As an athlete at Walters High School, senior Aaliyah Lewis has an unusual combination of sports in which she is involved. She is in cheer, plays softball and is also part of the girls power lifting team.

“Even when I was young, I noticed I was pretty strong and last year I ended up working out with the baseball boys in the office season lifting weights and I discovered I was pretty good at and thought it would be something I would like to compete in. So I talked with the coaches and we put together a girls power lifting team with about eight of us and I became the first female power lifter ever from Walters to qualify for state,” said Lewis, who is active in FFA and was in student council up until this year. “One lesson I learned that I hope will help in this year’s competition is don’t think about how much weight is on the bar because then it suddenly gets very heavy.”

Aaliyah’s first foray into cheerleading didn’t succeed but she didn’t quit.

“I tried out for the junior high cheer team in seventh grade but didn’t make it. So I taught myself how to do some tumbling and then took lessons at Xtreme Thunder Cheerleading and was invited to join their competitive team which recently performed in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I finally made the junior high team in eighth grade, have been cheering ever since, and I’ve signed to do cheer next year at Oklahoma City University.”

That don’t-give-up attitude that she demonstrated in getting into cheer exemplifies her overall work ethic as she talked about how she leads now as a senior.

“I would hope that the other girls see how hard I work and respect that part of my leadership. For example, in cheer we work our hardest in the summer and there were a lot of times when I would come straight to practice after spending eight hours in the sun as a lifeguard and dive right in and I hope that would be the kind of example others would like to follow. In powerlifting I can be a little more hands-on as a leader since I have more experience and can help the younger girls with their form.”

In college Aaliyah plans to start in pre-med and eventually become a dermatologist.