Schools
PHS Special Needs Students Ask Justin Bieber to Attend Their Olympics Event
With support from their academic tutor, special needs students make a music video in the hopes of getting the attention of their idol.
Bieber Fever has swept the teen nation, and a group of students at Poway High School are the latest to catch it.
In addition to being smitten, however, the students of the Special Education Program’s Critical Needs class have gone one step further—formerly requesting Justin Bieber’s presence at their annual Special Olympics on Dec. 14.
To do so, they’ve made a music video with the help of their academic tutor, Callie Gilbert, who has turned the film into her senior project.
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“My plan for my senior project was not this at all. I was planning on job shadowing a marine biologist,” said Gilbert, 17, a Poway native. “This kind of just snowballed. I can say I’ve never been more passionate about anything in my life.”
Gilbert, who first began working with special needs students through the school’s Best Pals club, organized the choreography to Bieber’s hit All Around the World and arranged for studio time with the students.
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Gilber says she’s made posters to publicize their “Bieber project” and has promoted the video on Facebook and Twitter. She’s also sent a copy of it to Ellen DeGeneres in the hopes of getting some national awareness.
And while news of the project has spread as far as Norway, Gilbert says they’ve heard “nothing from Bieber directly, yet.” But with nearly 67,000 YouTube views, their optimism remains unwavering.
“We are so thrilled that the video has gotten so many views,” Gilbert said. “I’ve been overwhelmed with the amount of positive support we’ve received.”
