As a high school cheerleader, Morgan Brian often stopped by her mom Kim Brians special needs classroom at Cyprus High School in Magna, Utah, to have lunch with her and interact with students who had learning disorders or Down syndrome.

While cheering for the Cyprus Pirates was a highlight of her teen years, so were those afternoons talking to my mom and the kids in her class, Morgan, now 23, of Bluffdale, Utah, tells PEOPLE.

I really loved hanging out with them, she says.

Six years later, Morgan is still shaking pom-poms and doing handsprings, only now shes teaching 19 special needs children and young adults (all have Down syndrome except for a boy with autism) how to do simple cheerleading lifts and jumps and to dance in unison.

She started the squad in 2011.