The crowd at the RBC Center lets out cheers of jubilation as Amanda Busick fires a Carolina Hurricanes T-shirt in the air. She looks down and realizes she is out of ammo, much to the disappointment of the fans. Their cheers turn into a melancholy lull. The first-year Storm Squad member shrugs her shoulders in response.

Busick, a junior in the College of Management, said the only bad thing about her job as a cheerleader at Hurricanes’ games was not being able to satisfy each and every fan.

“If I had a T-shirt to give every fan, I would,” Busick said.

She said her decision to join the BlueCross BlueShield of N.C. Storm Squad was based partly on the fact that her friends were also trying out. She said she wanted to do something more in the Raleigh community.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for networking and putting my stamp on Raleigh,” she said.

Alyse Dason, an alumna, said she has been a hockey fan all of her life. After being on the N.C. State dance team all four years of college, she said she wanted to continue cheering in front of sports crowds.

“I like being able to interact with the fans,” Dason said.

Storm Squad tryouts are held in August, according to Busick. She said the most interesting part of tryouts was the first day, involving question-and-answer sessions and interviews.

The interviews consisted mostly of questions to see how outgoing the girls were, Dason said. According to her, about 120 people came to the tryouts last August, but only 15 were chosen to represent the Storm Squad.

“They would ask us questions like ÔWho is your favorite television character?’ to find out our personalities,” Dason said.

According to Busick, the Storm Squad is the perfect place for people who are outgoing and looking to get involved with something fun. She said the best advice for people considering applying is “be yourself.”

When being as outgoing as she can, Busick said she sometimes hears yells from overly flirtatious fans. However, she said she has never felt threatened and has been taught by her coach how to deal with those types of situations.

Andrea Whitley, a senior in biological sciences, said she has been on the team for three years and still gets nervous when slinging shirts into the crowd. She said she occasionally hits the person holding the slingshot, Big Mike, in the head.

However, she said Mike, the only male on the squad, doesn’t take it personally and just jokes with her about it.

Being a member of the Storm Squad is not all about cheering and T-shirt tossing, according to Busick. She said there are also a lot of promotions to work with and even charity work involved.

After working with a children’s hospital, Busick said the squad made an impact on one little boy who asked for a signed group picture.

“It was very touching and very rewarding,” Busick said.

Although Busick said she looks forward to her job, she also said it has taught her time-management skills. According to her, many of the people on the Squad are either enrolled in school or hold full-time jobs outside of the Carolina Hurricanes.

Dason, who works full-time as an orthodontic assistant, said although she sometimes finds it tiring, she loves being on the Storm Squad too much to let a full schedule stop her.

“I’ve always been busy, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Dason said.

Working as a waitress, taking classes and exploring her musical side as a vocalist for pop country, Busick said she has learned to be more organized because she had to in order to fit everything into her schedule.

“The more I have on my plate, the more I get done,” she said.

As much as Whitley said she loves working for the Storm Squad, she said she still remembers school is more important. According to her, keeping up with homework is not a problem because of the flexibility of the schedule.

According to Busick, the girls all get along with little drama, something she said was rare when 14 girls were put together.

“We really mesh well,” Whitley said. “Group unity makes a strong team.”