Colleges : Campus scene : Gimme a W! Gimme an I! Gimme an N!

In its first trip to the national finals, Orange Coast College’s cheerleading squad won first place this month in Orlando, Fla.

The win at the United Cheerleading Assn. National Championships was the first for a California junior college.

OCC’s dance squad finished second in the annual competition, which includes squads from junior colleges across the nation.

“We’d been dreaming about competing in Florida for nearly a year,” said Jocelyn Groot, advisor to the school’s cheer and dance teams.

“No one in Orlando had heard of us prior to the competition,” Groot said. “Now they know who we are.”