Written and Media by Sara Dawson.
Deja Sawyer Plachta is a Greenville University cheerleader. Plachta is a 21-year-old senior from Tampa, Fla., who graduated from Riverview High School in 2014. She is involved with both the cheer program and the MOSAIC Student Association. She has been cheering for seventeen years.
She is married to William Plachta, also a senior. She is the second oldest of four siblings, with an older brother, younger sister, and a younger brother. She is a psychology major.
About her future, she said, “ I intend on moving back home with my husband and hopefully getting a job working with children.” She added, “My future when I graduate hopefully includes a bunch of success and a beautiful family. I hope to work with children who have gone through hardships and helping them get through it.”
Paige
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College Sports Career
Plachta has been cheering at Greenville for four years now. She has won awards such as Game Day Cheerleader and Leader Award. She mentioned,
“One of my favorite memories of being on the team was one of our away games to Eureka or MacMurray. We were on the way back and we listened to throwback music the whole time and we were dancing and acting like complete fools and that’s something I’ll never forget. These girls that I have become friends with in the last four years will be people that are going to be a part of my life for the rest of my life. The program has come so far in the last three years and I have loved being a part of it for the last four years. I’m going to miss being a part of it. The cheer program doesn’t get the credit it deserves, but I hope in the years to come that that changes.”
During Plachta’s time here in Greenville, she has been part of the Black Lives Matter Movement. She has shown her support by kneeling during the National Anthem. Plachta said,
“I kneel during the National Anthem for a bunch of different reasons. I kneel because how can I stand for a country that doesn’t stand for me? Men and women, even children of color, are being killed in the streets by people who are supposed to be protecting them. I kneel because the people who are murdering these people are not being punished for it. I kneel for the people whose lives were ripped away from them and for their families. I kneel because of the inequalities in this country. I kneel because the president of this country… has made it to where neo-Nazis and KKK members feel comfortable walking the streets of our country proudly but he vehemently disapproves of black NFL players protesting something they believe in. ”
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High School Career
Plachta cheered for four years in high school. While she was in high school she won awards such as Best Backspot and Spot/Base Award. Plachta stated, “Doing cheer in high school was a completely different experience than it is now. Cheering in high school was mainly about being with my friends and in college, it’s much more competitive and way more fulfilling.”
Make sure to check Deja Plachta out – she is doing great things here at Greenville!
