Former Northeastern dance team captain Chelsea Pe Benito ‘19 cheered on the Caesars Superdome sideline as the Philadelphia Eagles dominated in the 2025 Super Bowl Feb. 9, her first time taking the Super Bowl stage. In an interview with The Huntington News, Pe Benito reflected on balancing her full-time career with cheer, how she became a dancer and what it’s really like cheering on the Super Bowl victors.
“My time on that team is the reason why I am where I am today in terms of dance,” Pe Benito said. “When I was on [the] dance team, my coach at the time was a New England Patriots cheerleader and she’s now the director of it. And then my two captains, my freshman year on the team, they also went pro, … so the pro world was around me.”
In 2023, Pe Benito went through several rounds of auditioning to become one of the 32 dancers who made it out of the hundreds who tried out.
The dancer now balances a busy NFL schedule with her full-time job as an oncology study manager. It didn’t take away the magic of cheering for a history-making team.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
The Huntington News: How long have you been dancing for? Did you do all types of dance or did you focus on a specific genre, and how did this transition to the NU dance team?
Pe Benito: Since the age of three, I guess that’d be 26 years at this point. When I first started, my mom put me in a studio competition school that was close to my house. I did all types of dance: ballet, jazz, hip hop, tap. Most of my technical background training is in classical ballet.
Then, when I got to college, I was part of the N.U.in program so I was abroad in Melbourne, Australia for my first semester. I missed having a schedule. It felt weird to not have a consistent dance schedule anymore, just cause growing up, I was used to dancing six days a week after school. So I would find drop-in classes that I could take in Australia just to have my dance fix because I was missing it so much.
When I got back to Boston in the spring, they didn’t have a ballet club that was just dedicated to ballet. Then, on Facebook, I saw an ad for Northeastern dance team auditions. And I figured, why not? So, I went. Worst case, I thought, I could just take it as a workout class and get a good workout in for the day. And then I made the team, which was super surprising just cause I didn’t think I did that well. And then the last year that I was on the team, I became one of the captains and I got to go to the Pro Action Dance convention, which is held in Las Vegas. So it’s a bunch of collegiate NFL and NBA teams. But you just spend a whole weekend learning choreography alongside professionals. And then you’re also working with the best of the best in the pro dance choreography industry, which is amazing. So by that point it kind of solidified, that’d be nice to see and audition if I can go pro. That’s kind of how it all started.
HN: You majored in psychology and minored in biology at Northeastern, then went on to receive your masters in regulatory science at Johns Hopkins University. I know many professional cheerleaders have day jobs alongside cheering; how do you balance your work life with practice and games?
Pe Benito: Most teams, but especially for ours, you are required to have a full-time job or be a full-time student. I’m in charge of overseeing cancer research trials globally, which is awesome because I’m passionate about making a difference and hopefully finding for treatment for cancer. Our team is comprised of very well-versed individuals and we all have full-time jobs. And we also have a girl on our team that’s in law school. So we all are very busy and we managed to make this work. Being a cheerleader is part-time, but we like to say it’s a part-time job, but full-time commitment. I work nine to five and then drive straight after to Philly and the days are long, but it makes it worth it. On top of that, we also obviously have the games. We have the 10 home games, and then if you’re lucky enough to have more games in the playoffs, you get to add those games as well. And then we also have a bunch of appearances to do. Most of those are just based on your availability and schedule, but we do have a minimum that we need to hit each month in order to be on the team.
HN: What has been your favorite moment as an Eagles cheerleader so far?
Pe Benito: I think overall just game days in general. Each one still surprises me. I feel like I still cry every time the national anthem happens and the crowd just gets louder and louder each game day as we progress through the season. Personally, now through playoffs and having gone to a Super Bowl, people who are not from Philly or South Jersey, don’t understand how much passion that the fan base bleeds, and it’s a passion like no other. The crowd is so electric and it gets us super hyped. This makes it easier for us to cheer the crowd on and get into the game. And then on top of that, just interacting with the different fans from whether they’re from Philly or not, because people are now traveling from all over the world to be at Eagles games, which is awesome. Also, we do a lot of work with the community. And this year I’m actually on the board as one of the Eagles Cheer reps for Eagles Autism Foundation, which has been awesome. It’s been nice to combine my passion for community service and research into my love for cheer. It’s been a dream.
HN: Now that we are in the offseason, are you guys still working with the Eagles Autism Foundation or do you focus on it primarily during the season?
Pe Benito: It’s definitely all year round. We actually have the Eagles Autism Challenge coming up at Lincoln Financial Field May 17. It’s a very big event. You’re going to have everyone from the Eagles organization there. Then also people like Philly fans come out, people from all over the world come for that event too. So we are definitely still busy, even though we don’t have the consistent rehearsal schedules anymore. We are very busy planning events like that. And just a ton of appearances coming up. So even though football season may not be like showing on your television anymore, we are still very active in the community and focusing on, at least for me, Eagles Autism Challenge.
HN: The Eagles went to the Super Bowl in New Orleans and won their second Lombardi trophy. How was that week leading up to the game?
Pe Benito: I flew out Thursday afternoon, got there Thursday early evening. And as soon as we landed, my director got the ball rolling on booking appearances. Even before we got back to our rooms, we were always on the go. And they did warn us it’s going to be a long, exciting weekend and you may not get sleep, but that’s okay because we’re here for the Super Bowl. It was “go, go, go” all the time. The following morning call time was, I think 5 a.m., so I’m already up by 3 a.m. You’re doing media appearances all day. So all morning, that’s what my schedule was like. And then after that, we did have rehearsal with the team and then after that more appearances. So you’re always on the go, but it’s so, so fun. And then Saturday we actually had the parade in the French Quarter, which was very exciting. I got to be on the float. And that was the best way, in my opinion, to see New Orleans because we had the best vantage point and you can see so many fans there. I think there were about 300,000 fans there for the parade, so it was awesome. And then the day of the actual Super Bowl, I had another early call time because we had more media appearances. So I was quite literally at the stadium from, I think 7 a.m. until the end of the game, so about 10 p.m. The day right before the actual game, we actually got to go around the Superdome and there were tailgates going on and performances and we did perform a little bit for the fans and interact with them as well.
HN: What was your reaction during the game as the Eagles dominated the Kansas City Chiefs?
Pe Benito: I just couldn’t believe what was happening in front of me. I think the thought that kept coming to my head was, “Is this real life?” Then that amplified with the fans and the arena was just like erupting. Like I could feel the ground shaking. It was the most insane feeling. But of course, as cheerleaders, we just need to keep together, keep it professional. But every play was just so exciting. What we loved about the game as well is that we got to do the fight song on the field for any touchdown that happened, so getting to do that many fight songs in one game was amazing. I think it started to hit me towards maybe the end of the third quarter. Cause at that point I was doing the math in my head, how many more touchdowns would they need in order to catch up? It was the best game I’ve ever seen.
HN: Back in Philadelphia, you were on the first bus, leading the Super Bowl parade. How was that experience? It was estimated over 1 million people were in attendance, could you see the ground?
Pe Benito: I could not see the ground. We started at the stadium and then we turned to get into Broad Street and all I see — I take the Walt Whitman Bridge to travel to and from my house to the stadium — so seeing the Walt Whitman Bridge is full of people and you couldn’t see grass. I don’t know if they covered the actual highway, but they were all hanging by the highway. It was insane. And that was the definition of “Philly fans are the best fans.” Look at what they do. It’s just so amazing to be here. And every corner you turned, there were thousands and thousands of people. I saw people on top of buildings. I saw people on top of garbage trucks. And I can’t even imagine what time they got there, but everyone was so excited to be there. It was so nice getting to wave to fans and just be there for the long celebration for [the] Super Bowl because I think they picked a great day to do it. It’s the City of Brotherly Love that happened on Valentine’s Day. So I feel like it doesn’t get better than that.
