Other cheerleading teams arrive at competitions wearing matching designer gear, accompanied by coaches in suits and heels with dozens of parents hanging on their every move. The relatively new George Washington cheer team shows up in T-shirts with no entourage. They barely have a budget. But somehow, the members of this improbable squad earned a spot in the largest all-star cheerleading competition in the world — and they are the first Philadelphia School District cheer team to win berths in state and national competitions. Like the rest of the team, senior Irsida Kola badly wanted to raise the $30,000 needed take to send 20 young women and men to the January nationals in Dallas. She was working day and night, selling lollipops, talking to potential donors, planning more fund-raisers. The work paid off, as the team has already exceeded its goal to participate in in the competition. But even if the team’s quest to earn enough money had fallen short, its success already means so much to George Washington, a diverse neighborhood school of 1,700 where most students come from low-income families and one in four is an English-language learner. “At our school, we don’t have many wins,” said Kola. “For us to be cheerleading and give the school all these wins, it’s history.” For more on the team’s journey to history, visit the link in the bio. 📝 by @newskag / Staff 🎥 by @jennamargaretta / Staff #philadelphia #philly #phled #cheer #cheerleading