December’s “Team of the Month” is the LaSalle-Peru Township Cavalettes from LaSalle-Peru Township High School. This team consists of 13 members and is under the direction of Coach KaiLee Sell. The girls perform during half-time of all home football and boys basketball games. They also march in the Homecoming Parade as well as the Peru Christmas Parade.
   
The Cavalettes promote school spirit by wearing their uniforms to school on game days and by decorating the football and boys basketball players’ lockers.  During Homecoming, the Cavalettes and the cheerleaders decorate the football players’ homes, organize and perform at the pep rally. The team helps community members paint store front windows of local businesses and tie red and green ribbons throughout town for all teams that qualify for playoff tournaments. Many of the Cavalettes attend home sporting events and away games dressed as “Super Fans.”  The girls give back to their community in several ways. Many of them are blood donors for the local chapter of the Red Cross. They also donate clothes to the Key Club for needy families within the community.
   
The dancers take part in multiple fundraisers such as selling discount flower cards, suckers, and Home Interior candles. However, their largest fundraiser is hosting two ‘Lil’ Kickers dance clinics for children in kindergarten through eighth grade. The ‘Lil’ Kickers perform during half-time of one football and one boys basketball game.
   
The Cavalettes have established several team traditions such as end of summer sleepovers, two team dinners, a Black and White Christmas dinner and a weekly spirit stick winner. The spirit stick honor is bestowed upon the team member who practices hard during the week, demonstrates team spirit, and encourages others.
   
One team goal that the Cavalettes are striving to accomplish this year is to qualify for State. In an effort to achieve their goal, the team is holding extra practices and attending technique classes. They have also hired two choreographers to create their competition routines. The team is unique in that the student body at LPHS is comprised of students from eleven feeder schools. The girls are truly engaged in their routines and will carry on fifty-one years of the Cavalette traditions through providing great half-time entertainment. The dancers have the drive and dedication needed to strive to be the first Cavalette team in its history to qualify for the state competition!