In February 2023, Courtney McCabe, an administrative assistant at Davie County High School, crumpled up a single visitor sticker. The routine was familiar—every visitor to the school must wear a sticker displaying their name and photo. This system helps distinguish authorized visitors from intruders and maintain campus safety.
She began to throw it out, but she paused. Staring at the sticker, she found herself wondering: how many more would it take to make it a giant ball?
“We had so many visitors, and I was just curious to put it in a visual,” McCabe said. “I was just like, ‘Ooh, let’s start a stickerball with all of our visitor stickers.’”
Over the next three years, that first sticker has grown into a stickerball measuring nine inches tall and counting. As it’s grown in size, it’s taken on the shape of a rounded cube, roughly spherical, though lumpy from stickers applied at odd angles.
McCabe estimated that since she began this process, she has added thousands of stickers, one for every time a visitor has set foot into Davie High. With the help of others, McCabe has managed to turn the ball into a potential record-breaker.
“Miss Alyse Wooldridge is the best,” McCabe said. “She will literally come with her arm covered in stickers from guests that she has for meetings, so she’s a fan of the stickerball.”
“More people are just curious when they come by, like, ‘Oh, how is your stickerball getting?’” McCabe said. “Students probably think I’m a weirdo, but that’s okay. They’re usually amused at it.”
Some students have taken a particular interest in the stickerball. Senior AuBrie Pulaski, who often assists in the front office, has seen its growth daily, which has only deepened her appreciation.
“I think it is really one of my favorite things about working in the office,” Pulaski said. “I don’t know why I say this, but I really enjoy coming into the office knowing something that people don’t know.”
This enthusiasm has not been limited to students. Though she is now one of the project’s biggest supporters, administrative assistant Jackie Gonzalez was skeptical when it first began, seeing it as little more than a “tiny little trash ball.”
“So we had our ups and downs of what the ball was. I definitely thought it was weird,” Gonzalez said. “Now I’m running out and chasing people if they don’t give me their sticker.”
While tracking down stickers has become a priority for the front office, Gonzalez said the whole process is more than just a novelty.
“We’re creating a safe environment, and the front office is making sure we’re accurately collecting data of our visitors and who is in our building,” Gonzalez said. “And we’re making sure we uphold our safety standards, while, at the same time, creating a really fun environment.”
The stickerball has captured the faces of many high-profile visitors in its three years, including state representatives and members of the State Board of Education. But the visitor who stands out the most? Young Life leader TJ Sigler, who Gonzalez calls “the bald man in the cafeteria.”
“He and I joke that his license picture is not very well,” Gonzalez said. “So you will see, like, little, tiny, beady black eyes throughout the stickerball. And that’s TJ.”
Sigler is one of many visitors whose presence is now preserved through the stickerball. And for McCabe and Gonzalez, his face and those of all Davie’s visitors serve as a reminder of the constant flow of people who have passed through Davie High’s front office.
“I hope Miss McCabe does not leave anytime soon,” Gonzalez said. “But I think it’s become such a monumental part of the front office that I would absolutely love to keep it going.”
Lila Moore contributed to this article.
