Altus’ Spirit Week videos get thousands of views

Carly Schwamm, Features Editor

February 17, 2016

Digital media senior Spencer Altus’ video of the class of 2016’s junior Pep Rally Dance from the 2015 Pep Rally has gained over 800,000 views on YouTube.

Decorations are hung and dances are choreographed. Students contribute to Pep Rally festivities in a variety of ways, but digital media senior Spencer Altus has found his own way to contribute to the Pep Rally by filming portions of it, including each grade’s dances and karaoke performances.

“I started off by taking photos and then I was filming the dances when Pep Rally got cut short my sophomore year,” Altus said. “Last year, I started going to rehearsals and then I posted a quick teaser on our class page and on YouTube and then everyone wanted to see all of the videos and all of the dances.”

Since then, Altus has been videotaping Pep Rally dances, and his videos have gone viral. His video of the 2016 freshman Pep Rally dance has reached 21,610 views on YouTube as of Feb. 17. In addition, the senior Pep Rally dance video that Altus posted on YouTube has reached 75,695 views. On Facebook, the seniors’ 2016 Generation Dance that Altus filmed has 1.7 million views as of Feb. 17.

“Nothing really happened with the 2015 [junior Pep Rally] dance until summer when it reached over 800,000 views on YouTube,” Altus said.

What started out as a hobby for film has now transformed into an opportunity for people to reach out to Altus and see how popular his Pep Rally videos have become. His other artwork is also becoming popular through his personal website, but Altus does not get payed to videotape the Pep Rallies.

“I feel that [how viral the videos have become] is really great,” Altus said. “I put them up on my website for other people to see. A client asked me for my business card, and it is a great way to get exposure.”

Although Altus is graduating this year, the legacy of his videos will live on. Others in his position can have the chance to have their videos of Dreyfoos Pep Rallies viewed by thousands of viewers.
“I do it for everyone else, no one pays me to do this,” Altus said. “People started messaging me about the videos I made and they asked me about different angles that I had of the dances or for the music in the dances. People want to see the videos so I also upload them to Facebook, and from there, people start sharing [the videos].”

Altus’ Spirit Week videos can be viewed on his YouTube channel here.

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About the Contributor

Carly Schwamm, Assistant Managing Editor

Communications senior Carly Schwamm is an Assistant Managing Editor for The Muse, and she enjoys working on stories and spreads. She can always be found doing something for The Muse or debate. In addition to journalism, Schwamm focuses on debate and public speaking. Outside of school, Schwamm is an active participant in her temple youth group and NFTY, the movement for reform Judaism. She is serving as the Regional President of the North American Federation of Temple Youth’s Southern Tropical Region. Her dream is to pursue a career in public policy, law, government, or political science. Schwamm is passionate about foreign policy and communications. She is sad that this will be her last year on the publication but excited to work with the staff to continue producing an excellent publication.