Heights High Swim Cadets live 'Glam Life' in annual show

The 2019 Heights High Swim Cadets.

The Cleveland Heights High School Swim Cadets, a 14-member synchronized swim team, will present its 2019 annual show Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 28 through March 2, at 7 p.m.

Performances take place at the Heights High pool, at 13263 Cedar Road (entrance on west side of the building). Tickets, $9, are available from Cadet members in advance, and at the door. About 50 tickets per night will be available for purchase at the box office, which will open at 6:15 p.m.

The show will also be livestreamed on Friday, March 1, on the school district’s YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/chuhschools, where it will remain for future viewing.

This year, the school’s oldest extracurricular club celebrates its 80th anniversary with the theme, “Swim Cadets Live the Glam Life.” Since 1939, Swim Cadets have been a part of Heights High’s rich history, starting as a girls club to help around the pool and gym, and evolving into a highly organized team that produces yearly themed shows, choreographed to music and lights, complete with costume changes.

Heights High Swim Cadets have traditions that span the decades, bonding these girls to the generations before them. It is not uncommon for members to be second- or even third-generation Swim Cadets.

Current club members are: seniors Emma Henninge, Georgie Jolivette, Julia O’Donnell and Brynn Pierce; junior Emma Hubbard; sophomores: Zoe Burns, Sophia Forniti, Arden Lindberg, Fiona Macke and Anna Turner; and freshmen Estelle Covault, Lily Fawcett-Dubow, Ella Herr and Sophia Marotta.

The team’s coach is former Swim Cadet and Heights High graduate Esther Bergson.

The show is the result of five months of 12–15 hours of practice per week. The girls choose the show’s theme and music, choreograph the routines, host fundraisers, and choose and order costumes, working as a team in and out of the pool.

Spending that much time together makes the girls feel like a family. Junior Emma Hubbard commented, “Swim Cadets has made me a much more social and confident person, and the constant support from the group of girls can’t be found anywhere else! If I hadn’t joined, I wouldn’t have made the closest friends in my life today.”

Senior Emma Henninge said, “Swim cadets has changed my life in the best way possible! It has taught me the true meaning of girl power.”