The MacArthur Varsity Cheerleaders have plenty to cheer about. As a competitive team, the girls excelled this year, placing in the top three of the Long Island Cheerleading Finals. In the MacArthur classrooms, the cheerleaders maintained a combined team grade point average of 88.1.
Another accolade has been bestowed upon them. During September and October, the team, coached by Lisa Nessler, began to record their volunteer activities and experiences through words and pictures in a scrapbook. These community service activities included organizing and running a cheerleading clinic for elementary and middle school children, participating in walkathons for breast cancer, autism, lymphoma, and leukemia, holding food drives for the needy, making goody bags for sick children in hospitals, raising over $3,000 for breast cancer awareness and sponsoring a disadvantaged 9-year-old girl from Mali.
The scrapbook was submitted to the Universal Cheerleading Association’s (UCA) American Spirit Award department, which recognizes the top all-around cheerleading programs in the country. The UCA looks for teams that exemplify community service, outstanding athletic achievement, spirit raising activities, and high academic standards.
Principal John Bifolco, Director of Athletics Keith Snyder and Physical Education Department Chair Gerard McEneaney proudly acknowledge that the MacArthur cheerleaders were recognized by the UCA, and received an Outstanding Achievement Award, honoring them as an exceptional team of young ladies among all the teams that applied for the award.
