What's a student to do when you're trying to welcome a soccer team to your city, and you have only a day to put together a video?
Do as the Lawrence High School video production team did May 14. They got the students outside on the football field, took a drone shot and welcomed the Algerian National Team to Lawrence for the FIFA World Cup in Kansas City next month.
"Typically, with something like this, you do expect to have at least a day. We kind of had to edit all of it in, like, less than a school day," said Liam Melendez, video director.
"We have to turn in our laptops tomorrow," he said, referring to the end of the semester equipment roundup.
Students trudged onto the field for the video shot at about 10 a.m. LHS Student Body Co-Presidents Clark Barber and Aaminah Ahmed welcomed the Algerians to Lawrence followed by a roar from the student body.
@kcur893 Students at Lawrence High School had just one day to shoot a welcome message for the Algerian National Team making their way to Kansas for the World Cup. Just before leaving for summer break, the school’s orchestra, cheerleaders, color guard, soccer team, other athletes and student clubs packed their football field to share how honored they were Lawrence had been chosen as the team’s base camp. Naomi Sui Pang, a sophomore at the University of Kansas spoke to the students and staff who put the welcome message together. KCUR is partnering with KU’s sports journalism capstone students for World Cup coverage this summer. 🎙️Interview and production by Naomi Sui Pang 🖥️ Editorial review by Zach Perez & Madeline Fox
♬ original sound - KCUR - Kansas City
The orchestra, cheerleaders, color guard, soccer team, other athletes and student clubs filled the screen. Chesty Lion, the school mascot, prowled the field.
"I'm involved in a lot of different things. So, I was able to reach to a lot of different people," said Lucy Godfrey, video production student, who helped gather her classmates.
Biology teacher Marci Leuschen came up with the video idea and proposed it to the team led by video teacher Zach Saltz.
"What impressed me the most is I literally just threw this idea out to the crew, and the kids ran with it," Leuschen said. "They came up with the agenda. They came up with how it was all going to be filmed…. I was so impressed with our study body that everybody was just excited to be part of it."
The students want Team Algeria to know that they are welcome, and the city is honored that they will be staying in Lawrence as they prepare for the Cup. The video has been sent to the visitor center Explore Lawrence.
"I hope that (the visiting Algerians) appreciate our effort to welcome them," said student Chelsea Oparaji. "I hope that they enjoy their stay in Lawrence and in Kansas and in America."
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