JESSIEVILLE -- Jessieville School District students were surprised by the school's first teacher flash mob during a first day of school assembly in the Jessieville Sports Arena Wednesday morning.
All teachers and faculty in attendance donned capes, masks and other hero-related paraphernalia, and geared their speeches to fit this school year's theme of "superheroes."
Science teacher Todd Huff, Jessieville's High School Employee of the Year and its golf and basketball coach, spoke to the students about what truly makes someone a superhero.
"That's what it means to be a superhero: to care about the people in your community," he said.
Denise Smith, elementary librarian, also delivered an address, in which she thanked fellow educators and students for serving as her own personal superheroes while she was battling cancer last year.
"I went through the chemo. I went through the radiation. I lost all my hair. But you know what? I got through it, because of my family, all my friends here at Jessieville, and all of you guys. Because y'all were there for me every day," she said.
Smith told how some student made bookmarks, sold them and donated the money to her to buy hats while she was without her hair. She said the day she decided to go to work at the school with short hair and no hat, she was anxious.
"I was really, really nervous about it. Because you don't know how people will react. So I came in that first day, and you all were amazing. Absolutely amazing. You guys were my superheroes. You're the reason I got up every day and came to school," she said.
"Flash runs fast. Superman flies. The Hulk is strong. Each one of you in here has a gift. Everyone has a gift. You need to figure out what your gift is, and you need to embrace it. Because you all have a special gift. I want you to use that gift."
Following her remarks, Smith performed a baton-twirling routine to Alicia Keys' "This Girl is on Fire."
From there, the flash mob began. The coordinated dance performance was set to a mix of songs, including "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" by Soulja Boy and "Gangnam Style" by Psy, and featured popular dances moves, including those from the Fortnite video game.
The idea of a flash mob was proposed by district reading interventionist and public relations coordinator Ashley Layfield, who said her visit to a professional learning community conference over the summer helped spark the idea.
"They talked about the importance of building a positive school culture. I thought that one way to do that would be just to show a lot of excitement and enthusiasm on the first day to set the tone right off the bat. You see all these videos on YouTube of teachers surprising kids with these choreographed routines, and I thought our student body would appreciate the entertainment factor at least."
The music and choreography was selected from YouTube, and it took "about a month" to practice and perfect, Layfield said.
"The first rehearsal that we had for the dance routine, everybody had learned all the steps in about an hour. It was just fine tuning after that," she said.
"First and foremost in my mind was choosing a routine that would be relevant to them. I even joked with the teachers throughout learning everything, like 'They're going to be so surprised when we're doing all their moves even better than they are.' I wanted it to be something they would recognize and appreciate. Something they thought would be cool."
Layfield also gave credit to kindergarten teacher Lyndon Albright, who she said was instrumental in the instruction and organization of teaching the dance moves.
"She put the routine together and put in the time to make sure everyone learned it. She did multiple after school sessions," Layfield said.
After the dance routine, music teacher Lydia DeSambourg and high school distance learning facilitator Sandy Harper delivered their rendition of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Bus driver Timothy "Papa T" Province showed off his skills on wheels, skating circles around his fellow employees on the court to the delight of the crowd.
"We've never done anything like this here before," Layfield said. "I was shocked by the energy level in that arena just a few minutes ago."
Mountain Pine and Fountain Lake school districts also started classes Monday and experienced no unexpected impediments on the first day of school.
Mountain Pine Superintendent Bobby Applegate said his schools' first days were "very smooth," and that it had "been a great day here at The Pine."
Fountain Lake's director of instructional services and federal program coordinator, Steve Campbell, said, "We had a real successful day. We got everybody in here, practiced some routines, talked about expectations, plans and dreams for the kids. We're off and rolling."
Local on 08/15/2019