Brookville cheerleaders participate in Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade

When she took her place in the lineup of cheerleaders performing in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Brookville High School’s Ashley Cox was worried.

“I thought I was going to mess up,” she said. “In rehearsals I would mess up over and over again,” on one part of the routine.

As the parade was about to begin, a nearby cheerleader teased Cox about the mistake.

But when the music started and thousands of people were watching, Cox came through.

“I was worried about that part, but I did it right,” she said.

The six Brookville High School cheerleaders who performed in Thursday’s parade in New York City said it proved to be an awesome experience that didn’t make them feel as nervous as they’d expected.

And the parade was just one pinnacle of the trip. The Bees have made some of their favorite memories sightseeing and shopping in the Big Apple this week.

The opportunity to be in the parade came earlier this year after the team had a stunt workshop, said coach Amanda Dean.

The workshop instructor from the Universal Cheerleading Association e-mailed Dean later and invited her to choose six girls to perform in the parade with about 600 cheerleaders.

Dean chose six seniors whom she has coached their entire high school careers: Cox, Lauren Metz, Ashley Christian, Brittany Adkins, Morgan Musgrove and Amanda Everhart.

When Everhart learned she’d been chosen, her first thought was, “Wow, it’s such a great honor,” she said. Her second thought was “How am I going to make it up there?”

The trip cost $14,000 total, and was paid for by the cheerleaders, fundraisers and their families.

The Bees learned the choreography of the routine from a DVD. They flew to New York on Saturday and on Monday they started rehearsals with the entire group. They learned that much of the routine had been changed.

“They did end up changing most of it. It was a little challenging learning the new things,” said Adkins. She described the dance as an “upbeat pom routine” that wasn’t difficult to perform.

“It was exciting and fun,” she said.

The cheerleaders had hours of rehearsals on Monday and Tuesday, but they had a free day on Wednesday.

Christian said her favorite part of the trip was watching “In The Heights,” on Broadway play. She said it was a modern musical that included some rap music and portrays a town coming together after the death of a prominent member.

The girls also got in plenty of shopping on Fifth Avenue, at Macy’s and other locations, buying souvenirs and clothes.

They had to rise early on Thursday. Musgrove said they had to be ready for breakfast and rehearsals by 4:30 a.m.

In the cold outside, they huddled together to keep warm, then had several rehearsals and a run-through at 8:15.

“Finally, at 9, we opened.”

The 600 cheerleaders kicked off the parade, performing their routine twice. They were pleased with the crowd’s response.

“After we were done performing, we walked down the street and I felt like I was famous,” Cox said. “Everybody was taking pictures and waving. I just felt like I was a movie star.”

While most of the cheerleaders returned to their warm hotel rooms to watch the parade on TV, Metz and Dean watched from the street.

Metz said she has a tradition of watching the parade on TV every year, but it was incredible to watch in person.

Thursday afternoon and evening the crew took photos in Central Park and visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Although the trip was exciting and fun, it did have a couple of tiny downsides.

“I really miss being able to eat Thanksgiving dinner with my family,” Metz said. “I haven’t even had turkey today! I’ve had pizza and McDonald’s.”

Everhart agreed that she had enough of fast food. “I’m getting sick of it. I just want Thanksgiving dinner with my family.”

Dean said the girls seem to have had a lot of fun in New York, but were ready to go home.

“They’ve now started to chant Brookville cheers on the streets of New York City,” Dean said. “I think they’re now ready for Saturday’s playoff game.”

The Bees are scheduled to return to Lynchburg today.