Spring spirit week ends with school-wide lip dub—a new American High tradition
Meenu Kumaraguru
Staff Writer
On April 15, 2016, student clubs, sports teams, and staff at American High School participated in the first school-wide lip dub. Each group was positioned around a majority of the campus and were given specific lyrics to lip-sync in the video.
The idea for the lip dub was brought to attention after the release of Broken Arrow High School’s lip dub, which has over 1,000,000 views on Youtube. AHS Leadership were inspired by lip dubs in other parts of the Bay Area, such as Pleasanton and San Ramon, and decided to initiate one in FUSD.
“In leadership, we were brainstorming new ideas for the year and we decided a lip dub would be a cool thing to try,” Vinita Gorti (12) said. “Rallies are fun, but we decided this idea could really amp up school pride in a new way.”
After second period and before brunch, students assembled in their designated spots—organized by grade level, clubs, and sports teams—to make their appearance in the lip dub. Students sported their Eagle Nation gear, school colors, and club or sport attire to show off their pride for the school.
“We decided to do this event as way to unify the school and conclude the spring spirit week,” Akhil Dua (12) said. “I think this new tradition was beyond our expectations. We did not anticipate this much school spirit especially for something this broad and new.”
Leadership and ASB wanted to incorporate positive songs that described the school’s culture. Three songs were chosen and dubbed throughout the lip dub video—“Party In the USA,” by Miley Cyrus, “American Boy,” by Estelle featuring Kanye West, and “Tell Me When to Go,” by E-40. At the end of the lip dub, students gathered in the rotunda, and cheered to the instrumental version of “Feelin’ Myself” by Mac Dre.
“I loved ‘Party In the USA’,” Aditi Gopalan (12) said, “It was the one song I knew for a fact that almost everyone knew and could jam out to no matter who they were or what kind of music they were into. It brought us all together and smiling and loud, just like how it should be.”
The entire video was shot two times, to ensure that the dubbing flowed smoothly. After each run-through, students filed into the rotunda to chant and display their club and sports teams’ posters.
“Frankly, a lot of people didn’t know what was going on until the day of,” Gopalan said. “But when it did happen, they were all pumped and screaming.”
This activity was intended to be a conclusion to spring spirit week, while giving students, teachers, faculty, parents, and future Eagles an opportunity to display their pride for the school.
“I think one thing we could do better is ensuring that everyone at school knows what’s happening for these events,” David Lee (11) said. “Lots of people were continuously asking ‘What is a lip dub?’ and ‘What is even happening at this lip dub thing?’ In my opinion, just getting the word out better would increase participation in the future,” Lee said.
American High School will continue this tradition in future years, unifying the students and staff around campus, and setting a trend amongst FUSD schools.
“I can definitely say that this something that will go on at American for a long time and it’ll just keep getting better and better since people now know what it’s like to be a part of it,” Dua said.
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