3rd time’s the charm for Ruscombmanor woman who is now an Eagles cheerleader

By Mike Urban
Reading Eagle
5/3/2010

It was the end of the semester and grad student Danielle Pretti needed to finish four long research papers, but it was tough staying focused.

That’s because Danielle was also trying out to be a Philadelphia Eagles cheerleader.

She finished her schoolwork, and then she auditioned well enough to be picked as an Eagles cheerleader for the upcoming season.

“It was a busy week,” said Danielle, 22, of Ruscombmanor Township.

Danielle had tried out for the team the last two years, competing against 400 to 500 other women.

Two years ago, she made the semifinals, a big accomplishment for a first-time applicant. Last year, she was eliminated in the first round.

“I was devastated,” recalled the Holy Name High School 2005 and Kutztown University 2009 graduate.

She decided to give it one more shot.

So along with pursuing a master’s degree as a reading specialist at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, substitute teaching in Reading elementary schools and performing on the R-Phils Dance Team, she prepared for this year’s audition.

Danielle worked out every day, ate well, continued dance training and practiced her cheer routines.

After advancing through several rounds of eliminations, she reached the final round, where she had to walk in a bathing suit before 10 judges and perform one more routine.

That night she couldn’t sleep as she waited to find out if she’d been picked.

The suspense ended at 7:20 a.m. when her cell phone buzzed.

“It said ‘CONGRATULATIONS’ in capital letters,” she said of a text message. “I was one of the 38 picked.”

Danielle has always loved dancing. She took classical dance since she was 3 and had long dreamed of being a professional cheerleader.

Her proud mom, Patti Rodgers of Ruscombmanor Township, always has been by her side, taking her to ballet lessons and sitting in the stands when Danielle was a football cheerleader at Holy Name.

Danielle has a lot to look forward to, as she is set to graduate from St. Joseph’s in July and will marry her fiance, Scott Hettinger of Spring Township, in 2011.

And then there are the Eagles games, where she’ll help lead 68,000 rabid Eagles fans from the sidelines of Lincoln Financial Field.

“When they took the new cheerleaders down on the field for the first time it finally sunk in that I’m really doing this,” she said. “There were no words. It’s a dream come true.”