Got milk ad campaign? LV cheerleaders do

Jace Radke

Friday, June 26, 1998 | 11:40 a.m.

The newest celebrities to get the milk mustache routine in the popular Dairy Council-sponsored advertising campaign are not celebrities at all, except maybe to their classmates.

The Bonanza High School varsity cheerleaders have won the chance to appear in a national ad, complete with the drippy white lines that the likes of Michael Jordan and Ron Howard have donned in the past.

"It's exciting to be in the ad," Kelly Butler, who will be a senior in the fall, said. "I took off work for the photo shoot, but we're not letting it go to our heads."

The Bengal cheerleaders won the national "Cartons for Computers" contest that rewards the school with the greatest increase in milk purchases with $10,000 in new computers.

"They (the Milk Mustache Education Campaign) recorded how much milk we sold in February and then we publicized it and tried to increase the number in March," Ronalyn Napier, the squad's faculty advisor, said. "We went from 200 cartons to 1,400."

The 500 percent increase was enough to win the contest and provide computers for Bonanza's drafting classes.

"It's nice to be able to do something for the school," said Brandy Allen, who will be a senior in the fall. "Everyone thinks that we're just dumb cheerleaders that shake our butts at the football games, but we won the school new computers."

The advertisement will appear in the November/December issue of "American Cheerleader" magazine.

The cheerleaders also receive a $2,500 gift certificate, good for new uniforms from the National Cheerleading Association.

"That is a big break for the team," recent graduate Megan Lorenz said. "We have to raise all our own money with car washes, candy sales and garage sales. You name it and we've done it."

Las Vegas high school cheerleading teams receive no money from the school district, Napier said.

"The schools just can't afford to allocate that money," Napier said. "The last time that the varsity cheerleaders received new uniforms was three years ago."