The flash mob phenomenon sweeping the country and going around the world has not been lost on those who live in the outer reaches of Alaska who now have their own social media sensation.
Not that they have malls or thousands showing up to perform choreographed dance steps or to sing the “Hallelujah Chorus.” They do, however, have a small school with an imaginative teacher and a group of determined fifth graders who decided to put their own unique take on Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus,” and that’s what made this video so impressive.
I was alerted to the extremely entertaining four-minute video by my sister who once lived in Alaska and received it from a former colleague. Picking it up from her Facebook page, I posted “Hallelujah Chorus,” Alaska-style on my Facebook page and it has now been shared by a number of others.
Turns out the fifth graders at Kuinerrarmiut Elitnaurviat School in Quinhagak, a Yupik village of 550 people located on the Bering Sea coast in Southwest Alaska, decided to take on a class project a couple of weeks ago to present at a Christmas program for the entire village. Now that the fifth graders’ video is going viral or global or international … whatever you want to call it … this video is popping up all over Facebook and beyond.
Alaska Public Radio shared the story and the way it all came together:
The class filmed video for three days, using classmates as well as members of the community, and ended up with 100 film clips that were edited by Mr. Barthelman into a final video.
The video was shown at the Christmas program where it was a huge success, and then it was posted to YouTube on Monday, December 20th. By Tuesday it had picked up 400 hits, and on Wednesday afternoon, after only three days on the internet, it had picked up over 18,000 hits. By the time I finished writing this story two hours later, those hits had jumped to almost 24,000. When I checked this morning, that number had grown to more than 74,000 … and it all began only four days ago.
Christmas flash mob Alaska-style? The fifth graders and Mr. Barthelman in Quinhagak have given a gift to the world and, by making this video the latest internet sensation, the world has given a gift to Mr. Barthelman and his fifth graders.
Thank you Quinhagak, Alaska … and Merry Christmas!
