As a gymnast since age two, Olivia Long (12) loves the feeling of flying.

“It’s just so free,” she said. “I know I’m in control, and it’s so fun. When I tumble, I can get so high in the air. I can jump so high and I don’t know, there’s just something exhilarating about it.”

After devoting herself to the same sport for 15 years, Olivia unexpectedly decided to try cheerleading her sophomore year.

“You have to embrace high school while it lasts,” she said. “I really wasn’t doing much in my freshman year—it was just gymnastics, school, sleep, repeat. You hear about the stereotypical high school experience, and it seems so fun and everybody is so involved. I wanted to take part in that. By joining the cheer team, I met people from different grades that I didn’t know. I had never ventured out into having friends in different grades before. It was really fun meeting all these new people.”

The teammates Olivia once called the “new people” have become her closest friends.

“I love the community that cheer attracts,” she said. Everyone on the team is so open and happy, and I love every single one of them. We’re all just so close. Together, we’re a very tight-knit family. Cheerleading is a very teamwork based sport, and four girls have to work together to get one in the air. Everyone has their specific job or else it’s not going to go up, so I just love the fact that we all have to put in our hard work and support each other.”

Jessica Wang (12), her teammate and close friend, appreciates Olivia’s caring personality and willingness to try new things.

“She does little things for me, like lending me her blanket or driving me around places, and cheering me up whenever I’m feeling down,” Jessica said. “We’re really sarcastic with each other, and we joke around and we make fun of each other, but at the end of the day, I’d say that we’re super supportive of each other. Even though she’s scared of things like spiders, she still one of the bravest people I know. She’s always willing to try new things and push her boundaries, and I really admire her courage. She’s normally someone I think of as quiet, so for her to join [cheer] in her sophomore year and just push that boundary is really cool.”

Just like she cares about her friends, Oliva appreciates her family.

“I feel like I’ve had like a very laid-back upbringing, you know, my parents are super chill and I feel like that’s reflected in me,” Olivia said. “But I’m also very open-minded, so I won’t be so quick to shoot somebody down based on their opinions.”

Olivia has kept these values throughout high school. She studies intently in Shah Hall, but she also makes time for cheering at games and tumbling alongside her teammates at practice.

“Unlike the stereotypical hardcore student, I wasn’t super concerned with my grades,” Olivia said. “I definitely tried hard, but I wasn’t going to kill myself or freak out over one bad grade or one bad test” she said. “ I really value just being happy in life, not stressing out too much,” Olivia said. “I know that’s difficult, especially when surrounded by Harker students and this community. I’m definitely focused on my school work, but I also like to maintain that social-work balance.”

Olivia’s 13 years at Harker have given her a strong work ethic, but they also taught her to adapt to life as it comes.

“You can’t take life too seriously,” she said. “You’ve got to just roll with the punches, and you can’t plan everything down to the second. But at the same time, you’ve got to work hard to get where you want to go.”