Last month, we saw a video of an assistant principal named
Ranesa Shipman dancing to Ciara's "Level Up Challenge"
at a high school pep rally.
Take a look.
I loved it so much, I sent my receptors Jeannie
to Wilson Central High School in Lebanon, Tennessee,
to meet Ranesa and her dance team.
Jeannie, are you there?
Hi, Ellen.
Hi, everybody.
That video made me so happy.
Ranesa, how did this dance come about?
Oh, God, I love you Ellen.
Tell Portia I said, hi.
The dance came about--
I had danced previously I had dressed up
at another pep rally.
The kids went nuts.
Coach Katie came into my office and said,
you're going to dance.
And I said, OK.
So I learned the dance in two days.
My youngest daughter came into the garage and we practiced.
She made sure my feet were right.
And we came back the next day at school.
I had my regular clothes on, but I had my dance clothes
on underneath so the kids wouldn't be suspicious.
And about 10 seconds before we started,
I just slithered out of my clothes and the music came on,
we hit it, and boom, we was dancing.
Had a great time.
I love my kids.
I love my job.
That's fantastic.
Katie you're the dance coach.
Katie, you're the dance coach.
I heard that when you came up with the idea for the dance,
your hope was to get me to see it.
Yes, it was.
So it was actually funny.
It started off as a joke.
I went into her office.
And we talked about it.
And I was like, I'm going to make you go viral.
Because I knew that she literally is your biggest fan.
Like, I don't think she has eaten, or taken a breath,
or maybe even slept in four weeks, to be honest with you.
I told her, I was like, we're going to make you go viral.
I want Ellen to see this.
And the fact that we are here right now is unreal.
It's absolutely unreal.
We all thought it was a joke.
And, honestly, for us, this is all about bringing positivity
to the school.
And that's what you're about, and that's what she's about.
And that's why we're here.
And it's just thank you, thank you, thank you so much.
Well, I'm so glad.
I'm glad you did this.
I have to say, I didn't have a principal like you
when I was growing up.
Girls, what is it like having a principal be part of this dance
and be as cool as she is?
Having a principal like Miss Shipman is amazing.
She's an amazing principal.
She's an amazing person.
I'm so proud of her.
And I'm so proud to be a student of yours.
My favorite thing about rehearsing this dance was we
came in the first day.
And we were all ready, and she came in
and her athletic clothes and I said Miss Shipman,
are you ready?
And she looked at me, she said, I was born ready.
So were you surprised that she was willing to do the dance?
Honestly, we weren't surprised at all
that she was willing to do this because that's just
the type of person and principal that Miss Shipman is.
She just always so involved, and she cares so much about us.
She just wants to make school so fun and awesome for us.
Ranesa, I get the feeling you love your job.
Ellen, if I hit the lottery tonight,
I would come back to school the next day.
I love my job.
I love my school family.
I love these kids.
I'll do anything for these kids.
I love these kids.
I love what I do for a living.
They mean the world to me.
These kids, my personal kids, my family--
I love everybody.
What is your ultimate goal for these students?
My ultimate goal is to get them to the next level of life
because if they fail as students,
I've failed as a person, and failure is not
an option for me.
So failure is not an option for them.
So I want these kids to succeed because they're mine.
I'm their mother, I'm their aunt, I'm their friend.
I just want them to be comfortable
coming to talk to me if they ever had a problem
or issue that I can resolve.
I love my kids.
I love my job.
I love you.
I think you're amazing.
All right, Ranesa.
All right.
We sent Jeannie there to talk to you,
but really we want to see you dance.
So will you all dance for us?
[MUSIC - Ciara, "Level Up"]
Awesome, we have a gift for you when we come back.
I was so impressed with your dance
that I wanted to give you a gift because our friends
at Shutterfly love supporting schools and communities.
They know that your dance team is constantly
fund raising to go to competitions,
and they want to help you out with a check for $15,000.
So Jeanie, I heard that you learned a little more
about Ranesa that you wanted to tell me?
I did.
Come here, Ranesa.
Let me tell you, Ellen.
This lady is amazing.
You see her love for life, her energy.
You would have no idea what she has been through.
Ranesa and her brother, they were the first in their family
to go to college.
Ranesa doesn't have only one college degree,
she has three of them.
She's got a ton of student debt, but despite that,
any extra money that she makes, it's
coming right back here to this school and these students.
You are incredible.
I hope you know that.
I'm just a regular person.
You're amazing.
Yeah, you're not just a regular person.
You're a very special person.
First of all, I want to say this--
I want to meet you in person, so I'd
like you to come to the show, Ranesa.
That's one thing.
And, Ranesa-- also.
Shutterfly is going to give you a check for $15,000.
Oh my god, I'm sorry.
Oh my god.
She's going to hurt her back.
You're going to hurt your back jumping like that.
All right, Ranesa, I'll see you soon, I hope.
Oh, thank you.
I love you.
We'll be back.
Hi, I'm Andy.
Ellen asked me to remind you to subscribe to her channel
so you can see more awesome videos--
like videos of me getting scared or saying embarrassing things,
like ball peen hammer.
And also some videos of Ellen and other celebrities,
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