WASHINGTON — Every high school valedictorian struggles with the speech for the big day.
There’s the desire to deliver something great, an expression that inspires your classmates and caps a four-year academic career. Then there’s the fear: If you flop, the mishap could go viral on social media.
Tell that to Colin Yost, the valedictorian of Portsmouth High School in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Apparently, he found a way to thread that needle. The self-proclaimed “undercover nerd” told his fellow classmates not to worry as they venture to college. If people try to diminish their confidence, “all you have to do is shake it off,” he said.
Then it happened: The drums of Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off” kicked in over the loudspeaker, and Yost, a lanky figure in a billowy graduation gown, began to dance. The entire class of 2015 joined Yost in a flash mob performance that had been carefully choreographed over five graduation rehearsal sessions.
“That’s what we wanted,” Yost says with a laugh. “We wanted that moment of confusion when you’re [like] ‘what is going on?’”
The Princeton-bound graduate says he’d cleared the stunt with Portsmouth High School administrators. Yost and some friends came up with an instructional video; he says about 80 percent of the graduating class bought into the idea.
In part, Yost credits the routine’s success to help from his dance-savvy friends. “There’s not really that many cliques, and we just get along fairly well on the whole,” he says.
You can see Colin’s speech, and how he whips the flash mob into action here:
Just want to cut to the chase and shake it off yourself? See Colin kick into action at about 4:40 into the video.
And remember, while you’ve been getting down and out about the liars and the dirty, dirty cheats … well, you know what you’re supposed to do.
WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report.
