On February 8, at the county cheerleading competition, the Linganore varsity team won second place. For varsity cheer captain, Sierra Bennett, this was her last high school competition.  However, there was a surprise waiting for her.

On the bus back home from Urbana High School where the competition was held, she was sitting in the back of the bus with her headphones in listening to music. Half way back to the school, she felt her phone vibrate with an email notice. She opened the email and saw the subject “MPSSC scholarship” and the first word of the email was “Congratulations!”

Bennett said, “I immediately jumped up in excitement and yelled across the bus to my coach that I had gotten the scholarship.”

She said she worked so hard with writing the essay, making the video of her tumbling skills and other requirements she needed to send in, and it all felt good at the end to know that all that hard work she did paid off.

Teammate Kat Taylor said “Sierra Bennett is a very cooperative person on and off the mat. Her tumbling is really strong and she has the potential of getting her full in the future.”

Bennett received the scholarship certificate and was recognized on February 15.  There were three seniors, two from Francis Scott Key High School and Bennett.  Each received $2,000.

Bennett has been accepted to the University of Maryland, but her first choice is Virginia Tech (acceptances mailed April 1). She hopes to go to Virginia Tech and get a degree in human development and later get her teacher certification so that she can be able to be a preschool or kindergarten teacher.

She also hopes to be a cheerleader at the University.