Airborne Artist

Tiffany Smith is equally at ease flying high as a cheerleader or painting a portrait of a friend.
When the 15-year-old Scranton Preparatory High School sophomore isn’t working on her academics (she’s on the honor roll), she’s either cheerleading or painting.
In addition to being on the school’s football and basketball cheer squads, she is involved in all-star cheerleading with her team, World Cup Galaxy.
The Waverly resident travels to competitions several times a month and trains with her squad in New Jersey twice a week.
“I’m always busy,” Smith said.
While there’s been a long debate whether cheerleading is really a “sport,” in Smith’s eyes there’s no question.
“I think it takes more to be a cheerleader than a football player,” she said. “You need to be physically fit. You’re on the routine for two and a half minutes. I’m usually exhausted by the end of the routine.”
Smith got her start in gym classes. Then she decided to use her flexibility and see what cheering was all about.
While gymnastics gave Smith a solid foundation to draw upon, she said cheerleading is different. She misses the vaulting and balance-beam elements that went along with gymnastics.
But Smith enjoys both the competitive aspect of cheer meets as well as the wide range of maneuvers that are necessary to compose a routine. There’s opening tumbling, stunts, running tumbling, jumping, basket toss, pyramid and dance — one after the other.
“You really need to break everything up individually and concentrate on what you’re doing,” she said. “There’s a lot of different elements thrown in. You need to get your head in the game and do it.”
Often kids who are small find themselves teased constantly. Some let it bother them, while others rise above it.
Smith stands 5-foot-1, 85 pounds. As a cheerleader, namely a flyer, her size really helps.
Being small “never really bothered me,” she said. “I don’t think it was really that mean, but my friends tease me.” But her small size “helps (with) tumbling and jumping. You have less weight,” she said.
Smith the artist is currently working on a commissioned painting for a friend, a portrait in the vein of Renoir. Her artistic pursuits began with classes at the Waverly Community House.
“I think of art as more of a hobby but my mom tends to love it more than I do,” Smith said. “I might end up minoring in it.”
Smith’s father is a cardiologist. She knows she wants to pursue a career in medicine and major in premed.
In the meantime, she’ll keep flying high with her energetic routines and painting.

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