Avon High School has raised over $23,000 for Riley Hospital for Children.

Each of the last five years, Avon HS has thrown an annual Dance Marathon to raise money for Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. This year, in an attempt to raise more funds, they challenged a rival high school to create a video promoting the event. The challenge required the school with fewer views on YouTube to donate $1000 to the other school’s charity of choice.

When the other school pulled out of the competition, Avon decided to forge full-steam ahead, but shifted the focus to highlight school unity in their efforts of raising money for the children’s hospital.

Avon put together a lip dub video that highlights unity in diversity. Every club—from the Science Club to the Yoga Club, to the Anime Club and the cheer-leading team—participated in the all-inclusive video. The video itself was shot with a budget of $0. Students were given one hour (of non-instructional time) to film and shortly after a single (disastrous) practice run, the real shooting began.

Avon’s principal, Matt Shockley, was given his part for the first time just 15 minutes before shooting. Despite the confusion, the students and staff were eager to be a part of a video benefiting Riley Hospital.

Avon released the final product last Friday and everybody was overwhelmed with the response. Powerful feedback has poured in from all over the country. Students from other schools wish they had the same amount of school pride. Young adults want to go back to high school. Real estate agents market their properties by linking to the video. People from all over mention how touched they were to see an entire school bond for such a good cause.

This video has garnered over 300,000 views in just over a week. In short, it just makes people happy.

Avon has raised over $23,000 for Riley Hospital for Children through the Riley Dance Marathon as well as from online donations. These donations have been driven by a link to the video and have come in from 27 states and three countries. It is inspiring to see teenagers do something so positive and have so much fun doing it!

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Apprentice Editor: Ola Weber / Editor: Renée Picard

Image: screenshot from Youtube video