Lip syncing and swaying along to Outkast’s “Hey Ya,” principal Paul Robinson, in his red Falcon bomber jacket, waved his arms to gather more than 1,200 students, all decked in red and lined up from the McAfee Center to the pool deck Monday morning. Robinson began the school’s first lip dub video.
Inspired by the annual Lip Dub that Los Gatos High School started in 2014 as a tradition, the rally commission used the spirit event to highlight the various clubs and sports teams on campus in a vibrant way.
In past years, ASB members have brought up the option of a Lip Dub in discussions, but the idea never came to fruition due to scheduling conflicts. This year, however, rally commissioners took it upon themselves to organize the event to kick off Spring Fling week and pump up spirit to an all-time high.
As part of the planning process, the rally commission posted sign-up sheets in Facebook groups for seniors who wanted to run through the course and sing along to the songs “Hey Ya” by Outkast, “California Gurls” by Katy Perry, "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N’ Roses, “Year 3000” by the Jonas Brothers and “I Gotta Feeling” by Black Eyed Peas.
Sophomore rally commissioner David Berkowitz mapped out the course of the Lip Dub and divided the hallways, swimming pool and football field into sections for students representing their organizations or teams: soccer, football, basketball, drama and so forth. On the days before the event, Berkowitz promoted these maps and sectioned-off hallways to make sure every teammate, group and club member knew where to go.
The filming started from at McAfee Center, went through the parking lot and quad and passed by the team room and sports facilities. To end the Lip Dub, the rally commission borrowed a drone from sophomore Nicholas Bray, who also filmed the entire video with the help of sophomore Isaiah Vivero, and zoomed out as all participants gathered underneath the “Home of the Falcon” sign on the football field.
“Nick is someone we know through our Media Arts Program and who happens to own a drone,” commissioner Alex Metz said. “We loved working with him, and the video turned out great with the amazing transitions and effects.”
Because of the construction of the new music building, the commissioners also had to strategically plan the placement of different groups. For example, they asked the marching band to stay in the parking area outside the McAfee Center in order to block out the green fences.
Activities director Matt Torrens, who initially had misgivings about the weather prohibiting the drone from functioning properly, was amazed by the spirit and support from the students.
“As I drove around the school, it was like a ghost town. Every door was closed,the lights were out. There were just a few students that were hanging out in the back campus,” Torrens said. “After the dance, the students were so excited that we had so much spirit to do a lip dub.”
With the hallways completely packed for the event and almost every student on campus throwing up handfuls of confetti, the rally commission was thrilled with the turnout.
“We anticipated a majority of the students to participate because the lip dub was really an event for anyone,” junior rally commissioner Allison Borch said. “It was one of our last opportunities to cheer our senior class on while celebrating Red Pride together as a school.”