LEBANON, Tenn. (WTVF) — Every high school senior class does their best to leave their mark, but at Wilson Central High School in Lebanon, they have a unique way of doing so.
"We have a new graduation parody for every year," said Chase Thompson, a TV student at WCHS.
So the Class of 2023 set their sights on, well, the world — by creating a parody of "We are the World" — a 1985 hit by the super group USA for Africa.
"There comes a time, when it’s near the end of May. When we seniors will walk across that stage," sing students at WCHS in their graduation version of the song.
Students didn't just re-write the lyrics. They also created the music video shot for shot.
"We had the same people come in the same shot, even if they weren’t singing. If they were in the background of someone else’s shot, we had them in the background," said Thompson.
The video also features some world-class impersonations. Senior Emma Groves played the ever-quirky Cyndi Lauper.
"Between classes, went and recorded all the audio and layered all the tracks," said Groves. "It made it funnier, and I don’t know, more realistic for everybody to impersonate the singers they’re based on."
Groves' take on Lauper is pretty impressive when you consider that she doesn't know who in the world she is.
"I feel like a lot of the stars in the video are older stars that a lot of people our age don’t really listen to anymore," said Groves.
To be fair, James Nelson who played Kenny Loggins didn't know who he was either. NewsChannel 5 asked him why he didn't just go to his parents to ask who Loggins is.
"Well, well I didn’t ask them," Nelson said with a big laugh.
But it wasn't just the students who did their pitch-perfect impersonations. TV teacher Tim Smith donned an ugly wig and a clothespin on his nose to mimic Bob Dylan's signature nasally voice. The clothespin was Thompson's idea.
"I was like -- he’s so nasally, what if I ran to [the] culinary [classroom] and put a clothespin on your nose?" Thompson said.
Smith says that's the beauty of this project.
"We have so many that are talented and smart, great voices, great writers creatively," said Smith, who has taught at WCHS for three years. "This was kind of a culmination of a year really of just students who were learning different parts of the craft."
Smith says the students may have been having fun but they were also putting their skills to the test.
"I really wanted to try my best to be true to the role," said Kwabena Bawuah, who played a spot on Ray Charles in the video.
"Seeing it all meshed together was amazing. It’s something I’ll never forget," said Jeremiah Marsh, who played Billy Joel.
"I was really happy with how it turned out," said Groves.
You can watch the full video from WCHS here.
