Cheerleaders and dancers competed against each other by raising the most money for a fundraiser for St.Jude in Memphis,Tennessee and only the top 10 teams would perform at St.Jude; OHS varsity cheer decided to join in on the competition to try to get a spot in the top ten, in order to perform at St.Jude.

OHS varsity cheer announced that they were placed 13th and raised over $2,000 dollars, but needed $1,000 more dollars to be in the top ten on Jan. 27. At lunch, basketball games, and online cheerleaders would collect money that was generously donated by family, friends, or students to help them reach their goal.

“We worked really hard to get where we were at and it was great to see the number of people who were donating,” varsity cheerleader Cassidy Vuylsteke (12) said.

As the deadline for raising money for St. Jude was coming to an end, OHS cheer decided to raise more money by performing their routines to family and friends on Friday Jan. 27th in Gym A. The outcome of the crowd was better than what the cheerleaders expected it to be and were ecstatic to see how many people were donating.

“It was neat to see how engaged our community was on trying to help us reach our goal. It really meant a lot to us,” Vuylsteke said.

From Jan. 18th- Feb. 1st, OHS Cheer, with the help of the Oakville community raised an additional $1,690, which brought the grand total of donations to $3,590.

On Feb. 27, the team and varsity cheerleader coach, Becky Bruning, waited anxiously as the website announced what cheerleader teams and dancers would team up on going to St. Jude to perform this spring. Unfortunately,OHS Varsity Cheer was placed number 11. Even though they did not place top 10, they still did a great job on raising money for the fundraiser.

“They’ve reminded me that Oakville is a school of character, and that these girls exemplify that character when they work together to bring goodness into the world by supporting a cause more important than themselves,” Bruning said.