Courtney Faulkenberry had a vision of attending a big school, like the University of Alabama or Tennessee.
But a chance workout at Premier Athletics in Columbia eventually led Faulkenberry to signing a letter of intent to continuing her cheerleading career at UT-Southern.
“I am so excited. Honestly, when I first started looking, I had no intentions on going for sports. I got an email from them and some of the girls who go to UT-S, the main coach for the cheer team works at Premier Athletics in Columbia, which is where our cheer team goes to practice.” she said.
Faulkenberry knew some of the cheerleaders for UT-Southern, so that started a chain of conversation that eventually led to her signing to continue cheerleading in college.
“I’ve seen some of their girls around there. When I went, they said they really liked me a lot and wanted to give me a scholarship offer.” she said.
Initially, Faulkenberry planned to pursue a nursing degree at Tennessee or Alabama, but the draw of the small-town environment, plus the addition of a scholarship, was too good of an offer to pass up.
“I had considered going to Alabama and I also considered going to UT-K. When they gave me that offer, I couldn’t say no,” she said.
“I loved it. It was a great campus. The people there were so friendly. As opposed to bigger schools, it’s a small town and everyone knows everyone. They care a lot about you.”
She’s been cheering most of her life and throughout all the events she’s been part of, preparing for homecoming in Chapel Hill will always be one of her favorite memories.
“I’ve been cheering for 15 years. A big thing for our small town is homecoming. That’s been the biggest thing since I was a kid. We would make and ride on our cheer float. As we’ve gotten older, we’ve ridden in jeeps,” she said.
As far as picking out a degree, Faulkenberry plans to pursue the family lineage and become a nurse.
“My mom is a nurse. We have 26 nurses in the family and it’s something I’ve been really passionate about,” she said.
While she’s still a few months from embarking on her college career, she knows the practices will be a bit different than what she’s been accustomed to in high school.
“It’s like three times a week, every morning we will get up at five and run two miles and then we will have practice right after that. We have practice every day, but it just may be a different location or times,” she said.
While the adjustment from high school to college life is a big step for anyone, Faulkenberry, who also served as student council president at Forrest, has been in touch with the SGA leadership in hopes of securing a position in the SGA down the road.
“I’m student council president at Forrest. They have SGA there and I’ve already been emailing with their president there,” she said.