All-American Rejects 'Schooled' Jersey Teens

Zap2It.com | July 26, 2007

All-American Rejects

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High school pranked students to build morale

The prank show gets a musical twist on the CW this summer with the help of rock band All-American Rejects.

The network's one-hour reality special "Schooled" will air Sunday, Aug. 5 and revolve around fooling New Jersey's New Milford High School band into going to ridiculous lengths to save what they think is an endangered music program.

The high-concept premise sets up the students into believing that they have to attend a "music rehabilitation" program in order to pass a difficult "state administered" test and thus save their music department. Hidden cameras documented the students' efforts at oral exams and culminated with their mandatory performance of Richard Strauss' "Thus Spoke Zarathustra."

The power pop band All-American Rejects then gave the students a live, surprise performance for the finale.

"New Milford High School was eager to participate with OfficeMax to pull off this wicked prank on our students," said Eric Sheninger, principal of New Milford High School. "After our school was hit by April's nor'easter, we were concerned that we were going to have to cut most of our extracurricular activities to help pay for the flood damage. Our school needed to do something special to boost our students' spirits and send them off into the summer with some fantastic memories."

To also compensate the marks, er, students for the prank, each of the 55 students received OfficeMax backpacks filled with MP3 players, digital cameras and school supplies. The school received a $60,000 gift card from the office supply chain, while the teachers received new laptops.

The All-American Rejects are known for their songs "Move Along," "Dirty Little Secret" and "It Ends Tonight."