We built this city. Need I say more?
In my 18 years of life, I’ve never seen so many beaming faces than I did last Friday when McKinney High school did their first ever lip dub to Jefferson Starship’s “We Built this City” for homecoming week.
After three months of nailing down every detail, the day has come and gone. With it only being five days since the lip dub, we have more than 40,000 views, four appearances on Channel 8 news, views from 10 other countries around the world, and praises galore. It’s crazy to think that our once-little plan to film a video would have this big of an impact. What an excellent exclamation point after such a big win by the football team Thursday night.
But let me start from the beginning. After years of watching lip dubs, Jackie Harrison (my fellow yearbook editor) and I finally convinced our teachers, Mrs. Lori Oglesbee and Mrs. Alyssa Boehringer, that the time to do this lip dub was now. From this point on, we were committed to making it happen. Whether it was marking the spots where every person would be, or getting everyone together to rehearse, we all put in the time and effort to make sure everything was perfect for the big day. When Friday had finally arrived and I walked down the stairs during sixth period to finally shoot the lip dub, I was overwhelmed by the masses. It was more then I had ever expected. Our student body didn’t just deliver…they delivered big. Not only were there signs and costumes, but also pigs, goats, model airplanes, chemistry experiments, golf carts, the list goes on and on.
After everyone was in their places, we began filming from start to finish Each time the energy got better and the students got louder. After only three takes, we were done. I had people asking me if we could, “Please run it one more time,” because they were having so much fun. Our plan had worked.
Now it’s five days later and we are still getting praise. Teachers are calling us from Virginia asking how we pulled it off, newscasters are tweeting to us saying how awesome it looks, friends and family from across the country are sending e-mails of admiration and Martin Page, the writer of the song, emailed us himself saying how much he loved the video. I guess you could say our hopes for our project have been reached. But we aren’t done yet. After seeing how awesome our lip dub looked on the news, we decided we wanted to try and bring it to a national level. Better yet…to the Ellen show. After all, how awesome would it be to see some of the people you personally know displayed on a nationally-recognized show?
Coming off such a crazy homecoming week like that, our school is on such a high and the spirit is through the roof. For the first time in my high school career, I really feel like we are all working together to make sure everybody knows just how awesome this lip dub, this school, and this town really is. On Tuesday night as I drove home from the very spirited McKinney High v.s McKinney Boyd volleyball game, I realized something. This lip dub did so much more for our school than show off our spirit. It united us. It brought every grade, sport, organization, and staff member together to make one legendary video.
With all the hard work out of the way, I have a few thank you’s in order. First off, Jackie Harrison. Without you none of this would have been possible. Next, Ms. O and Mrs. Boehringer. You two don’t even know how much we appreciate and look up to you. To our videographers, Devon Maguire, Aaron Delgado, and Taylor Hobart, you guys really are the best. Also to our principal Dr. Faris, without your support none of this would have been possible. To the lip dub singers who sat through rehearsal all day Friday, I have never had so much fun working with such an amazing group of people. And last but certainly not least, to the staff and students, you guys are the best in town. Words can’t even describe how much I appreciate each and every one of you.
I truly do believe that MHS is one of the best schools around and I have never been so proud to be a Lion.
Written by Catherine Festa
