Photo: Kelly BennionKelly Bennion, 26, has bachelors degree in Spanish and psychology from Middlebur

Photo: Kelly BennionKelly Bennion, 26, has bachelors degree in Spanish and psychology from Middlebury College, a masters in education from Harvard, and she’s a little over a year away from earning a Ph.D. in neuroscience at Boston College. In addition to teaching undergrad psych classes and doing sleep research, she’s also in her second season as a New England Patriots cheerleader. Bennion, a lifelong dancer, tried out for the squad on a whim in 2013, the day after she finished her master’s degree. She’s been exceptionally vocal about trying to upend two stereotypes: The dumb cheerleader and the nerdy scientist. She is obviously neither. Here, she tells Yahoo Style what it’s like to be an NFL cheerleader and the most common misperceptions with which she is confronted.Yahoo Style: How did you get interested in cheerleading?Kelly Bennion: I’ve been dancing since I was seven and I really didn’t want to quit. I’ve always known I didn’t want to dance professionally because science and academics have always been a really important part of my life. I knew that I wasn’t going to move to LA at the age of 18 and try to become a professional dancer, but at the same time, I wasn’t ready to quit. I danced professionally in Boston for a few years with a small jazz company and I danced for a major league lacrosse team in Boston as well, but I really just wanted to step up the caliber of my performance. I also really like football so I thought that it would be perfect to try out for the New England Patriots. The auditions were the day after I submitted my master’s thesis. So I went to reward myself, to give myself a day where I could just dance and enjoy myself.YS: What was the audition like?KB: It’s a lot of dance technique and physical fitness. On the first day you do an across-the-floor routine, you learn a dance combo, then you do a bit of a freestyle. That’s a very long day. About 50 or 60 girls move to the final round of auditions, which consists of a swimsuit [competition], answering an interview question, and then also performing two dance routines and a freestyle. There’s also a two-week boot camp before the final squad is announced. I really had no expectations for making the team on the first try because so many girls audition. -- source link

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