81-year-old grandmother gives advice to cheerleaders at her alma mater in Sarasota
SARASOTA, Fla. - An 81-year-old grandmother returned to the sidelines of her alma mater in Sarasota to cheer for the football team at their last home game of the season.
"This is on my bucket list, kid. Last year for my 80th, I flew a plane," said Mikie Harris.
Mikie Harris attended Sarasota High School in the 1950s, and this year her bucket list item is cheering for the Sarasota High Sailors. She joined the cheer team for the first two quarters Friday.
"I was born a cheerleader," she said, sharing when she cheered at SHS. "1960 and 1959, I was on the squad from the time I was a junior. I had a boyfriend who really cared about me. I was voted friendliest."
Mikie Harris was a cheerleader at Sarasota High School.
Her superlative continues to ring true. Her contagious energy was felt by the current cheerleading team when they first met Harris this school year.
"Bubbly but that doesn’t even describe her. She's just like, a light that comes into the room, and everyone just looks and there she is," said Sophia Drews, a senior at Sarasota High School.
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Harris shared stories from her time on the squad with Drews and the other cheerleaders.
"We had to be elected by the student body which was off the charts because now they just sort of appoint them," said Harris. She said she remembers when she first went out for the varsity squad.
"I always used the number 13. It’s my lucky number. I used the number 13, and I remember I had practiced so hard for this, and I did a complete circle," said Harris. "It was a complete circle. I kicked my head when I jumped in the air, and the trick was do a back flip and land in a split. They don’t do any of that now."
Harris shared stories with cheerleaders.
Drews said she enjoyed hearing how all the things Harris used to be and do while she was a teenager in high school.
"Just how fun it was. We all had smiles on our faces when she was talking. All the memories she brought up were just great," said Drews.
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They even taught Harris a new cheer.
"You ready? It’s ‘The sailors are here. They’re ready for a fight. The winners will be orange and white,’" said Harris.
The uniforms and cheers may be different, but one thing hasn’t changed.
"You’re like sisters basically, and it sounds like they were sibling, sister like, like we are now," said Drews.
It’s a sisterhood spanning generations, now with a side of grandmotherly advice.
"Enthusiasm, you have to believe. You have to show passion, and I was relentless. Even the principal just said it, ‘you’re relentless!’ But that’s how you get things done," said Harris.
Harris said she is helping to plan a school reunion with other former classmates. She said now that cheering is checked off her bucket list, she plans to learn how to drive an 18 wheeler for her 82nd birthday.