By Lindsey Colley
Antonia Steinmiller, Mt. Prospect, IL junior, is a cheerleader here at SFASU. Antonia and her best friend from Illinois ventured all the way to Nacogdoches to join the SFASU cheer team.
She has been cheering since she was 13 years old. Antonia graduated from Prospect High School in 2004, where she cheered
all four years. She originally attended college at Lewis University in Romeoville, IL, on an academic and cheerleading scholarship. The cheer team there made it to the national competition, but never qualified for the finals.
"In nice terms, they were horrible," she said about her then cheer squad. After two years of feeling as if the team did not challenge themselves enough toward the goal of a national championship, Antonia and fellow cheerleader, Kristyn, decided they needed to make a change. They started searching for highly competitive squads around the U.S.
After running upon SFASU, the girls decided to send in a video of their cheer skills. Within a week, the girls were notified they had made the team!
In July of 2006, Antonia made her first visit to SFASU. She immediately "fell in love with our teammates, everyone supports each other. It's like a huge family." This was a very good thing for Antonia, considering her family lives so far away.
Antonia has been to six different national competitions in high school. She has also coached at six different national competitions.
The SFASU all girl team has made it to finals the past three years in row. This is a big change from what Antonia was used to from her past college experience, and she loves being a part of it. The small squad placed third in the bid video for the upcoming national competition. A bid video is sent in to the national judges and is judged and scored, even though the competition may not be held for months. This gives a squad the chance to show off their skills when they feel they are at their best. It is obvious the SFASU squad had good judgment in this decision.
"Third place is a huge accomplishment," Antonia said.
Antonia is an only child. Her parents have been divorced for 13 years. Antonia lives with her mother when she is back in Illinois. She is an outgoing, friendly person, with a great attitude on life. She is a beautiful girl both inside and out. She has pretty, long dark hair, a great smile, and her personality beams with friendliness.
Antonia loves hanging out with friends on her spare time. She also enjoys, shopping, movies, sports, and "anything outdoorsy." She has also traveled to Aruba and Barbados on vacations. She said these were "amazing trips, and I would love to go back to both places at anytime possible!"
Through her life, Antonia has always been a competitor. She said she is "grateful" for the experiences she has had to go through. "Some were more difficult then others, but where I am in my life now, I couldn't be more happy," she said with a smile on her face. She loves challenges in her life and cannot wait to face any that may arise in the future.
Antonia said her goal is to help take her "newly developed co-ed cheer squad to the national finals and win!"
