KORIAHNA PARKS

OKMULGEE CHEER

Okmulgee High’s Koriahna Parks is finishing her fourth year as a member of the Bulldogs cheer squad and her second year as the team captain, and she probably owes a lot of her success to her three brothers.

“When I was little, we used to go watch my brothers play little league football and my mom got me into cheering at those games to keep me busy and I’ve been doing it ever since. I really started loving cheer probably that last year I cheered for the little league teams. I like cheering on Friday nights and getting the crowd going and I like all the spirit that the people show,” said Koriahna.

Juanita Morgan is the cheer coach and has worked with Parks since she got into high school.

“She is a good leader who takes her time in teaching the other girls cheers. She has a mellow personality and doesn’t let things upset her if they don’t run smoothly. She shows a lot of personal integrity in her leadership and leads by example. She was voted by the squad to represent cheer in this year’s homecoming, and she’s also gotten into tumbling the last couple of years which adds a spark to our routines.”

Morgan says the team focus now is on getting ready for the Game Day competition next month.

We’re putting in a lot of work to get ready for Game Day this year. We were disappointed with our performance last year so we’re working hard to do better this year.”

In addition to cheer, Parks has also sampled several different sports over the years.

“I ran track my freshman year. I played basketball through my sophomore year and now I’m playing softball.”

She is currently taking concurrent college courses and plans to attend OSU next year and study nursing and knows how she would like to be thought of by those she leaves behind.

“I’d like to be remembered as that person that always tried to make things fun even if they were hard or difficult and a good role model to look up to.”