Senior Stacey Fisher and her friends surprised the school recently when they started to dance. The 35 seniors took part in a flash mob for Stacey’s Senior Project, which occurred in the courtyard immediately after school.

“When we started the dance, most people did not know what was going on, but as it went on people started getting the picture and stopped and watched,” Fisher said. “I was really surprised by the amount of people that stopped.”

Fisher got the idea for her project from a wall post on the seniors’ Facebook group. She choreographed a dance, and she taught a few people at her dance studio the beginning.

“Then, I had people from West Shore come to the Dance Zone, and they learned the rest of the dance,” she said. “I held another practice at my house. On the day of the flash mob, if students were able, they came and practiced during club.”

Just before the surprise performance was scheduled, it started to rain.

“We were about to cancel the whole thing and postpone it until the next day,” senior Jennifer Garrido said. “The pavilion helped a little, and we all decided we were too excited and didn’t want to wait another day.”

The performers faced problems with the music too.

“When we went to go plug in the boom box, we found out that all of the outlets were blocked, so Lauren Sadowski and I went to [Assistant Principal Jim] Melia to ask him to open up the outlets,” Garrido said. “Also, the boom box wasn’t as loud as we thought it would be, so we had to sing the lyrics really loud to keep time.”

Everything else went as planned, and a crowd circled around the courtyard to watch the dancers.

“It was fun seeing all of my classmates and peers stop their normal afternoon routine to come and see what the big deal was,” Garrido said. “Everyone was gathering around, and it shows how desperate West Shore kids are to change up the norm, and add something fresh to their everyday schedule.”

Fisher said the experience allowed her to choreograph a dance for the first time, and she learned how to overcome stage fright.

“My favorite part was being able to work with all of the seniors and surprising the majority of the school when we did the dance,” she said.

By Stephanie Everest