Mitchell Whitlock just wants to be there for people.
The St. Joseph-Ogden sophomore found that one way he could make that happen was when he decided to join the St. Joseph Middle School cheerleading squad as an eighth-grade student.
After watching his two older sisters and cousin, Alyssa Whitlock, who is also a member of the 2019 SJ-O squad, perform in cheer competitions for years, Mitchell decided to give the sport a try.
“It’s all about group and working together,” he said. “That’s what I like: working together with other people.”
While the squad depends on Whitlock to work as a base or back spotter in some of it stunts, Whitlock also enjoys the interaction the squad gets from the crowd during athletic events.
“I’m just going to try to do my best to keep the community in high spirits during games,” he said. “Cheerleading is just getting to rile the crowd up and get them involved.”
Whitlock said that while he enjoys showing off techniques and skills with his teammates, he really cares about showing how they’ve grown, and being a good person for others.
“With such a small town, it’s easy to get to know everyone. I want to be the type of person who is known and celebrated for being a good person,” he said.
After losing his mother at a young age, Whitlock knows that he can make a difference in the life of others.
“I’m very open to anyone being around me. If you need to talk to someone, I’m very open to anyone talking to me,” he said.
“I’ve lost my mom to suicide. I like to be open and talk to anyone because that’s not a place anyone should be in. I’ll talk to you no matter what.”
Whitlock found a friend, SJ-O senior Nicole Woller, last year in the SJ-O drama department.
As an actor in the department’s productions of “Fairy Tale Courtroom” and “Footloose,” Whitlock found himself spending time talking to Waller.
Over the course of his freshmen year, Whitlock learned the ropes of the costume component of the drama department, and now, as a sophomore, is undertaking the organization of the costumes.
“I didn’t really have a lot of friends in drama at first,” he said. “I saw Nicole and she was always very welcoming and open to me about everything. It just started clicking. I was just talking to her and helping her in the process and (costumes) just kind of became my thing where I was like I really like this.”
He hopes that as a junior he will be able to recruit more volunteers.
“Next year I’m going to see if I can encourage underclassmen to get involved,” he said. “I can teach them so when I leave, they will know what they are doing.”
But before Whitlock can focus on SJ-O’s spring performance of “All Shook Up,” he has a dream-come-true task to focus on.
SJ-O will perform at the IHSA State finals for the first time in 12 years on Friday.
Sitting at the Mahomet-Seymour IHSA Sectional site on Saturday as the top five teams that would advance to State were announced, the Spartans held hands in a circle.
“Hearing the announcer call our name was like a rush of adrenaline, and somehow almost like a cheesy slow-mo part in a movie,” he said. “It was amazing to think how all of our hard work paid off, but of course we have to work even harder to make it at State!”
The Spartans will take the floor at 12:25 p.m. at Grossinger Motor Arena in Bloomington.
