The air was full of excitement and laughter as O’Neill Public School’s faculty and staff got ready to film their own lip dub. It was their response to the student’s lip dub filmed last school year.

O’Neill Public School district is known for their creative use of technology and it’s no surprise they came up with yet another fun idea using the technology they have at their finger tips. The student lip dub was such a success and superintendent Amy Shane wanted something to help motivate students and staff alike for the upcoming school year.

“I wanted to get students and staff excited for the new school year because the student lip dub sent school spirit soaring,” she said.

Shane proposed the idea to Mike Peterson, the business and technology teacher at O’Neill High School. They both wanted the teachers to share the experience of excitement and fun as the students had last year. Peterson and Shane sat down and brainstormed ideas. They decided on the song “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey.

“It made sense,” Shane said, “because with everybody’s attention on test scores, students and staff all needed to be reminded to remember how important it is to keep believing in each other.”

Peterson filmed the student’s lip dub so it was obvious for him to film the teacher version also. He didn’t want to have the same elements as the student inspired lip dub so he came up with different route that hadn’t been included in the previous video.

The group of faculty and staff took only a few hours to plan and decide what everyone was going to contribute. Peterson then mapped the route they were going to take. On Tuesday, everyone got together during their lunch break to film. It only took three takes.

“My favorite part of the lip dub was when Michelle McKay was riding her son’s “Thomas the Train” and wearing the railroad worker hat,” said Jennifer Walton, a para educator at O’Neill Elementary School, who was a part of the teacher lib dub.

On Wednesday, when students assembled for the first day orientation, Principal Steve Brosz integrated the “don’t stop believing” theme into his talk with the students.

“It turned out awesome for only taking a few hours to plan and record,” freshman Rhianna Wilson said.

She also mentioned that it helped show a lot of school spirit.

Junior Dani Barelman said, “It was good, if not better, then the student directed one.”

The students and staff in the O’Neill Public School district may have even started a trend because just recently Avera St. Anthony’s Hospital in O’Neill have also created their own lip dub.

“I don’t know what’s next for OHS but all I know is, it’s going to be hard to top this one,” said Peterson.

If you would like to view the staff lip dub go here: http://www.youtube.com/user/petesfamily#p/u/7/7mPYrugnatE

If you would also like to view the student lip dub go here: http://www.youtube.com/user/petesfamily#p/u/0/T9rt6-N0KSE