Leadership comes second nature to Jynni Discenza and Hailey Strand. The two girls, who are freshmen at Rainy River Community College, are putting their take-the-reins qualities to use by forming a cheerleading squad at the college.

“We’ll be the only squad in the district,” Discenza said proudly. “We’ll be cheering for the boys basketball team.”

The two friends both cheered for the Broncos while attending Falls High School for three years. Their love of the sport made them want to continue in college.

“We talked about forming a squad at Rainy River during our hockey season last year,” Strand said.

RRCC had a small cheerleading squad in 2004, but it didn’t take off, Strand added.

The girls approached Brad Krasaway, RRCC director of student life, with their idea and were told they would need at least five interested people to form the group.

“Ten minutes later, we brought him (Krasaway) a list of more than five people that were interested,” Discenza said.

The girls have now formed a squad of 14 girls and are busy working on material for their first home game Dec. 9.

“We’re hoping to get some donations to help fund our squad to buy uniforms,” Strand said. “Hopefully, people will think this is a good thing and help us out.”

The girls agreed that having cheerleaders at a sporting event brings a different level of energy to the crowd and the players.

“The (basketball) team is already really excited about us,” Discenza said. “They come to our practices and we almost have to kick them out.”

Although they are not required to have a formal advisor, Strand said Diane Raboin and Tammy Cook, both RRCC employees, have played a huge role in the squad’s early success.

“They’re awesome,” Strand said of Raboin and Cook.

“They help smooth out the kinks,” Discenza added.

The girls are hopeful that the group of cheerleaders they have will enjoy the sport and the upcoming season. Only five of the 14 girls have had previous experience and Discenza said it is “fun to teach them the different cheers and dances.”

Strand hopes that RRCC will have a cheerleading squad in years to come and sees it as a good thing for the college.

Discenza agreed. “I know if I were from out of town looking into going to a community college, I would go where there was cheerleading.”

For more information on how to donate to the RRCC cheerleading squad, call the college at 285-7722.