PennDOT's Philadelphia-area district is bursting with Eagles spirit these days, ever since The Birds' Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots.
The office held a Super Bowl LII tailgate party, coordinated PSAs with former Eagles players, and employees even sang the Eagles fight song leading up to the big game. The real good luck charm, though, is the special connection between PennDOT and a certain Eagles cheerleader who made her debut the same season The Birds took the big win.
Madeleine Fausto, right, a project manager for PennDOT's Philadelphia-area district, is proud of her daughter, Misha, who is a cheerleader for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Madeleine Fausto, a project manager for the district, is the proud mother of Eagles cheerleader Misha Fausto. Her third-floor cubicle is appropriately filled with photos of her daughter in her white and green uniform. This season was Misha Fausto's first, and it couldn't have come at a better time given the Eagles record and unbelievable journey to the Super Bowl. In a way, the team's hard work paralleled Misha Fausto's perseverance in deciding to try out for the squad for a second time after not making it the year before.
"We told her to go for it," Madeleine Fausto said. "We were so happy for her when she told us she had made it through the first and second round of tryouts and then eventually made the team."
Misha Fausto has lived and breathed cheerleading since she was a fourth-grader at Visitation BVM in Norristown. The 27-year-old cheered all throughout her high school years and later for Ursinus College, where she would go on to coach cheerleading after graduating in 2013.
This year has been busy for Misha Fausto, to say the least. In addition to her full-time job as a business development manager for a Philadelphia-area company, she has weekly practices and games for the Eagles on Sundays, plus the trip to Minneapolis and a historic victory for the Birds. As an Eagles cheerleader, Misha Fausto also has dedicated many weekend hours to supporting charitable organizations and has made appearances with the other girls at community events throughout the region.
Madeleine Fausto noted how proud she felt to see her daughter on the field at the Linc for the first time at one of the first pre-season games back in August. And watching her daughter cheer on the Eagles at the Super Bowl on national television was a once-in-a-lifetime moment.