Success Stories -- Amanda Wynn

Amanda Wynn ’03, president of the College leadership society, soon will be leading about 55,000 people—at brand-new Lincoln Financial Field.

The senior from Saucon Valley was picked last week for the Philadelphia Eagles’ Cheerleader Squad.

A psychology and Spanish major with a 3.9 QPA and membership in five honoraries, Amanda had been casting about for what to do after graduation when her mother directed her to the audition notice on the Eagles website.

The cheerleader audition process started March 30. To enter, about 500 girls submitted their photographs. After three dance sessions to winnow the applicants, the last 64 were interviewed by a panel of 30 judges, ranging from the team’s marketing staff to a survivor from “Survivor.”

All the cheerleaders must reaudition every year, so those picked included 24 members of the 2002 squad and 17 newcomers.
For Amanda, who models professionally and also is a personal trainer at Gold’s Gym in Bethlehem, the dance routine was the hardest part. “I don’t have a professional dance background,” she says. “I come from a cheerleading background.” So she hired a woman from Saucon Valley Dance Conservatory as a movement coach and to teach her dance terms. “Pirouette?” Amanda says. “What did I know about a pirouette?”

She was a cheerleader at Saucon Valley High School but at Moravian decided to play on the other side of the sidelines, joining the women’s track and field team. She held the College record for the pole vault in 2002, though she was overtaken this year by Rebecca Moore ’06, Easton.

She says the Eagles job includes several practices a week, participation in the nine home games at Lincoln Financial Field, and the possibility of end-of-season playoff games. Because of the new stadium, the first game of the season, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, will be televised on Monday Night Football.

The cheerleaders also are part of the team’s public face and are required to put in two appearances a month at schools and malls. They meet and greet the public after games and sign autographs. A small group went to Bosnia last year to entertain the troops.

Amanda plans to keep her options open by continuing to model and work as a personal trainer.

Though her brother plays football for Saucon Valley High School and is a security guard at the Eagles’ summer training camp at Lehigh University, Amanda knew little about football until she got a crash course from her boyfriend, Ray Burgan ’04, Egg Harbor, New Jersey, fullback on the Moravian team.

“ I’ve never been to an Eagles game,” she says. “Shhh!”