The Palo Alto High School cheerleading squad is fundraising to raise money to participate in the annual National High School Cheerleading Championship on Feb. 5-9 in Orlando, Fla.

This year, in an effort to make attending Nationals more affordable, McDaniel has encouraged individual fundraising and the team has decided to host group fundraising activities in addition.

Group efforts have included holding a garage sale, helping out at Stanford University parking, and selling chocolate in downtown Palo Alto. The total money raised will be divided equally among the girls who attend. The girls are also encouraged to go to local businesses and ask for scholarships or donations to sponsor their trip to nationals.

Present efforts include selling jewelry and chocolate bars. Each chocolate bar costs one dollar, and 50 percent of the profits from the chocolate sales goes to the cheerleader. The girls sell both individually and in groups, usually setting up tables in front of Borders in downtown Palo Alto on weekends.

To attend Nationals in the past, each cheerleader had to pay for the airfare, hotel, competition costs, transportation in Orlando and park entry fees which totals about $920 per girl, according to Spirit Team Director Hilary McDaniel. On top of this, the girls have to pay for their uniforms, camp and participation fees in order to be a cheerleader.

“We have 30-plus team members and it is important to make sure that everyone who is qualified and wants to cheer can, regardless of their financial situation” McDaniel said. “We have to fundraise in order for everyone to be able to participate. The team provides such an important service for the school and it would be really sad to see people decide not to cheer for financial reasons.”

“Our coach [McDaniel] knew that nationals and competition was a huge financial commitment and wanted to make it easier on everyone. She has done a really good job of giving us a lot of fundraising opportunities, especially since this hasn’t really been an option in past years,” senior co-captain Jenna Lose said. “I know that a lot of girls are thankful for it, and there are many that are taking full advantage of it which is really good. However, there are also some people who are not fundraising enough to pay for the entire trip, in which case their family will have to come up with the money.”

The competition will be held in Orlando and will be televised on ESPN, according to McDaniel. This is the first year that the squad will attend the event in Orlando.

“It’s pretty crazy having so many cheerleaders walking around in one place, but it’s really fun to watch other teams and see their material and how it compares to ours,” Lose said. “We’ll also spend a lot of time practicing and hanging out as a team.”