Cheer and dance coach Ronda Paulson will be leaving Milligan and her role as Spirit Coach at the end of April after working with both the cheerleading and dance teams for the last 13 years. Many cheerleaders and dancers, as well as many students and staff, will miss her energy that she brought to Milligan, but they also cannot wait to see what the new coach has in store for Milligan.
Paulson began working at Milligan in 2005. A Milligan alumna herself, she transferred to Milligan after serving as the Elizabethton High School head cheerleading coach from 1998 to 2002
Paulson’s hiring was accompanied with new scholarship opportunities which were a part of Milligan’s expansion of their co-ed cheerleading program. Paulson also brought with her the creation of the dance program in 2010, which has been flourishing ever since.
Several members of the cheer and dance teams have fond memories of Paulson and what she has brought to their teams. Melanie Gardner, a sophomore on the cheer team, recalls her first impression of Paulson.
“When I first met her, she had a huge smile on her face and made me feel like I belonged from the moment I walked into the fieldhouse. I thought, ‘Here is a woman that I can trust to coach me, not only in cheer, but in life for the next four years.’”
Faith McDonald, a sophomore on cheer team also, recalls a similar feeling: “When I met her, she immediately treated me like I was on the team or part of her family. She really is my ‘away-from-home mom’ while I’m at school.”
When asked about the feeling of getting a new coach, Gardner explained that it will take some adjusting but that she “looks forward to seeing what positive changes our new coach will make and how she will add to the team.” McDonald expressed that she is anxious, because “losing Ronda will be the end of an era.” However, she is “excited to be a part of the beginning of a new era.”
Milligan cheer and dance teams will meet their new coach this month. The new coach, Chelsea Woodacre, was an East Tennessee State University cheerleader herself and was the former Science Hill cheer coach. She will start on Monday. And as stated in an email sent out by Mark Fox, “Chelsea Woodacre comes to us with extensive experience and knowledge of cheer and dance programs at both the collegiate and high school level.”
As much as Milligan’s cheer and dance athletes would love for Paulson to continue her work here, they must all say goodbye to an excellent coach and mentor. Many eagerly await Woodacre to step into her place and, as Gardner put it, “get our butts into gear and push us every second of every practice to be better and to learn how to work as a team.”