Tara Murray
When their school production was cancelled due to COVID-19, Thomastown Secondary College students came up with another way to showcase their talents and say thank you at the same time.
The students, led by head of music Jimi Lundy, put together a video to the Bette Midler song Wind Beneath My Wings, to thank all the healthcare workers.
School principal Leonie White said there had been a massive response to the video, which they started during the first lockdown.
“We were hearing things… young people are not tuned in,” she said.
“Our kids were incredibly focused on doing the right thing and we just needed to get the message out. They looked for a song, felt the Bette Midler song was going to get that across and started working on it.
“They were doing all their rehearsals on zoom and places like that, with the music teachers working with them. It was really hard for them, they were in isolation.
“We didn’t know whether we were going to pull it together or not, but we did.”
A grant from Schools Plus allowed the school to pay for the production of the final product.
The video has more than 22,000 hits on Youtube and was picked up by television stations.
Ms White said the feedback from those in the community had made the whole school community very proud and the students had been blown away with the response.
“There’s been fabulous emails coming in from people. Even on Saturday, we got one from a woman on a train. She said, ‘I’m a front line worker and i’ve seen your video and it’s made me feel so much more appreciated’.
“We’re going to put them up on our website.”
To watch the video follow the link, bit.ly/30OwXGs.
