{"id":100145,"date":"2015-01-29T09:04:54","date_gmt":"2015-01-29T14:04:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=100145"},"modified":"2015-12-03T14:43:42","modified_gmt":"2015-12-03T19:43:42","slug":"cheerleader-takes-time-out-from-lab-for-super-bowl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2015\/01\/cheerleader-takes-time-out-from-lab-for-super-bowl\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheerleader Takes Time Out from Lab for Super Bowl"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Alyssa<\/a>
Alyssa Merkle ’15 (ENG) works on her senior project in an engineering lab. (Sean Flynn\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a senior majoring in biomedical engineering, Alyssa Merkle ’15 (ENG) has a pretty hectic schedule, which includes finding time to build an incubator for testing cancer cells.<\/p>\n

Now add to that her duties as a New England Patriots cheerleader; she joined the 28-member squad in May. That means attending two three-hour practices during the week, a six-hour rehearsal on Saturdays, attending promotional events, and of course, cheering at the games on Sundays.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast semester, it was definitely an adjustment, and it meant some time management, and staying up a little later some nights or getting up a little earlier to study,\u201d she says, adding that \u201ca little earlier\u201d sometimes meant 4 a.m. \u201cBut everything has been so worth it that I really didn\u2019t mind whatsoever. Once I got on a good schedule, it was totally fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

She achieved a 3.8 GPA last semester, so she’s obviously doing something right.<\/p>\n

With the Patriots heading to Super Bowl XLIX, she and the rest of the cheerleading squad fly out this week to Arizona, where the game is being played.<\/p>\n

\"Alyssa<\/a>
Alyssa Merkle, New England Patriots cheerleader.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although she has taken dance lessons most of her life and has been a member and captain of the Dance Team at UConn, it was not until her junior year that a friend suggested she try out for the Patriots\u2019 cheering squad. She comes from a baseball family, and had never really followed football.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I\u2019m just a diehard, lifelong fan.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s made a lot of friends and great contacts as a Patriots cheerleader, but what she really likes about the job are the community outreach events, like visiting children\u2019s hospitals and attending fundraisers for charitable causes.<\/p>\n

One particular promotional appearance involved handing out jackets that turn into sleeping bags to homeless people in Boston. \u201cThat was a really moving event for me,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

In high school, Merkle was very interested in math and science. Her uncle, an electrical engineer, knew of her interest in helping people and steered her toward biomedical engineering.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started reading up on it, and it really included everything I love \u2013 math, science, and helping people,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She graduates in May, and has recently applied to the clinical engineer master\u2019s program at UConn. Her professional goal is to work as a clinical engineer at a hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re in the biomedical department of a hospital, but you\u2019re really working with the patients, as a liaison between the patients\u2019 safety and the manufacturers of the medical devices,\u201d she says. \u201cSo for me, it\u2019s really about helping people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Women are a minority in engineering; professional cheerleaders are even scarcer. So Merkle is breaking more than one stereotype.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love that,” she says. “I love that when I go to cheering events, I\u2019m able to say that I\u2019m going to school for biomedical engineering just to see the look of shock on their face. Because it does break the stereotype, and I\u2019m happy to be able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says the Patriots are focused on finding cheerleaders who can serve as role models off the field.<\/p>\n

“Many of the girls on the team break the stereotype,” she says. “We have one girl who\u2019s going for her Ph.D. in neuroscience. We have a dentist on the team. We have a physical therapist.”<\/p>\n

Her family has season tickets to the Patriots\u2019 games. They also took their chances more than a month ago, and bought tickets for the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

Besides the game itself Sunday, the trip to Arizona will include a Good Morning America appearance that requires a 2:30 a.m. wake-up time. And they probably won\u2019t get to sleep until midnight the night before, Merkle says, \u201cso it\u2019s going to be a whirlwind, but I cannot wait. I\u2019m way more excited about it than I am nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n

And when she gets back, it’s immediately back to her studies, specifically working with her team on getting the incubator for testing cancer cells ready for the School of Engineering Senior Design Demonstration Day at the end of the semester.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going pretty good,\u201d she says. \u201cWe have our design down and we\u2019ve tested our carbon dioxide machine and sensor. Now we\u2019re ready to make the first actual incubator.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When she isn\u2019t in the lab building an incubator for testing cancer cells, engineering major Alyssa Merkle is a cheerleader for the New England Patriots.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":100147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1866,156,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[117],"class_list":["post-100145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engr","category-profile","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 05:26:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100145"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100177,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100145\/revisions\/100177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/100147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100145"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=100145"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=100145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}