by LILIYA GARIPOVA New Haven Independent
I am in the Hillhouse high school auditorium. The cheerleaders practice here twice a week, and I am watching a group of girls on the stage rehearsing the moves.
I will remember this as one of the most peaceful and calming sights since the pandemic.
The girls are relaxed, happy and fully immersed in the atmosphere of dance and performance. Then I hear the coach’s voice, quietly and kindly guiding them.
Everything in front of me is unfolding in perfect harmony, and I am sitting there in the semi-dark hall amazed and puzzled for the 100th time by the diversity of life at New Haven public schools, where in some situations kids can challenge their teachers and drive them out of schools, and in some act as quite mature and diligent individuals capable of self-discipline.
“I love my job – it feeds my soul,” says Michelle Sepulveda, the cheerleader coach and truancy officer at Hillhouse High School.
Below is a transcript of my recent interview with Sepulveda about her work with and dedication to New Haven public school students.
Freedom & Happiness In Dancing
Liliya Garipova: Michelle, you have been a cheerleader coach at Hillhouse high school for seven years. How did you choose this path?
Michelle Sepulveda: I grew up in New Haven, on Rock Creek Road. My grandparents bought a house, later their kids bought houses there, and that’s how I had 23 first cousins who all lived on the same street. It was an amazing upbringing. I was one of the older cousins and used to babysit a lot. So, I’ve worked with kids for a long time.
I was in Girl Scouts too, and I loved dancing a lot. When I turned 17, I started subbing at NHPS, and was teaching dance and gymnastics in the summer. I was a cheerleader myself at Hillhouse, then at Cheshire Academy that I attended for a year, then at Franklin Pierce College. I loved it. I also taught dancing at NHPS. I started with liturgical dancing with my students in the beginning — we danced to gospel music. But the kids wanted to do hip hop so much. And I would use really cool, gospel songs by Kirk Franklin, for example, and the kids would do gospel hip hop without realizing it. Later I taught hip hop at Educational Center for Arts.
How did I become a cheer coach? When I was a kid myself, my mom asked me what I was going to do after school. I said, nothing, I am just going to come home and do my homework. And she said, no, you are going do something. Because if you have idle time, that’s how you get into trouble. You need to find something to do. You will have to pick cheerleading or track or something.
I tried track. I didn’t really care for it too much. Then I tried cheerleading, and I liked it. I was already working as a truancy officer when my youngest son went to college. I was home alone, and I was sad. One day I was walking by his room and seeing that everything was gone, I just started crying. But about a month later, I was made a cheer coach of Hillhouse. I said to myself: God has a sense of humor – seeing that my son was gone, and I was sad, he gave me 22 kids.
READ MORE This article was originally posted to New Haven Independent