Clip goes viral
Cooinda residents and FCJ students cut Footloose
Benalla’s FCJ College and Cooinda Aged Care have gone viral for all the right reasons.
The students and residents have had people all over the country kicking off their Sunday shoes and tapping along to their Footloose lip-sync film — earning themselves a national television live cross from Sunrise’s Kochie and Sam on Monday.
The film has had more than 60 000 views online and continues to climb.
FCJ College principal Joanne Rock said the students were shocked with their newfound stardom.
‘‘When we told them we were getting a national television live cross they were just like ‘really, is this a joke?’,’’ Ms Rock said.
‘‘We always know that our community is going to love it, because they’ve loved the last two, but this one has gone crazy, but it’s fantastic.’’
The film is part of the Let’s Find Our Voice program, a wellbeing project that brings together the residents from Cooinda with students from FCJ College.
For eight weeks, about 40 Year 7 students travel to Cooinda to take part in a joint choir, before holding a concert at BPACC.
Year 10 students write memoirs, the music students accompany the choir, there are technical assistants, caterers, photographers and ushers — making it a whole-school effort for the concert.
For the film, potential song ideas are tossed around before filmmaker Christine Walters decides on the perfect one to get everyone singing along.
Cooinda’s chief executive Margaret Aldous said there was always a feeling of enthusiasm at Cooinda when the students visited for rehearsals.
‘‘We notice the forming of friendships between the students and our residents, which is great to watch,’’ Ms Aldous said.
Ms Rock agreed that the program installed a great sense of community.
❝ For the older people, it’s just a reminder of the energy of youth and for our young people it’s to tap into that wisdom and be amazed by the life stories of what these older people have achieved in their lives. ❞
Joanne Rock
‘‘The strength of music to break down barriers and allow connections to be made between groups of people that start out as strangers and end up as friends is evident time and time again with this project,’’ she said.
‘‘For the older people, it’s just a reminder of the energy of youth and for our young people it’s to tap into that wisdom and be amazed by the life stories of what these older people have achieved in their lives.’’
This is the third film to be made by the groups, after performing to Walking on Sunshine in 2015 and Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen last year, which also gained plenty of online traction.
‘‘It’s a highlight for the kids — the ones who have participated in them still talk about them now after the fact,’’ Ms Rock said.
With the success of this year’s film still spreading, thoughts have already turned to what song FCJ College and Cooinda will take on next year.
‘‘We’ll have to wait and see what the song is and how it looks, ’’Ms Rock said.
● You can watch the video by searching for ‘FCJ College’ on Facebook.