Columbia's Pep Pusher

It's Sunday morning, but Lindsey Lazopoulos, CC '08, isn't taking a break from her job.

Decked in a Columbia baseball cap, a Columbia sweatshirt, and Columbia sweatpants, she looks like a Columbia fan extraordinaire-and she is. Officially. Lazopoulos is a member of the Columbia cheerleading team, and for the pusher of Columbia pep, there are no days off.

"It's just the commitment you make," she said. "I love it."

She'd better. Being a cheerleader is no easy job. Lazopoulos attends eight hours of practice a week as well as every home football game and every men's and women's home basketball game.

Officially, Lazopoulos' weekends start on Friday night, when she and her teammates are forbidden by the Athletics Department to go out.

The real party begins Saturday morning, when Lazopoulos wakes up early to shave her legs, straighten her hair, and put on her make-up-requirements every cheerleader must complete before she boards a bus at 9:45 a.m. to head up to Baker Field.

At the stadium, the cheerleaders warm up and practice stunts before the game begins. That's when Lazopoulos really gets going by cheering, roaring, and kicking.

The team loses. But for Lazopoulos, that's almost beside the point.

"It really gets me when people leave early," she said. "It's really tough when the team doesn't win ... but they're putting so much work in."

Lazopoulos hasn't always been a cheerleader. Her father wouldn't let her join the team in high school, so she played sports instead. But as soon as she got to Columbia, she signed up.

The job doesn't have the same cachet as cheerleading in high school. At Columbia, Lazopoulos said, there's a stigma attached to cheering.

"You can kind of see it in the look ... [students] give you when you tell them you cheer," she said. "That 'hmm' kind of look."

Still, she loves it. On Sunday, she eats lunch quickly, ready to leave for her three-hour practice. Midway through the meal, she gets a call-practice is off for the day.

Lazopoulos groans. She says the team needs time to get ready for Midnight Mania, the Columbia basketball pep rally.

Still, she knows it'll be all right. With practice three days a week and lifting requirements on off-days, there's still time to perfect their routines. But it's not as though she doesn't have other things to do. Lazopoulos, a history major, also tutors and serves as the community service chair for her class.

And though working with kids is one of her passions, Lazopoulos said, cheerleading is her favorite.

"My best friends are on the team," she said. "It's worth it."