Noah Best is a jack of all trades. He does so many things for this school that his resume is overflowing with extracurricular activities.
He is not only one of the few boys on the Lakeland High School (LHS) Cheer team but also runs cross-country, track and field, drama, Business Professionals of America (BPA), and student council.
He took first place in Payroll and Accounting and third in Medical Terminology at a BPA competition.
He has been pursuing many of these activities since his freshman year. But this year, he decided to add one more to the long list: being on the cheer team.
“My favorite part of cheer is the end of each practice when we do a circle up. It’s fire,” Best said.
He is one of two boys on the team and a senior, so this will be his only year as a member. That being said, this was also his first year on the team, and he decided that he wanted to have fun. His idea of fun was joining the LHS cheer team. He ended up on varsity and is in all the co-ed competitive routines.
With how well he gets along with everyone else, people will never be able to tell that he is a new face on the team.
“One thing I love about Noah is how funny and positive he is. He brings so much joy and laughter into any room no matter what the preexisting vibe was,” Rebekah Lewis said.
However, it was an interesting choice of sport for him, especially as a male. Most guys would not even step foot in a gym full of cheerleaders for practice, let alone commit to the team.
“I had a few reasons, but my top two would probably be trying something new from what I’ve done my whole life and being mostly convinced by many people on the team to join,” Best said.
Joining any new team can be nerve-racking, especially late. So Best had a few fears coming into the gym.
“My biggest fear going in would probably have to be the judgment that came along with joining it. I was worried that people would think about me in certain ways that weren’t true about me, but in the end, I was surprised at how much of an opposite it was. They welcomed me with open arms, and I realized how wrong I was,” Best said.
Best is going to attend Embry Riddle for Aerospace Engineering. He has been interested in space since he was around eleven years old.
He thought about attending MIT but decided to go to this college instead.
It is located in Florida, specifically Daytona Beach.
