RAH! RAH!

At JEB Stuart High School, there was an annual Varsity - Faculty basketball game.  It was a pretty big deal. Part of the event included having special cheerleaders chosen from the senior class.  Seniors nominated candidates.  Then those candidates were voted on by only the senior class.  Votes were 10 cents a vote with all the proceeds being donated to the senior class fund.  You could vote as many times as you wanted.

My friend, Cory, nominated me for cheerleader.  I didn't think that I had much of a chance since it was more or less a popularity contest.  I had friends.  But I didn't think that I had enough in the senior class to be chosen as a cheerleader.

Containers were set up in the cafeteria for the week prior to the basketball game.  I was very surprised when the money in each container was counted at the end of the week.  I had made the cheerleading squad!!  Really??

The Varsity/Faculty game cheerleaders had to borrow uniforms from the regular cheerleaders.  I was lucky that one of the girls on the squad was about my size.  Her uniform fit me perfectly.I had a fun time pretending to be a cheerleader at the game...my one and only experience as a cheerleader. 

It was until after the game that I found out how it came to be that I was voted a cheerleader.  My friend, Cory, had stuffed the ballot box!  In addition to the votes that I got from my circle of friends, she had put in $2. Her votes alone represented half of the senior class.

Being a Varsity/Faculty game cheerleader was about my only claim to fame at JEB Stuart High School.  I even had a picture with other cheerleaders in the yearbook for that year.