Marching in line with the band on Friday, junior Emily Easum dons her cheerleading uniform while juggling the two activities. Photo by Kendra Schwartz

During the halftime show it can be hard trying to figure out who is who, but finding junior Emily Easum is never a challenge.
Easum can be spotted on the sidelines with the varsity cheerleading team. She joined the cheer team her freshman year after giving up competitive cheerleading at G-Force Athletics.
She can also be spotted toting a tuba during the halftime band show. Easum started off her band career by being a natural at the flute and later was recruited to tuba.
Being in both band and cheer, Easum has to manage her time carefully to make sure she has time for both activities and school.
“I’m pretty much busy everyday after school,” Easum said. “I do my homework as soon as I get home or else I won’t be able to start until nine.”
Easum and many other students at LHS are encouraged and supported by the staff and coaches, like Shannon Biggerstaff.
“I do not want to hold students back from participating in what interests them,” Biggerstaff said. “It is sometimes difficult to work around all the different schedules the activities have, but I think it is awesome for students to be so involved in their school.”
She also receives help and support balancing her busy schedule from her band instructor, Tom Hunt.
“I ask her how she’s doing,” Hunt said. “[We] support her and encouraging her to take care of business. We definitely want to make sure that she’s doing both band and cheer, and keeping up in all her other classes.”
On Friday nights just before a home football game, while the other cheerleaders are stretching and doing warm-up stunts, and band members are tuning their instruments to play, Easum has at go between the two to prepare herself for the night.
“I go to cheer about five and I do the tailgate with my cheer team,” Easum said. “Then, around 5:30ish I run over to the band room, polish my tuba and take it to the track. I warm up with cheer. Then, I watch for the band, so I pick up my tuba, run over and march out for the fight song and pregame.”
Even though Easum has a busy schedule, she thinks that more people should join lots of activities inside and outside of school.
“I think more people should join any kind of activity because then you get to meet a bunch of people you have stuff in common with,” Easum said. “It’s a great way to make new friends especially for the incoming freshmen.”
Playing a sport and being in band at the same time is not a rare thing at LHS. Sophomore Matthew Jacobson is a football player at LHS and also plays the bass drum in the half time show.
“We want our kids to be as well rounded as possible,” Hunt said. “There’s so much more about being in band than just playing an instrument or marching on the field. It’s about the skills you get by doing that and how you apply them later in life.”