Getting To Know Your December
ATHLETE OF THE MONTH
By Debora Timms
AERIAL JONES
Sport(s): Cheer
School: Petersburg High School/Richard Bland Community College
Dual Enrollment
Class Of: 2020
GPA: 3.456
Family: Mother- Tiffinie Washington; Stepfather- Willie Washington;
Brother- Laquan Washington, 8; Sister- Nivayah Washington, 4
Hometown: Petersburg
Current City: Petersburg
Academic Accomplishments:
National Honor Society for the past two years
Athletic Accomplishments:
- 2019-20 Captain Varsity Cheerleaders
- 2017-2018 Diamond in the Rough
- 2018-2019 Coaches Award
- 2019 October Athletic Scholar Certificate recipient
Favorites:
Color – Pink Food – Pepperoni pizza
Movie – ATL School Subject – computer applications class
Favorite Quote: “Best revenge is your paper.”
When did you start to cheer? Why did you join cheer? And what is your favorite thing about being a cheerleader?
I started in first grade. I just wanted something to do and that was the first thing that my mom suggested, so I went along with it. I like the team bonding and it gets me out of the house. It’s another thing to do besides sit at home and do homework.
You’re in the National Honor Society and you also have dual enrollment at Richard Bland Community College. How long have you been in NHS and what classes are you taking at community college?
This will be my second year in the National Honor Society. Right now, I’m taking Biology, Computer Applications, Statistics, Psychology and one more class – um, what is it? Oh … and Government.
That must mean you have a pretty busy schedule. What does a typical week look like for you?
A typical week from Monday to Friday is school, homework, practice and back to homework.
Do you have practice everyday?
For football season, we have practice Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It’s basketball season now, so practice is Monday through Thursday and then games are on Fridays.
How do you find that you are able to balance all of your schoolwork with your sports, plus family and friends?
They’re understanding with stuff like that. In the mornings, I just do my work that I know I need to do before school. Then I go to school, come home, eat, talk to my mom and then go to practice. For my friends, I have Saturdays and Sundays when I’m not at work.
So, you have a job as well?
Yes ma’am, I have two jobs. I work at a Walmart as an associate, and I work with Petersburg Parks and Rec.
What do you do with the Parks and Rec?
We work with kids and we do stuff around the city, such as the Petersburg Christmas Parade, volunteering at the YMCA’s summer camps.
You have early acceptance to go to Norfolk State University. Why NSU?
I picked NSU because when I toured it, I just fell in love with the campus and then when they took me to see the nursing program side I was just like, “Okay, I’m coming here.” I already made my mind up two years ago and I knew I’d go to NSU.
And why did you choose nursing? Was there something in your experiences that made you decide on nursing?
I like kids, so I wanted to do something with kids. Then my mom was always telling me, “You’re such a caring person.” And I do care about other people, so I just felt like it fell into place that I wanted to do nursing. I want to be a pediatric nurse.
Who or what inspires you?
I would say my mom inspires me because no matter what the situation is, she keeps pushing and she doesn’t let anyone see when something is bothering her. If something is bothering her, we wouldn’t know. She just keeps it to herself and she always moves forward.
What has been your proudest moment?
My proudest moment – I would say [being made] captain because in my previous years on the cheerleading team I wouldn’t really just jump up and say, “Okay team, let’s do this or let’s do that.” Me being captain and knowing that I can help somebody on the team and knowing that my coach felt like, “Oh, she can do that. She can lead this team.” I just felt like that was a good moment for me because I used to be shy and I didn’t want to be the leader of things; I would just stay to the back. I think that was my proudest moment.
What changed? How were you able to overcome your shyness?
Once I got to Richard Bland, you had to do things on your own. You weren’t at the high school anymore, so I had to figure out how can I break out of this. Once I got there, I just became outgoing. I’ll talk to anybody. If anybody needs help or anything like that, they’ll come to me. I think that Richard Bland really broke me out of that.
What advice would you give to other young people?
The advice I would give them is to keep pushing and never give up no matter what. If you think that you can’t do it anymore, just take a breather, take a break and just think about it and reevaluate yourself. That’s the only advice I would give them. Oh, and to really not procrastinate when it comes to anything because procrastination would just get you in this tough hole – it really would.
