Call NeSheila Washington a cheer coach, and you capture the title.

You do not capture the work. Since returning to Winston-Salem State University in 2021 to lead Powerhouse, Washington has transformed a historic cheer tradition into something far more significant: a leadership development system operating inside an HBCU institution.

The routines are visible, the performances are documented. The partnerships make headlines. The deeper story is the infrastructure underneath it all. Because great institutions are not built through isolated moments, they are built through systems that allow excellence to reproduce itself. Powerhouse is not simply a team that performs. It is an institutional asset.

The Institution Inside the Institution

For generations, HBCUs have created leadership development environments in places that traditional higher education models sometimes overlook. The student government president learns governance, the drum major learns command, and the campus organization leader learns coalition-building. The cheer captain learns how to lead people under pressure while representing something larger than themselves.

These spaces have always been leadership laboratories.

Washington understood that Powerhouse could become more than a performance organization. It could become what HBCUSHACK calls Simon Green Atkins OS named for the founder of Winston-Salem State University, and built to describe the operating system running underneath the HBCU spaces that quietly produce leaders: preparation, accountability, communication, branding, and institutional responsibility, built into the daily culture rather than taught in a classroom.

The performance is the output, the culture is the engine.

From Tradition to Compounding System

Washington’s connection to Powerhouse began as a student at Winston-Salem State University, where she was part of the program from 1999 to 2001. When she returned as head coach in 2021, she inherited generations of tradition. Her contribution was not simply maintaining the tradition. It was building infrastructure around it. Under her leadership, Powerhouse expanded into national spaces, appearing at professional sporting events, entertainment platforms, and brand partnerships while maintaining academic expectations, including a reported team GPA of 3.11.

That combination matters. Because visibility without structure creates moments, structure creates longevity.

Four Rooms & One Simon Green Atkins OS.

The significance of Powerhouse is not one partnership or one appearance. It is the ability to create results across completely different environments.

Professional Sports (Carolina Panthers & NBA)

WSSU Powerhouse became the first CIAA cheer squad to perform alongside an NFL cheer organization at Bank of America Stadium. The program went on to perform at the NBA HBCU Classic during NBA All-Star Weekend, upholding that same standard across professional leagues.

Entertainment

The program appeared in Ciara’s “J.U.M.P.” music video after gaining organic recognition through social platforms.

Brand Partnerships

Destiny Martin’s Champion NIL agreement demonstrated individual student value. Black Girl Vitamins’ partnership with the entire Powerhouse program demonstrated institutional value.

Academic Excellence

The program publicly recognized academic achievement alongside competitive accomplishments. Different rooms, same system. That is the difference between talent and infrastructure.

From Cultural Recognition to Cultural Value

For decades, HBCU culture has influenced music, sports, fashion, and entertainment. The culture was never the missing ingredient. The challenge has been building the infrastructure to preserve, scale, and strategically leverage that culture.

The evolution of NIL expanded the conversation. The question is no longer only: “How can an individual monetize their identity?”

The bigger question is: “How can institutions develop systems where cultural assets create opportunity for generations of students?”

Powerhouse provides a glimpse of that future.

One athlete can create a moment. An institution can create a pipeline.

What Outlives Her

The greatest leaders are not measured only by what they accomplish while they are present. They are measured by what continues because they were there. Sheila Washington’s legacy will not be found only in trophies, performances, or partnerships. It will be found in the students who leave Winston-Salem State understanding how to represent an institution, lead people, and transform culture into opportunity.

The yearbook says cheer coach. Simon Green Atkins OS says, institution builder and that distinction is where the real story begins.

Notes from the Yard is an HBCU Shack editorial series profiling the builders inside HBCU culture the leaders creating the systems, institutions, and legacy infrastructure that allow HBCU excellence to compound over time.