Sports

Youth Cheerleaders Put On A Show At Championship Competitions

Published: Dec 05, 2025 6:50 am

Newtown Youth Cheer has had an incredible 2025 season so far. After strong performances at the CT Strong Fun Competition and Shoreline Local Cheer Competition, all four cheer teams moved on to the Connecticut State Cheer Competition at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven on November 2.

The Hawklings performed their final routine of the season and did a wonderful job, and the competitive teams also had outstanding results, with D14 earning second place in the Small Level 2 division, D12 taking second in the Large Level 3 division, and D10 placing third in Small Level 1.

All three competitive teams qualified to compete at the New England Regional Cheer Competition at Mohegan Sun Arena on November 8. They all performed amazingly against very tough competition.

The D12 team placed third in the D12 Large Level 3 division, earning it a spot to compete at the American Youth Cheer National Cheer Competition in Kissimmee, Fla., December 3-7.

Newtown Youth Cheer also celebrates 13 cheerleaders who are members of Shoreline Elite Cheer, a program made up of athletes from multiple Connecticut towns. These athletes also traveled to Florida to compete against other elite cheer teams at the AYC National Cheerleading Competition. Members of the Shoreline Elite Team are: D14: Sawyer Gottschalk, Ellie Veneziano, and Hannah Bowen; and D12: Maddison Vaccaro, Hayden Salinger, Brielle Keil, Brynn Clark, Camryn Potter, Cecily Auresto, Eleanor Driscoll, Eve Ramsdell, Lillie Dougherty, and Victoria Maklyan.

Additionally, members of the D14 and D12 cheer teams will be extending their season into the winter months, competing in YCADA Global Cheer competitions from January through March.

Members of the Hawklings are Effy Barzilai, Charlotte McCambley, Malia Murphy, Zoe Boros, Harper Kisker, Lucia Dispensa, Ava Pessolano, Piper Willman, Everleigh Massey, Avery Bell, Charley Stumpf, Sophie Skiba, Emerson Behn, Harper Hallahan, Ava Mason, Lila George, Lilly Parciasepe, Peyton DeMaria, Violet Ribeiro, and Reagan Szklarz.Coaches include Brianna Krasowski, Jeanette McCambly, Lindsay Bell, and Megan Stumpf. Demonstrators are Briella San Souci, Kaelyn Rosvally, Ellie Pickard, and Mikela Sisenstein. —photo courtesy Simply Pause Photography

The D10 cheer squad includes, front: Riley Ann Antoinette; second row: Arianna Maklyan and Kimberly Bartolo; third row: Jamison Ashby-Monroe, Raelynn Martins, Ellie Metzner, Emma Gugliotti, Katherine Tyler, and Charlotte Krebs; and back: Evelyn Garrison, Ellis McGee, Angela Whiteley, Adriana Casagrande, Keala Quaintance, Marilena Vaccaro, Sydney Skiba, and Haylee Martin. —photo courtesy Jennifer Bolanos

Members of the D12 squad are, from left, front: Brielle Keil, Lillie Dougherty, Cecily Auresto, Avianna Leonardi, Brynn Clark, Teagan Hufnegal, and Maggie Guman; middle: Sofia Reyes, Hannah Bowen, Eleanor Driscoll, Ellie Veneziano, Sawyer Gottschalk, Victoria Maklyan, Eve Ramsdell, and Camryn Potter; and back: Teagan Conant, Grace McCambley, Brooke Duncan, Adina Fung, Trishelle Aubin, Natalie Patty, Emmy Bell, and Hayden Salinger. —photo courtesy Kristen Keil

The D14 cheerleaders include, from left, front: Persephone Frutos, Sophia Silva, Izzy Jeanfaivre, Mia Oddo, and Aviana Nirenberg; middle: Maddie Huray, Giuliana Rocco, Ava Hennessey, Grace Perez, Avery Ehret, and Maddie Vaccaro; and back: Sthephany Dacosta, Samantha Deming, Kyra Connelly, Hailey Connell, Juliette Martins, Alexa Kitay, and Brynn McCambley. —photo courtesy Lea Guglielmo

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Real people were just in a frightening car accident. To immediately frame their misfortune as rhetorical ammunition against new housing — affordable housing included — feels less like concern for “health and safety” and more like opportunistically using a scary moment to support a pre-existing position. If we’re going to debate this proposal, we should do it honestly: with data on traffic volume, accident history, engineering recommendations, and the town’s housing needs, not by seizing on a single crash as proof that 300 apartments are inherently unsafe. Newtown deserves a thoughtful, fact-based conversation about growth, safety, and affordability — one that doesn’t turn other people’s bad day into a political talking point.

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To add context that did not occur at the meeting would not be an accurate representation of the meeting and would, in fact, be editorializing to shape public opinion. The editorial staff here do not consider ourselves to be final arbiters of what the truth is (and if we did, it would make us partisan and biased), and we would need to provide a source for any dissenting information (sourcing all information in an article is literally Journalism 101). There were no such sources present at the meeting in question, and so it would not be appropriate to include such information in an article about the meeting. Dissenting voices appear in meeting stories when there were active participants with dissenting opinions, such as during public participation or the words of a council member who disagreed. It should be noted that the Interfaith Council, like many local boards and commissions, conduct meetings that are open to the public. This was not an article on the actions of the Greater Danbury Area Unites for Immigrants, or on immigrants, or on ICE's actions in the community, where including other voices or perspectives would be appropriate. We appreciate your opinion, but we stand by our meeting coverage and consider this discussion closed.

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Propaganda is the systematic dissemination of information, often biased or misleading, to shape public perception and behavior toward a specific political cause or point of view. I'm not asking for Newtown Bee to editorialize, but providing context, where appropriate, to provide the reader with a more holistic view of the facts seems like a reasonable practice, particularly when encouraging the reader to decide what to believe/not to believe. Absent that context, this feels biased and misleading and intended to shape public perception.

The Newtown Bee reported what was said at a Newtown Interfaith Council meeting. Whether Mr McGillicuddy agrees with what was said or not, reporting what occurs at a public meeting is not "propaganda." Presenting what was said without editorializing is encouraging the reader to decide what to believe or not believe, and is standard for reporting at a community newspaper like The Newtown Bee.

"Abducted by ICE". You mean, when law enforcement enforces the law? This is propaganda passed off as a news article.

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Youth Cheerleaders Put On A Show At Championship Competitions

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