Marshall High Gets New Cheer Coach

Kaitlin Graf has been cheering since she was 5 years old.

So when she saw the opening for a cheer coach at George Marshall High School, she acted quickly to take the opportunity.

Graf, 23, was named the new head cheer coach at Marshall this month. The former captain of the Penn State University Mont Alto cheer squad said she will meet with the athletic director at the high school this week and hopes to hold an interest meeting sometime soon.

“I’m looking forward to helping build this program,” said Graf, a fourth grade teacher at Westlawn Elementary School in Falls Church. "I was so excited when I heard I got the job."

Marshall’s previous cheer coach, who had been at the helm for the last eight years, recently moved out of state.

And Joe Swarm, director of student activities at the school, couldn’t find a replacement, he said. The job was placed online over the summer but no one applied. Brenda Massey, the head dive coach at Marshall, filled the cheer coach position last fall before the Graf was hired.

Before heading to Penn State, Graf attended North Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Penn, where she was a four-year varsity cheerleader. Graf has been instructing cheerleaders in the North Hills Youth Cheerleading Association since 2004.

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