Quaker Girls and Penn cheerleading perform at the Wells Fargo Center on Dec. 2, 2023.
Credit: Weining Ding , Jean ParkIf you see pom poms and automatically think cheerleading, you’re making a mistake. Penn Cheer is just one of two spirit groups that are dedicated to bringing the electric energy to Red and Blue game days. The entirely student-run Quaker Girls is on the hunt for that same recognition.
Founded in 2005, Quaker Girls is a game day dance group that performs student-choreographed shows at select football and basketball games as well as a yearly Philadelphia 76ers halftime show.
The group performs at halftime and differs from Penn Cheer in that it doesn't typically stay on the sidelines during games — although the group had the opportunity to do so when it traveled with Penn Cheer and Penn Band to the men’s basketball games held at the Wells Fargo Center on Dec. 2 and 9.
“We really enjoyed being there for the whole game, and I think in the future we can hopefully collaborate with cheer more and form more of a cohesive spirit team,” senior captain Naomi Phemister-Jimenez said. “A lot of big sports schools have it where dance and cheer travel together and both cheer on sports teams together even though they do separate performances.”
While the Quaker Girls have a point of contact at Penn Athletics who invites them to dance at games, they currently fall under club status and are entirely student-run. Senior Assistant Director and Finance Chair Caroline Allen said that the unusual amount of responsibility that falls to the executive board of the group “has definitely been an adjustment and is pretty difficult at times.”
“We have cheerleaders, ballerinas, people of all different backgrounds on our team, but the one thing that we all have in common is that we've always had a coach,” Allen said.
On the other hand, Penn Cheer is recognized and funded by Penn Athletics, which allows the group to go to Penn Athletics for health-related issues, see university trainers for injuries and upkeep, and receive official university athletics merchandise.
Cheer also falls under the marketing division of the University, as the team helps out at events like Homecoming, Heyday, and New Student Orientation.
“We have leadership and point people for both Penn Athletics and marketing,” junior cheerleader Angelina Jala said. “We're required to go to all football games and home basketball games, and other games as well on a request basis, like if a team wants us to cheer for their senior night.”
Conversely, the Quaker Girls is funded by the Student Activities Council along with the majority of other clubs at the university.
“SAC doesn't really know how dance teams work,” sophomore Public Relations Chair Jessica Lin said. “Which makes sense because there's so many different types of teams, but the needs of a dance team are kind of specific, and our budget is allocated in a way that doesn't necessarily work for us.”
Allen echoed the sentiment and referenced how the group only gets $70 per girl each year for costumes.
The Quaker Girls’ main goal is to build the relationship with the University; the group recently applied to become a club sport but were told just last week that Student Activities Council does not have the funding right now to add any more club sports and will not for the foreseeable future.
“I think we need to regroup and make a game plan for next year, whether that's reapplying for club sport status or if there's a different route we want to take, for example, joining Dance Arts Council and seeing if that might be the right place for us,” Allen said.
In the meantime, they are working on getting more recognition at Penn, which has included increasing their social media presence.
Phemister-Jimenez added that the group would love to eventually become Penn’s official dance team if they receive enough funding and represent Penn at national competitions such as the Universal Dance Association.
“I know that's a huge goal, but that's definitely the direction that we would love to head into,” she said. “I think we've made really huge strides in terms of recruiting girls who have had competitive dance experience or who have danced for their entire lives, but there are quite a few fees associated with these competitions so it hasn't yet been possible.”
Penn Cheer is also interested in competing in the future, specifically in the National Cheerleaders Association competitions.
“If you've heard anything about cheer on Netflix, like the Daytona, Florida competition, that's the kind of cheer that we would do, not necessarily the traditional cheer with pom poms and signs,” Jala said. “What that would look like would be us having a specific competition team within the cheer team that kind of practices on their own in preparation for this big competition that would happen around our spring break.”
Competition is not the only hopeful agenda item for the Quaker Girls: They plan to expand their reach by dancing at different Penn sports games and exploring community initiatives. The group is currently in contact with the Netter Center to start a dance recess program for elementary school kids in West Philadelphia who may not want to participate in other sports programs during the time.
“There's a lot of debate as to whether or not dance is a sport, but I think we put so much work in and it feels really great to be recognized when we are,” Phemister-Jimenez said. “I would love to continue to do that and get even more people excited about seeing our performances and just get our name out there even further.”
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