Melea Gaskins, News Reporter
If you are in search of a kind, energetic, charismatic, positive, and welcoming person, look no further than Mel. Mel is a junior who has spread her positive energy at Agua Fria for the past three years. Mel is also an Agua Fria cheerleader and loves that she is able to bring some cheer and spirit to our campus! She can be seen cheering at games, being the epitome of school spirit, and doing her part for the community through the JROTC program at school.
Mel’s passions lie with the Agua Fria ROTC and has been working towards her dream of becoming a Traveling Journalist with an Officer rank in the U.S. Military. Mel dreams of combining the two by using her ROTC background to get up close and personal to the action and give the people accurate information. Mel came to Agua Fria with the intent of joining the JROTC program to help make her dreams come true. Mel is no stranger to dreams and knows what motivation she needs. Mel is motivated by her thoughts on her future and what she wants to achieve. She says “If I can see myself there, I can get myself there, I want to be there.” She understands the discipline it will take to get where she wants to be and the challenges that may arise, but that won’t stop her!
Cheerleading is another thing that sets Mel apart, here at Agua Fria. Mel joined freshman year right out of middle school. She tried out with the encouragement of friends and family and worked hard to make the JV team. Her nerves about the competitions and her skills slowly melted away as she became part of the team and happiness ensued. The adrenaline rushes, crowd response, and helping school spirit to spread makes it all worth it to Mel. Some of the highlights of cheering have been the cheer camps in the summer when they learn stunts, and routines and the comradery of the team expands.
As much as she loves Agua Fria and enjoys her time at school, Mel firmly believes that summer is the best time of year. Nothing competes with the heat (even in Arizona), the freedom from homework, being with friends, swimming and her birthday all blend together to create the perfect season, in Mel’s opinion.
Nevertheless, Mel has high hopes for the current school year and even higher school spirit.
