WALES — When Oak Hill High School juniors take the SAT on Saturday — as all juniors in Maine will — they may be humming the tune, “Sexy and I Know It.”

Blame their teachers.

To boost student performance and call attention to the importance of the exam, Oak Hill teachers made a music video about the SAT, borrowing heavily from the hip-hop group LMFAO’s “Sexy and I Know It.”

They used the same beat and changed the lyrics. Their title is “So Smart and I Know It.” Instead of cruising for chicks in Venice, Calif., as the rock stars did in the original video, Oak Hill faculty cruise the school halls, pretending to be cool, smart, high-schoolers studying for SAT.

The video has been a hit at the school and has received 2,448 hits on YouTube.

The video opens up with: “MAY 5, 2012,” then an SAT sign with an arrow, a closeup of a No. 2 pencil, followed by energetic music with big letters: “ARE YOU READY OAK HILL?”

Physical education teacher Cheryl Lambert strolls the halls with attitude wearing an Afro wig with an SAT pass. English teacher Alicia Chambers, in a curly wig, plays Lambert’s smart student sidekick. Another video star is English teacher Patti LeBlanc playing a “Jersey Shore” character.

Instead of the refrain, “Girl look at that body,” the Oak Hill’s refrain is, “Girl look at that function (a math concept),” or, “Girl look at that sentence.”

Lambert came up with the video idea to boost test scores. In 2011, Oak Hill was named to a list no school wants to be on. It qualified for school improvement money because of poor test scores.

The faculty formed an SAT improvement committee and agreed making a video to the tune of “Sexy and I Know It” would be funny and get the kids’ attention. Lambert asked other teachers what could they do for the video. Could they dance, stroll or give a certain provocative look?

The video was taped during lunch hour. It took three weeks to edit, and was unveiled to students during a Jan. 31 student assembly of sophomores and juniors.

“I gave a speech about how serious the testing is, things they should know,” LeBlanc said. “We really set them up. They had no idea.” The video started. It took students a minute to realize this wasn’t another canned SAT video. It was home-grown, starring their teachers.

“They knew the song. Even The Muppets have done a version of the song. They were all laughing,” LeBlanc said. “It caught them by surprise.”

Over the next few days the video gained momentum in the Oak Hill community. “Kids watched it over and over,” Chambers said. The video was the talk of the halls.

Students sent the link to more students, then parents. It was posted on YouTube. MTV has not yet called, but LeBlanc said she was relieved when parents liked it “and we weren’t in trouble.”

Superintendent James Hodgkin said the video was “awesome” and well done. “It is great to see so many of the faculty getting together to promote the SAT,” Hodgkin said.

Students agreed.

“I thought it was great to see how much the teachers got into the video, how they’re willing to help us succeed, especially since our school hasn’t done too hot in the past,” junior Sean Deans, 17, said.

Kyle Gordon, 17, gave his teachers an A for the video. “My favorite part was when the gym teacher is sitting there lifting weights. He had a huge dumbbell. All the other teachers had much smaller ones.”

The video, Gordon said, “did make me want to study more for the SAT.”

And that is exactly the goal.

At Oak Hill there’s been an SAT campaign this winter and spring: problem-solving exercises in gym classes, a March madness month that focused on SAT preparation instead of basketball. There’s been a friendly competition between sophomores and juniors on which class gets the most practice questions correct. (The juniors are ahead.)

The SATs are even part of daily school morning announcements, which end “with the SAT word of the day.” Monday’s word was “prosaic,” which means ordinary.

The word of the day is often announced by senior Chris Jones, who offers the word after a silly sound, a buzz or a quack from his phone. “Goofy is OK,” LeBlanc said. “It causes them to talk about it.”

The goal of the video and SAT promotion campaign was to make the exam “more accessible to all students,” Lambert said. “Sometimes kids think the SATs are just for the brains.” SATs became a state-mandated test for all high school juniors in 2006, according to the Maine Department of Education.

The SAT “is a huge test, a shared experience for all juniors,” Chambers said. Making the video, “we thought would be a light, fun way to show the juniors that, hey, the whole school’s behind you.”

bwashuk@sunjournal.com

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