Viral BHS “Roar” Video Impacts Homeless Women, Children

Catherine Goetze never imagined the video she directed for the Roar with Katy Perry contest would go viral.

“I was totally not expecting this, it was a huge surprise for me,” the young Barrington High School director said. “It just kind of blew up.”

The video, which tells the story of a high school student being victimized in a bad relationship, has more than 41, 113 views on YouTube and continues generating a lot of buzz and views.

But it is also having a deeper impact.

Through the video, BHS-TV’s 238 Studios students are forming a partnership with Home of the Sparrow. The McHenry-based organization provides traditional housing for homeless women and children.

Goetze directed the video that was developed by the class for Good Morning America’s Roar with Katy Perry contest. The singer will perform a concert at the winning school that will be broadcast live on GMA later this month.

BHS students listened to the lyrics of the song and developed a storyline involving domestic violence in a teenage relationship. Home of the Sparrow was part of the inspiration. BHS has done fundraisers for the McHenry organization.

“Our video was more focused on a serious issue,” said Goetze, a senior. “We wanted to make sure we made something with meaning whether we won or not, it wasn’t as important as the impact we could have on the community.”

A panel of judges, including Perry, will pick the finalists. Goetze said it seems as if the videos that have gone viral are getting attention from the panel.

After finishing the video, she and her classmates began realizing how many views it was getting and how many people it was reaching, Goetze said.

“We didn’t expect it (the video) to get this big,” she said.

The class thought if they partnered up with Home of the Sparrow, they could use the attention to help a good cause, she said.

Home of the Sparrow provides transitional homes for women and children. A large number, 74 percentage, have some form of domestic violence background, Sophia de Vries, volunteer programming manager.

“They are so talented,” she said of the BHS students. “They are so wonderful. It’s so professionally done. I could see this as a video on VH1.”

There are so many ways domestic violence can happen, de Vries said. The video not only looks at the physical abuse aspect but the psychological abuse as well. And it’s never too early to send a message or raise awareness of domestic violence, she added.

“It was very cleverly done,” de Vries said.

Home of the Sparrow and BHS students are working on an idea to release the whole video. BHS used only two minutes for the contest video but has a longer version of the whole song, Goetze said. The longer version may be premiered at a Home of the Sparrow event, she said.

If BHS wins, Home of the Sparrow would be invited to the concert.

“We are definitely trying to think of ways to make it a really awesome resource for people in need,” Goetze said.