Senior year is always bittersweet for students. It is especially true for the members of the Oxford High School cheerleading squad, where the seniors started the program and managed to make it to the New England Championships three years in a row.
“I give my seniors a lot of credit because most high school girls have upperclassmen to look up to, but they never had it,” Wolverines coach Marie Kashuba said.
Oxford High School first opened its doors when senior captain Jocelyn Camarra and senior co-captains Taylor Hare and Gretchen Sciarrino were sophomores. During that year, only sophomores and freshman were enrolled there.
The Wolverines had only 16 girls on the squad back then, but unlike most first-year teams, they didn’t struggle.
Oxford wasn’t the typical expansion team in cheerleading and has placed all three years in the Class S tournament, taking third during its first year and winning Class S the last two.
By finishing in the top three in Class S, the Wolverines qualified for New Englands each year and have done well there in the Division 4 championship meet, taking ninth in their first year, sixth in 2009 and fourth on Saturday, falling only .5 short of placing with a third-place finish.
“It’s cool to go to a school where we didn’t expect to do well in the beginning, but instead, we come out with a bang,” Camarra said. “We didn’t expect to come through so fast.”
Being thrust into a leadership wasn’t easy for them, but they took the bull by the horns and established a winning tradition at Oxford.
In fact, the cheerleading program has been the most successful team since Oxford opened its doors. No other Wolverine squad has won a state title. Most of Oxford’s other teams have yet to qualify for States.
“At first, it was stressful to have all the girls look up to us when we didn’t know what we were doing but afterward, it felt great,” Camarra said.
One thing that enabled the trio to thrive in this unusual, if not unique role, was that they had each other and Kashuba.
Camarra and Hare are originally from Oxford and attended Seymour as freshman while Sciarrino moved to Oxford from Naugatuck six years ago.
She attended St. Francis in Naugatuck before going to Sacred Heart of Waterbury freshman year.
“It was definitely hard and we had to grow up faster because the girls looked up to us even though we were young but Maria sat us down and told us what we had to do to improve,” Sciarrino said. She helped us through everything. Without her, we don’t know where we’d be. When it comes down to it, Marie deserves credit because she’s an amazing coach.”
When Sciarrino transferred to Oxford, she was the new kid on the block because she didn’t know anyone. Everyone else knew each other.
“I thought it would be more difficult but the girls were all welcoming and we clicked,” Sciarrino said.
Hare said, “Gretchen has been my best friend since sophomore year and Jocelyn and I grew up together. We always had a talented group of girls and we owe it all to Marie.”
The captains coming from different backgrounds may have worked to the squad’s advantage.
“We had different ideas and told the coach,” Camarra said. “We did what Marie told us to do and we did extra things we thought we needed to do.”
Having this role also has its advantages.
“That was a lot of fun because it was my grade that made all the choices and the decisions,” Hare said. “We had a say in how the school was going to be.”
Camarra, Hare and Sciarrino will always be remembered for being the first leaders of the program and for creating a winning tradition.
“It feels pretty good starting the program and being the first graduating class is an amazing feeling,” Sciarrino said. “It was a great experience and I love the captains and the other girls.”