Hempfield high school students rally to create positive message

Hempfield Area High School students turned to the magic of Disney and the strength of superheroes to spread joy to elementary school students amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In an almost six-minute video, more than 120 students recited popular quotes from “The Little Mermaid,” “Toy Story” and “The Lion King,” along with non-Disney movies such as “Batman” and “The Wizard of Oz,” to show younger Hempfield students “there’s a whole crew of high schoolers cheering them on,” said junior Gianna Richason.

The goal of the video is to show students, teachers and parents that, “We’re all in this together. … Although we don’t know most of them, we are all kind of put together by being in the same school district,” said Richason, who headed the project. “This situation is hard for everyone in different ways.”

Students have been out of school since March 16 when Gov. Tom Wolf ordered all districts to close for 10 days to help curb the spread of the coronavirus that causes covid-19. On March 30, Wolf extended that order indefinitely.

Thinking about how scared she would be if she were younger when the pandemic broke out, “especially if I was in kindergarten and kindergarten just stopped one day,” inspired Richason to produce the video. After writing a script, she sent an email out to her classmates, asking if they’d be interested in participating.

“They were so excited to do it,” she said of the 124 students who signed up for the project. “I think probably … every single high schooler who has the chance to help will.”

Once she had videos from all the students, it took about three hours to finish the project.

Since it’s release on Sunday evening, it has gained more than 6,000 YouTube views.

“We’re all in this together, Hempfield students, teachers and parents,” students say at the end of the video. “Keeps your heads up and lean on each other. A whole crew of characters and high schoolers are cheering you on.”