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ACCS Cheerleader Karly King celebrated a signing day of her own to cheer at the University of Southern Mississippi. In doing so she fulfilled a lifelong dream Wednesday.

Ever since she was young, she said she wanted to cheer in college. King started cheering when she was three years old and started competitive cheer when she was 12 and cheering at school up until this point.

“My last competition we competed at Summit, which is like the cheer national championship. It was a huge competition,” King said. “My last performance we did so well it was great. It was sad to think about how this was my last performance with my friends, but I knew I was going to cheer in college.”

Her competitive team went and cheered at Summit, held in Disney World, three times. On her senior trip, the team came in the top 10. King said she remembers cheering at ACCS’s state championship game.

“It was great to be able to cheer on my dad’s team and the football team,” King said. “Definitely my favorite memory of cheer in high school.”

She said during the performance, she was thinking about cheering. She was not thinking about the end of her career with Mississippi Spirit, a competitive cheer team in Brookhaven.

To prepare for co-ed cheering in college, she traveled the two to three hours for stunt practices in Baton Rouge and Lafayette during the week with her mom. Sundays would be cheer practice days too, she said. “My whole life has been cheer,” King said. This fall, she will be cheering for the University of Southern Mississippi.

“I just loved the atmosphere there,” King said. “I watched videos of the cheer team, and I wanted to be a part of it. My coach cheered at Southern Miss. (I’m her first to sign), so that is a great honor.”

Unlike in football, where players get scholarship offers and sign with a school, cheerleaders have to try out to get onto a college team. She tried out for Southern Miss in early May and made the team. They were the first team she tried out for, so when she made the team, “I took it,” she said.