Imagine the scene: it’s the Wednesday before Thanksgiving break, and the entire school is gathered for the annual assembly. The Chapel Council has planned a fun game with a seemingly innocent Thanksgiving-themed turkey timer. Little do they know, this turkey timer is about to steal the show in the most unexpected way.
During the Thanksgiving assembly, the Chapel Council projected a Thanksgiving-themed turkey timer while they had a Thanksgiving-themed ‘Where’s Waldo’ game going. There were ten teachers sitting in the audience wearing ‘Where’s Waldo’ glasses, and the contestants had to find as many of them as possible in a five-minute period.
Reverend Tina McCormick, leader of the Chapel Council and organizer of the assembly, felt stressed during the game because the microphones weren’t working. “The engagement team had worked so hard on it, so I felt stressed for them [when their microphones weren’t loud enough],” she says. “At that moment I was going up to the stage to see if we could fix the microphones because all the answers about Thanksgiving were supposed to be heard. I was kinda feeling stressed at that moment because I really wanted them to succeed . . . and then I just heard this erupting laughter, and I looked up and it was pure joy.”
This laughter was caused by the switch in the Thanksgiving timer from the happy turkey dancing to twerking at a party. Halfway through the timer at the 2:10 minute mark, the turkey went from merrily dancing in farm-like surroundings to twerking at a disco party! The students exploded with laughter. Who wouldn’t have? It’s a twerking turkey! Although it was funny, this dancing turkey not only took the spotlight off the chapel game but off the chapel council’s plan for the assembly in general.
Blanchard Farr, a member of the Chapel Council, says that the timer was funny, but overall very embarrassing to the Chapel Council. “It was kinda embarrassing cause I was backstage, and everyone started laughing but I didn’t know what it was,” she says. “I think everyone [on the Chapel Council] thought it was embarrassing but also funny. I think everyone, when it came on, thought like ‘Uh oh why did we do that.’”
While the Chapel Council was alarmed, most students and faculty who weren’t involved with the assembly had a different reaction. 8th-grade girl Emery Fowler thought that it was hilarious. “I thought it was really great and entertaining.” 7th grader David Connell also “thought it was funny.”
McCormick regrets not having watched the whole timer but also found it funny like most students. “There have been things that have happened in my thirteen years here that will always bring joy to mind, and [the turkey timer] will be one of them,” she says. McCormick and Celia Pashley, her assistant, had both previewed the video for a couple of minutes but had never noticed the part where the turkey started twerking. “Both of us had previewed the video,” says McCormick. “I thought it was hilarious, but I also regret not previewing the timer past 2 minutes. I clicked on it and only watched it for two minutes.”
McCormick says that in past years things have happened that have disrupted assemblies, but nothing to the magnitude of the timer. “In past years somebody has dropped something and said a curse word into the microphone, but nobody really noticed it. We’ve had musical chairs where somebody falls, and we’ve had chicken races, but nothing that caused as big of a reaction as that timer. It was so loud, but it was a great moment for me.”
McCormick explains that although the timer took attention away from the game, it will help the students to remember the assembly more because they were laughing and joyful when it came on. “I truly believe that if you are laughing, enjoying, and engaged, especially in a room that is big, stiff, and formal, it makes you love that space because fun things are happening. It would make you more open to listen to a speaker.”
This timer incident shows a lot about how small things like a funny turkey dancing can steal the spotlight of important assemblies—and how easy it is for things to go wrong. It serves as a reminder that even in the most formal of settings, it’s the unexpected that often leaves the most lasting impression.