‘Lip dub’ video celebrates 30 years of Marshall Middle School

More than 830 students, an iPhone and lots of lip-synching helped celebrate Marshall Middle School’s 30th anniversary.

The North Allegheny school in Marshall Township spent the year celebrating its third decade over the year, including recording a “lip dub” video.

“A ‘lip dub’ video is the filming of a group of people who are lip syncing while listening to a set list of songs and then dubbing over the finished video with the actual music,” said English language arts teacher Marisa Miele, who helped organize the production.

The video features more than 100 staff members and highlights the school’s 30-plus clubs.

“We were able to pull off the impossible by needing only one filming to successfully capture an 11-minute video that snaked through our hallways, classrooms, cafeteria, library and ending in our gymnasium to highlight our students. Not to mention, during the video, we moved over 800-plus students throughout the building to the gymnasium for one final scene,” said Jenna Fraser, assistant principal.

The idea came about when Fraser and Principal Dan Swoger asked staff volunteers to help plan activities for the school’s anniversary. Miele said she and fellow teacher volunteer Kami Mastroianni came up with the idea after Miele saw her alma mater, Mars Area High School, post a lip dub video to its alumni page.

The Marshall Middle School video was done in one shot using an iPhone that was set to “Action Mode,” Miele said. Teacher Dustin Soxman did the filming, with Miele and Mastroianni directing. Teacher Thomas Mooney held extra lighting and the speakers that were playing the music.

The songs — including Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time,” BTS’s “Dynamite” and Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” — were selected through a survey sent out to all students and staff members asking them to vote on or suggest popular songs from the 2020s. Miele said her mother-in-law, Tina Kay, edited the music to make one entire track for the video.

The video was shot during school hours on May 23, with a schoolwide practice the day before.

Student leaders from each club met with Miele a few times prior to the practice and filming to receive their specific parts. The video had some fun, simple choreography and lots of school spirit.

“With that information and guidance, they did a fantastic job. The rest of the student body was given information about the lip dub beforehand as well and were asked to sign up for a club to stand with. They were very excited about the video,” Miele said.

The video winds through hallways, classrooms and stairwells, concluding with the entire student body cheering in the school’s gym. Swoger and North Allegheny Senior High School Principal Matthew Buchak, who was a Marshall assistant principal until his move to the high school in November, are seen at the end of the video rallying the crowd.

The project was just one of the many events celebrating its 30th, including welcoming back the two former principals, John Schwoebel and Cindy Kainaroi, to speak

On the last day of school on May 31, students opened a sealed time capsule from June 1994 following the first school year, when Schwoebel was principal. Contents included a VHS video premiere, and everyone enjoyed matching staff members with photos from 1994, Fraser said.

Students also enjoyed lawn games, created a chalk mural with every student’s signature and raising money for Make-A-Wish through purchasing drinks and snacks at the concession stand.

Everyone gathered to re-created a Marshall Middle School photo taken in 2000. Students and staff members wore yellow spirit shirts and positioned themselves to spell out “MMS” on the lawn in front of the school.

The students also participated in activities to create artifacts that reflect life in 2024 as a middle school student. They will be placed back in the time capsule, to be buried and opened in two decades to celebrate the school’s golden anniversary.

The video is on the school district’s website, www.northallegheny.org, and also can also be found on YouTube by searching “Marshall Middle School 30th Celebration Lip Dub.”