By Jeremy Wise

Published: May 4, 2008

Her story of overcoming family issues and culture shock helped her garner the 6A Bryant-Jordan Achievement Award recently.

She is the second straight Enterprise student to take home the state award. Last year, Mitchell Mock was the award recipient.

By winning the Bryant-Jordan award, Whittaker gets a scholarship and the Enterprise High athletic program receives $1,000 from Alfa Insurance, sponsors of the award.

Whittaker’s inspiring story starts in her home country of South Korea.

She was raised in Changwon by her parents, both Korean.

When she was about 14, her brother became very ill.

“My brother was the best in everything in school. He was in the hospital seven months,” she said.

Whittaker said she wanted her family to focus on his well-being, and when her aunt, who lives in Enterprise, invited her to come to the United States, she took
advantage of the opportunity.

“If I have a chance to come to another country, I consider it a privilege. I have an adventurous spirit,” she said.

On April 5, 2004, she came to the United States to live with her aunt and uncle.

The first problem for Whittaker was culture shock.

“I did know English. All South Koreans learn English in school, but I only knew like ‘Hi. My name is Chloe,’ and ‘How are you doing?” she said.

In fact, when the first daily announcements were made at school, she initially did not know what was being said.

Since Whittaker knew the basics, she didn’t want to take an English as a Second Language class.

She said she took normal English classes and did not have a problem with them, but she struggled with science.

“I didn’t know the vocabulary,” Whittaker said.

Whittaker has overcome that issue now, electing to major in polymer and fiber engineering at Auburn University in the fall.

She said she also had to deal with culture shock of another kind in Enterprise.

“In Changwon, I lived on the 10th floor. It is a big city. I came here, and I said, ‘I feel like I’m in a 50s movie,’” she said.

When she came to Enterprise, she wanted to be a gymnast, but due to her age and size, she was told she was too old and too big to do that.

A cheerleading coach told her to try cheerleading, and Whittaker said she liked it.

She tried out at Enterprise High and made the team as a sophomore.

“I didn’t know Enterprise had so many national titles in (cheerleading). All these girls were gymnasts with titles. They had been doing this since they were 3, and I started when I was 15 or 16,” Whittaker said.

“What I liked about cheerleading is that you had to smile all the time. You could stay positive,” she added.

Staying positive helped her deal with some the culture and some other family issues that arose after coming to Enterprise.

Shortly after her move to America, problems arose at home with her aunt, another South Korean.

“My aunt and uncle never came to watch me cheer,” Whittaker said. “I lived on Rucker Boulevard, and to get home from practice at the old high school, I had to either walk or get a ride.

“The biggest problem was that my aunt didn’t speak English well. She’s not part of the American society, and I felt like she held a grudge. Since I spoke Korean, she felt like she could take that out on me,” Whittaker said.

“I have a really good family in Korea. To come from that to an unstable environment was the hardest part of moving here,” Whittaker added.

Things became so bad that her aunt and uncle told her if she did not leave their home, the two would divorce.

At the age of 16, Whittaker moved into an apartment by herself.

Her father, an engineer, paid the rent, and he and her uncle signed the paperwork to arrange for Whittaker to move out.

Whittaker said she did well living on her own until the March 1, 2007, tornado struck Enterprise.

“All these parents came up and were screaming for their children and were comforting them. That’s when I realized I didn’t have anybody,” she said.

That is also when Cami McClenny, an EHS guidance counselor, took her into her home.

“Cami didn’t feel safe putting me back in my own apartment. She offered for me to live with her,” Whittaker said.

Whittaker’s cheerleading provided her release from all of the tribulations the teen-ager had suffered.

“School itself was a break. All the people I knew were from school. All the people that support me were from school. It was the only place I felt like I could be myself,” she said.

Whittaker’s cheerleading career was highlighted in December when the Wildcats won the World Cheerleading Association national title for the Level 4 division.

“I was really proud, especially since we had a lot of younger people on the squad,” she said.

She added she took extra pride from helping the team win the title after only a short time as a cheerleader.

“I had girls come up to me and say ‘If I wasn’t trained from 3, I wouldn’t have made the squad,’” Whittaker said. “It makes me feel good that I could do what most people admire.”

Heather Mitchell, Enterprise Wildcats cheerleading coach, believes Whittaker has helped to inspire the squad.

“I think Chloe has been an inspiration because of all she has had to overcome. She also has a spirit about her,” Mitchell said. “ She never fell back on her difficulties. (The other cheerleaders) looked at it as ‘If she can do it, I can do it.’”