Help Unity Prep Cheer go to Nationals!

The Unity Prep Cheer Team needs donations to pay for accommodation, travel costs, and meals for the National High School Cheerleading Championship in Orlando, Florida.

BROOKLYN, NY. — Tatiana Melani is a teacher and cheerleading coach at Unity Preparatory Charter School of Brooklyn. Each day she coaches a cheerleading team making her work day nearly 12 hours long. She coaches a team founded only two years ago that already qualified for The UCA National High School Cheerleading Championship (NHSCC) at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida on February 11th, 2017.

Coach Melani's students face personal challenges both in and outside of the classroom, yet are nurtured by her to persevere challenges to maintain status as both outstanding scholars and athletes. The school serves a low income/high poverty district and a high-risk population. Each cheerleader faces different personal hardships without consistent support, yet continue to drive our fundraising efforts whether it be by running the bake sale daily, making candy grams, or doing live performances. Coach Melani has created a community that is so crucial to our students lives that they appear to observers as a family. The team has persisted for long school days and extended practices just to even be able to compete for the regional competitions in which they placed 1st.

"The teams they will face at nationals are their direct competition for spots in colleges; we want them to experience this to be motivated for their own futures." - Coach Melani

The Road to Nationals

The team's path to Nationals has been an exciting and fast-paced journey! On January 7th, 2017, News 12 Brooklyn featured the team's story in their sportscast. On January 12th, television personality Ellen DeGeneres received a cheer video from the team tweeted:

In addition to the tweet, the team video is featured on the show's EllenTube. The team is currently awaiting to see if they will be featured on The Ellen Show or featured in the show's new fundraising initiative via GoFundMe.

Fundraising Efforts

"The students need to develop the mindset that their dreams can be accomplished through hard work and perseverance." - Coach Melani

Within the school community, developing personal and academic motivation naturally can be a challenge. With the help of the team's supporters, not just the team, but the entire school can see an example of the of athletics as a support to academic and personal success. Coach Melani and the team have fundraised over 50% of the registration and hotel costs for families through GoFundMe, DonorsChoose and grassroots initiatives. The Unity Panthers Cheerleading team still needs your help to make their way to Nationals. Please support the team with a donation to pay for travel expenses, accommodation, registrations, uniform items and meals.

Donate to our GoFundMe here

This article is written by Shauna Woods Gonzalez; Unity Cheer Team Publicist and Designer. With all other inquiries, please contact swoods@unityprep.org