Behind the Camera

For once, the Cy Woods student section was silent. No cheers echoed throughout the stadium. No shouts were heard. This was not because the student section was gone but because the student section was frozen in motion. Moments before, Senior Cami Beardmore stopped every student at the game against Cy Ranch within earshot to stop what ever they were doing. They stopped for the Mannequin challenge.

The Mannequin Challenge is a trend where everyone in the video stops in what ever position they may be in to look like mannequins at clothing stores. It started out with a few sports teams but has grown to become a national trend with several professional teams participating including the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants. Most videos show people doing normal tasks such as talking with others, stretching or cheering, as seen in the Cy Woods version, but some people have raised the stakes by being frozen in various weird and crazy positions such as hanging from a basketball hoop or delicately standing on a balance beam.

“I was looking through Twitter on the day of the game and saw some school in Arkansas do it,” Beardmore said. “I thought it would be cool to get our student section to do it.”

Organizing an entire student section, however, is not a simple task because of its size. This can create challenges in organizing a large challenge such as this one. Despite these barriers, Beardmore found a way to overcome them.

“I told the student section, and people, at first, did not want to do it because it has already been done before,” Beardmore said. “It was really hard to get their cooperation , but then, I talked to Mr. Heath to make an announcement and say we are going to do the Mannequin Challenge. So, he yelled at the student section to get up and do it. Of course, everyone listened to Mr. Heath, and they got up. Then, I talked to my fellow cheerleaders to get up into some stunts, and then, I said, ‘Three, two, one freeze.”

Pulling off a challenge of this size can be difficult to do well, but Beardmore thinks the student section performed admirably.

“I think it was really successful especially with the attention from the Houston Chronicle,” Beardmore said. “They posted the video on their website, and it has over 1.2 million views already.”

A video of a challenge like this can easily be lost in the sea of other ones like it, but this one surprised even Beardmore with the response it has been receiving.

“I expected maybe 50 re-tweets,” Beardmore said. “Instead, it got a thousand.”

Also, Beardmore did not expect the Houston Chronicle’s story of it to become as big as it is now.

“I did not know what would come of it,” Beardmore said. “I thought it would be another article they would do that no one would see, but then, I checked it the next day and it was blowing up my phone. It was really exciting. Now, I am trying to fit it into my college applications.”

Cy Woods’s version of the Mannequin Challenge has gained national attention with some calling it the best one on the high school level.

“It is really exciting that I got to be apart of it and start it because I was really close to giving up when people did not want to do it,” Beardmore said. “I am so happy that I kept going and did it because now look at where we are.”

With new challenges becoming trends on a regular basis, new opportunities for similar videos are endless.

“Hopefully, another challenge comes up,” Beardmore said. “I might do another one.”