Spanish foreign exchange student Lola Jimenez is following in the footsteps of big sis Elena by joining the Coupeville High School cheer team during her year in America. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Lola Jimenez is a true rarity.
She’s the second girl in her family to suit up for the Coupeville High School cheer squad, despite the fact her family doesn’t live in the USA, much less on Whidbey Island.
A foreign exchange student from Madrid, Spain, Jimenez, a sophomore, is following in the footsteps of older sister Elena, who was a cheerleader and softball player at CHS during the 2012-2013 school year.
And, not only is she attending the same school, in the same small town, but she’s also staying with the same host family.
Gretchen and Blake Thorn, and daughter Megan, also a Wolf cheerleader this winter, have hosted numerous foreign exchange students over the years.
The family has also visited Spain twice since Elena Jimenez was in America, strengthening the bond between the two clans.
“My family and the Thorns have an awesome relationship,” Lola Jimenez said. “I have known Megan for six years now and we both have been good friends.”
Lola’s older brother, Rafa, was also an exchange student, though not in Coupeville, and her family’s time in America inspired the young woman to strike out on her own.
Even if it meant leaving her beloved puppy, Dana, behind for a bit with parents Antonio and Lola.
“I wanted to be an exchange student because of my older siblings,” Jimenez said. “They had great experiences and I wanted to have those American experiences too.
“I have always been interested in the high school, because I have always seen it in movies and it seemed so cool and now I can say that it is,” she added. “Another thing that really interested me was the culture you have here.”
Part of that culture is cheerleading, which has drawn in a number of previous foreign exchange students at CHS who grew up only knowing the sport from American movies and TV shows.
“I decided to become a cheerleader because in the football season I fell in love with them, with all those acrobatic jumps, all the choreographies, the pom-poms … everything!,” Jimenez said.
“And we don’t have cheerleaders in Spain, so I wanted to give it a try,” she added. “Actually, the cheerleader is an iconic America high school thing and I could not miss the opportunity to became one of them.”
When she’s not cheering at games or working on her skills in practice, Jimenez can also be found in the arena, where she joins Megan Thorn on a horse gaming team.
Back in Spain, she did showjumping, dressage and side saddle riding.
Her time with horses is also fueling her future dreams, which include going to college and studying veterinary medicine.
“It has been my dream since I was three years old,” Jimenez said. “I love animals and the fact of being able to help them in the future is amazing.”
She also has her eye on following big sis Elena’s example and trekking out to the diamond this spring.
“I would love to try softball, it seems so fun,” she said.
Away from sports, Jimenez is a huge Harry Potter fan (“I am a real freak for it!”), who enjoys musicals like The Greatest Showman and Mamma Mia or sweeping romances such as Titanic or The Notebook.
She also has a love affair with Disney movies, hailing Lady and the Tramp as her favorite.
Music plays a large role in Jimenez’s life, and she bops from genre to genre.
“I love to listen to music, and I do it all the time,” she said. “I love every type of music, but what I listen to depends on my mood.
“Maybe one week I am listening to pop and the next week I am listening to rap.”
For Jimenez, music is more than just a series of songs, however, as she tends to get creative with how she uses the beat.
“Actually, I calculate time in songs,” she said.
“For example, I take three song showers, and from the high school to home is just one song and a half; I do that all the time.”
Life in a small rural town on a rock in the middle of the water is a big change from Madrid, which contains 3.3 million souls. But the young Spaniard is fitting right in.
“I am adapting good,” Jimenez said. “I love the fact that everyone knows each other.
“What I am not handling that good are the distances between Coupeville and everything else; I am not used to taking more than one hour to go shopping!”
And, even for an animal lover, the variety of wildlife scampering around Whidbey Island has been a bit of a surprise.
“Another of the things that I am still shocked about Coupeville are all the deer you have running around,” Jimenez said. “And the coyotes, those freak me out! Oh, and all those huge eagles!”
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