Summer Creek High Teacher is Also a Houston Texan Cheerleader
By Don Maines
Houston Chronicle
Fans of the Houston Texans cheerleaders know her as regal newcomer “Elizabeth,” but Summer Creek High School students know Elizabeth Gardner as their reading teacher, “Ms. G.”
“The first thing students ask is if I can bring a player in to meet,” said Gardner, 25.
“They think it’s cool I’m a cheerleader.
“They don’t just see me as an authority figure.”
Gardner, who lives in the Galleria area, credits time management with allowing her to start two new endeavors – cheerleading and teaching – in 2014, and she plans to enter tryouts March 28 for next season’s squad.
“It’s a three-round process,” she said.
“I believe we have the largest cheerleader tryout in the NFL, with about 1, 500.
” They pick 50 finalists, then narrow the squad down to 33.”
At Summer Creek, Gardner teaches classes to prepare students for this spring’s State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test of reading skills, and she teaches practical writing strategies for filling out job applications, composing business letters and sending emails.
The 2010 graduate of Prairie View A&M University has completed course work at Texas Southern University for a master’s degree in speech and communications, but she’s still writing her thesis.
“It’s about the influence the media has on African-Americans who are in a relationship,” she said.
“The main thing I focus on is the traditional view that a strong, single woman has to be submissive to a man when she becomes a wife.”
Gardner added, “I’m single, but I have a boyfriend, and he’s very supportive and understanding about my schedule.
“I’m the one who chose to be busy.”
Gardner grew up in Missouri City and majored in dance for three years at Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
But she saved her senior year for a more typical high school experience by transferring to Bellaire High School, where she was a cheerleader.
“I got to cheer at football games and be part of homecoming and everything,” she said.
During her freshman year in college, Gardner advanced to the third round of auditions for the TV competition show “So You Think You Can Dance.”
In 2011, she joined a local dance troupe, Motown & More Revue, which performs at Miller Outdoor Theatre.
Gardner doesn’t share the dissatisfaction of cheerleaders from the Oakland Raiders, Cincinnati Bengals or Buffalo Bills, who sued their bosses last year, alleging they’re paid less than minimum wage, incur personal expenses and have to make unpaid appearances.
“It’s not a big expense if you stay close to the stadium, which I do, and we have a lot of great sponsors,” she said.
“They take care of us.”
Gardner was Miss Southeast Texas 2013 and placed sixth at the 78th annual Miss Texas Scholarship Pageant in Allen.
She hopes that teaching will prepare her for her ambition of becoming a professional speech and media coach.
“It all does run together,” she said.
“Hopefully, I will start on the college level, getting athletes used to the camera and how to handle social media.”
A former Miss Texas, Bellinda Myrick-Barnett, who coached Gardner in 2012, said, “There is an innate regal quality about her that I don’t think she yet even understands.
“She is, normally, very low key but there is an essence of ‘star power’ inside of her that is waiting for just the right flame to ignite.
“When she truly finds that ‘star power’ or fire, there will be nothing that can stop her.”
