ROCKINGHAM — Makayla Russell, a senior on the Richmond Senior High School cheerleading team, has been named the Week 11 Official Richmond County Female Athlete of the Week presented by Moss Brothers Tire & Service.
Each week, one male and one female student-athlete from Richmond Senior High School will be selected by his or her coach as ROSports’ Official Richmond County Athlete of the Week based on his or her performance in helping their respective team.
A three-year varsity cheerleader, Russell has spent dozens of nights on the football and basketball sidelines cheering on the Raiders and Lady Raiders. She’s proven to be a consistent smiling face to get Raider fans into the game and her leadership on the mat the past four years has helped her earn her first career recognition.
Athletic Profile
Age: 18
Birthday: Nov. 2, 2001
Year: Senior
Fall Sport: Cheerleading
Position: Back Spot
Years on Varsity: 3 Years
Height & Weight: 5-6, 150 pounds
Experience: 7 Years
“CHEERING ON THE RAIDERS” WITH MAKAYLA RUSSELL
RSHS Academics: As she gets ready to graduate in June, Russell is hitting the books hard this semester while keeping busy with the cheer team. She’s taking classes at both Richmond Community College and the high school, and is involved in the Health Science, Business and RichmondCC clusters.
At the community college, Russell is taking Art 111, History 131, Math 172 and Sociology 210. When she’s at Richmond, Rusell is enrolled in Health Science II with Ms. Cherie Deese and Anatomy and Physiology Honors with Mr. Daniel Diggs.
“I enjoy my Health Science cluster the most because I want to go into the medical field,” Russell explained. “And RCC is a big benefit because I’m going to take a year off of my undergrad with all of my RCC classes I take this year. It can be tough to balance everything, but I make it work.”
Russell is an “A” honor roll student with a 4.16 GPA, which places her No. 51 in the graduating class of 2020.
Future Plans: Unlike some of her peers who are still filling out college applications, Russell has already been accepted and decided where she wants to go following high school.
“I’m going to attend Wingate University,” she said with a smile. “I’ll get my undergraduate degree in exercise science, and then go to Wingate’s physical therapy school after I graduate.
“It’s a small environment and it’s close to home,” she added of Wingate. “I’m hoping to meet a lot of good people and I like how the class sizes are smaller, which means more one on one time with professors.”
Russell said she was accepted over the summer and made her decision to go there on Sept. 21 when she toured the campus. She added she wants to study physical therapy because “I would like to help people with rehabilitation, and my ultimate goal is to help someone walk again after an accident.”
Raider Video Chats: Makayla Russell, Official Richmond County Female Athlete of the Week
New this season is our “Raider Video Chats” segment that allows student-athletes to connect with fans and readers through video interviews. In her video, Russell talks about her time as a Richmond cheerleader, some of her favorite games this season, and answers questions in our “Rapid Raider Response” segment.
Click photo for video.
