Twin Falls Woman Joins Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders

By Amy Huddleston
MagicValley.com

It seems to happen when people least expect it, the way famous starlets go from being just a girl who waits tables on the weekends to becoming a sort of celebrity, seemingly overnight.

A modern-day Cinderella story, perhaps, but Nicole Bulcher will tell you it was a lot of work made easy by what she attributes to being right where she needed to be.

A graduate of Twin Falls High School and the University of Idaho, the 23-year-old has the ambition to become an international human rights lawyer but along the way she has made a few stops. One in Malta for a study abroad experience, a few weeks in Los Angeles taking dance lessons and most recently back in Twin Falls where she was working as a barista for Java Jungle, waitressing at Canyon Crest and substituting teaching for the Twin Falls School District, all while studying for the LSAT and looking at law schools.

But then she got a whole new break and put her school dreams on hold to do something that requires a whole new kind of workload as one of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders (DCC).

Bulcher and one of her best friends from U of I made the trip to Texas along with more than 500 other hopefuls for two weeks of spring auditions and three demanding elimination rounds. Forty-four women were chosen to attend the eight-week training camp of fitness conditioning, daily rehearsals and dance training. On July 22, Bulcher was chosen to join the elite group of 34 women who get to wear the famous blue and white, star-studded uniforms.

“I still don’t think any of it is real,” Bulcher said. “Maybe when I run out on the field for the first time or maybe when we start signing autographs, I am not sure when it will hit me.”

The whirlwind trip has left her very thankful for all of the help her strangers-turned-friends have given her. When she found out she needed to stay longer than originally planned, she faced the issue of not having a car on hand or a place to stay. One of the returning veterans, Meredith Oden, took Bulcher under her wing and helped her find a family to stay with while she was in the training camp.

“I felt like the kid from The Blind Side,” Bulcher said, laughing when she described the first time she met the family. “I was expecting a normal lunch but they took us to the Ritz-Carlton, I’ve never eaten such a beautiful lunch!”

Bulcher has been exposed to more than just the Ritz. CMT’s fifth season of Making the Team, a show about the DCC will be putting her on air for a few interviews and shots of the girls trying out.

Texas, Bulcher said, is a whole new culture for her.

“I love Texas. They have big hair down here and everyone is really conservative,” Bulcher said. “I’ve already started picking up the word y’all. It’s just so much easier to say.”

The rigor of being a cheerleader has just started for America’s Sweethearts. Bulcher said the rule of thumb for the girls is to “look good in their uniform and be healthy.”

Between staying fit and working at a middle school as an ESL teacher’s assistant during the day and cheer practices at night, it is sure to be a busy season for the curly-haired beauty who has taken dance lessons since she was three.

Bulcher was the captain and choreographer for the U of I’s dance team and taught hip-hop lessons for the University’s wellness classes.

“The biggest part of preparing for this was when I took dance lessons in LA,” Bulcher said. “Dancing for U of I helped me to be a stronger person and mentally tough.”

And if there is one thing Bulcher wants people to know about her new role?

“People don’t realize what standards the DCC adhere to,” she said. “We are a very professional, classy organization. It’s different than other teams, many of the women are engaged or married and most of the girls are Christians. They are beautiful women. I am really excited for this.”