For Parks, cheering is for the Birds

Palmyra native Alicia Parks was picked from a pool of 400 women to be an Eagles cheerleader this fall.
By PAT HUGGINS
Staff Writer
LDNews.com
07/14/2012

The last time Alicia Parks attended a Philadelphia Eagles game, she wasn’t particularly well-received by the crowd.

Understandable, given that Parks, then a college student at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, was in the stands cheering for the Birds in the home stadium of the Carolina Panthers.

But the next time the Palmyra native makes her way to an Eagles game, the reception figures to be quite a bit more enthusiastic. And not just because she’ll be in the Eagles fan-friendly confines of Lincoln Financial Field.

A few months back, Parks realized a lifelong goal of combining her passion for dance and performing with a love of football when she was named to Philadelphia’s cheerleading squad for the 2012 season.

Parks, who graduated from Lancaster Catholic High School in 2007 after attending school in Palmyra from kindergarten through middle school, officially became one of eight new members of the 38-woman squad back in late April after a lengthy selection process that began in mid-March and included close to 400 hopefuls.

“It was the most exciting opportunity that’s ever presented itself to me,” Parks, currently a graduate student at Villanova University, said of her now successful quest to cheer for the Birds. “I’ve been a dancer my whole life, and I saw it as an opportunity to keep dance in my life and keep performing while still being able to attain my goal of having a Master’s degree.

“But I never expected, out of the almost 400 girls that showed up for the original audition, to be one of the eight that made it. It was just such an exciting experience.”

So exciting, in fact, that the Parks household was briefly thrown into disarray when Alicia learned she was officially a Philadelphia Eagles cheerleader.

“When my Mom and I called in to find out (if she made the team), we started screaming so loudly when we heard (her name) that my dad and dog came running,” Parks said with a chuckle. “They thought something was wrong. We had to call back to make sure we heard it correctly.”

Parks, whose brother, Chris, was a standout soccer player at Palmyra, still experiences some disbelief at her hard-earned good fortune from time to time, but that should all dissipate come Aug. 9, when she makes her first appearance with the squad at the Linc during the Eagles’ first preseason clash with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“Sometimes I try to think about it, and honestly it’s overwhelming to me at this point,” she said. “Just the thought of walking onto the field in such a huge stadium. We are actually practicing on the field in a couple weeks, so I think maybe that’ll help my nerves. But it’s definitely going to be an eye-opening, once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

And undoubtedly the high point of a performing career that began with dance lessons at the age of 3 at One Broadway Dance Center in Hershey and continued at Lancaster Catholic, where her dance instructor was a former Eagles cheerleader.

“She always talked about how she had a fantastic experience, how she made great friends through it, and how she would do it on the side and still pursue her career,” Parks said of her then-mentor.

Parks is following in those footsteps in more way than one, as she pursues her master’s degree in history with an eye toward a teaching career.

But for now, there is still time to indulge her dual passions of performing and football.

“I love football, love watching football,” she said. “I think it’s so much fun.”

Not quite as fun as dance, though.

“It was such a release of energy for me,” Parks said of dancing. “It always made me happy to be dancing. It was just always so much fun. I never wanted to take it out of my life.”