting and preliminary rehearsal. There were cheerleader uniforms and pom-pons on a side table, and the women I’d been emailing and nagging for several weeks (“You book your travel yet?”) were actually present. Darlene welcomed everyone and gave a brief background on they hows and whys of this project, from overcoming stereotypes to promoting education. Lots of nods around the room. These women got it, but then of course they would. Like Darlene, most or all of them had experienced some sort of negative treatment because of their appearance or their side job. “I feel like I’m in a support group,” one of them said, in a relieved voice.

Then it was on to rehearsing. This was the unknown quantity for the organizers. Until we put 11 women who had never performed together into a room with their until-then virtual choreographer, would it all happen? We needn't have worried. Past or present performers, they’d put in the time around their technically demanding day jobs and learned all four of the primary routines. Darlene and I stood back and watched as Laura directed or demonstrated with easy grace bends and postures that would probably have thrown my back out in 30 seconds. The cheerleaders had their own standard, specialized vocabulary for moves that I just took for granted: “No, down. A delayed down, not emergency down.” “Right arm hunch.” And so forth.

And they were doing it all in time, in unison, looking like the team they were supposed to be. Never underestimate the power of rhythm. Randy, the videographer who was going to be directing the video of the Science Cheerleaders, and I both remarked, “Jeez, they’re good!” It was starting to come together.

Here Come the Science Cheerleaders

The next morning, the troupe headed off toward the Metro, bearing their boots, makeup touchup bags, and trading cards.

Trading cards? You bet. Or, as Darlene and I called them most of the time, baseball cards, like the sort you’d get with a pack of gum. For each of the Science Cheerleaders, we created a SciCheer card with images of the woman in cheerleader and day-job garb on one side and background information on the other. The info included their name, home, cheer teams, education, career path, their reason for getting into science, and whatever words of wisdom they cared to impart to young women.

Whether through timing or design, I had not actually seen any of the Science Cheerleaders in their full uniforms until we arrived at the Wilson Center Plaza. The first one I saw was Stephanie, an aspiring math teacher. And so help me, she looked like a super hero:

One of the downsides of running the booth was that I had to set up the darn thing while the Cheerleaders were rehearsing and performing. Finally someone in the Science for Citizens booth said, “What are you still doing here? Go!” So off I ran to catch the last two minutes of the first performance. I found around 30 people standing around the Wilson Plaza stage cheering or making other appreciative noises. Then I finally got close enough to watch the performance, and the Science Cheerleaders were real:

And the crowd dug it. Smiles and applause all around. I went back to the booth, happy that things were heading in the right direction. Once the Cheerleaders appeared (in shifts—the tents were rather small), I got out of the way. They might or might not have listened to my spiel, but they handled visitors and autograph seekers like the pros they were.

I wish I’d captured one of the “Disney moments” I watched. A little girl wanted a picture with Stephanie, and it was like watching a kid meet Cinderella at Disney World. The Science Cheerleaders, in person, could provide the one thing we couldn’t guarantee with any of our planning, but which was essential to the success of the whole thing: magic.

On day two, we had our photo shoot, where I got my official photo with the Cheerleaders and the Cheerleaders themselves got individual and team shots done.

Having done the first performance and an extra one on Saturday, the Science Cheerleaders were revved up and energized for day two.

The crowd was bigger on Sunday, which helps performers, and the crowd reactions were great. Cheers went up as their individual educations and careers were announced. The crowd “got it.” Putting together these cheerleaders with their day jobs was like some sort of revelation to many I talked to, often getting the roles confused (“You mean she’s a doctor too?”). But the Science Cheerleaders made an impression, on the whole a good one, and the women involved got to share their stories with a curious public.

What Makes Science Cheerleaders Tick (Or Ticks Them Off)

In between performances or autograph signings, I tried to speak with as many of the Science Cheerleaders as I could (jeez, who wouldn’t?) or listened to them talk with each other. The topics ranged from beauty tips to boyfriends to babies.

The fact that they faced a social stigma attached to cheerleading rankled. Several of them agreed that they took the most social grief from other women, not men. “You get used to dirty looks,” one told me. After that, I started watching the men and women we passed as the Science Cheerleaders interacted with the Festival crowds. Men gaped or leered or tried to pretend they weren’t staring. Women’s reactions ranged from mild disapproval to disgust to pride or support for what they represented. A wife, seeing her husband walk their daughter up to the booth, got so incensed that she stormed away.

I had only one conversation along these lines all weekend, which surprised me a bit. A middle-aged woman walked up to me and interrupted me as I began my standard spiel. “Oh, I know who you are. I just find the whole thing rather sexist.”

To this I replied, “Well, they find it liberating.”

A bit flummoxed by my reply, the woman finally sputtered, “I suppose we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this.” Indeed. But I couldn’t help watching others watch the Science Cheerleaders. Was it really, as one of them put it, that “Some women just don’t like the idea that some of us could have it all”? I wonder.

What interested me about all of the Science Cheerleaders I talked to was that they all had definite or at least partial plans for the future, Darlene included: another degree, their own company, a particular line of work, or marriage and family. Some even had specific timelines in their heads.

If you read their baseball cards, the “Follow your dreams!” theme is common. All of these women, to one extent or another, have been doing just that. That sort of practical, future-thinking dreaming requires skills that anyone can possess if sufficiently motivated: desire, time management, hard work, and persistence—skills that transfer to parts of life far beyond cheerleading, most especially science and technology. Perhaps the constant training keeps them moving. Many of them, during football season, work out three to five times a week in addition to game days. They attend interview classes, sign team behavior codes, and are trained to always be “on stage.” If you asked them how they got to where they are now, I’m sure they could all answer the same way: “I worked at it!”

The Future of Science Cheerleaders

Where do Darlene and the Science Cheerleaders go from here? It will be for Darlene to decide how to best put this new phenomenon to work. The Science Cheerleader site has already sprouted two “spinoff” sites: Science for Citizens and ECAST (Expert & Citizen Assessment of Science & Technology), both of which taken on a life of their own.

Two things seem certain after the Science & Engineering Festival:

• Science Cheerleaders are not going away.
• They will return.

Bart Leahy is a gopher who lives in a cozy den somewhere in Northern Alabama. He doubles as the Outreach Director for ScienceCheerleader.com

The Science Cheerleaders and Their Gopher

Yep, the weekend was kinda like this...

You may now officially hate me. :-)

I'll post more pictures and thoughts after I've gotten some more sleep. In the meantime, goooo science!

Science Cheerleaders, Etc.

I'm about a week out from attending the Science & Engineering Festival, where I'll be running the booth/tent for ScienceCheerleader.com. For the past few months I've been creating letters, forms, grant proposals, schedules, and gosh-knows-what-else to ensure that 11 cheerleaders have what they need when they need it. In other words, paperwork. The point, of course, is to make certain that these fine ladies can get out there and inspire young'uns to cheer, yes, but also to think about life outside cheerleading. The Science Cheerleaders include:

Alyson, who's finished a B.S. and is looking to become a doctor. She's also an excellent writer.

Andrea, also a student, who's worked with patients who have HIV. I also have to send Andrea a big high-five for helping Dar and me keep things organized.

Heidi, who has a B.S. in Sports & Exercise Science and now works at a pain management clinic and also has her own fitness business. Her 2D picture is in better shape than I am in 3D.

Jennifer, who's an engineer at Nissan. I believe she specializes in process management, but far be it for me to fib--check out her interview.

Kim is a computer science person who likes solving tough problems. She kind of reminds me of Jeri Ryan, and I'm perfectly cool with that.

Melissa is a medical researcher at Vanderbilt. I really need to get to a Titans game...

Regina is a medical doctor and a lawyer. Given all the studying those two disciplines require, when the heck did she find time for cheerleading? I plan to ask!

Sandra is an RN in an emergency ward. You know all those trauma-ward TV shows? That's her world. Yowie!

Stephanie is going to school to become a math teacher. Excellent! Wonder if she tutors calc...

Summer is a rocket scientist (excuse me, aerospace engineer) out of Johnson Space Center in Houston. Summer is no stranger to combatting the whole cheerleader stereotype thing, but she's still at it...and still employed in the midst of all the changes.

Rounding out our troupe is Wanda, who works in medical sales, where you've got to speak some serious geek.

Naturally Dar will be there...though in civilian garb, not cheering.

And last but not least, there's Your Humble Narrator, who will be acting gopher and security(?). I've been known to be ornery...

So there you go: eleven women who will be dancing and cheering, yes, but also talking seriously about how young women can do and be much more. Looking forward to it!