Proven: Justin Bieber's songs are a successful form of torture
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Question: How do you get angsty, indifferent high school kids to raise money for a charity? Beg? Bribe?
Try torture.
A Washington high school is blasting Justin Bieber's song "Baby" on repeat between class periods and during lunch until the student body reaches its goal of raising at least $500. The money will benefit a school for orphans in Ghana, not to mention the sanity of the Tenino High School teens.
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The school's torturer is none other than student body president Connor Stakelin, who came up with the idea. He's so dedicated/masochistic that he actually holds the intercom phone up to the stereo for the duration of the pass periods.
Luckily for everyone involved, the school matched and far exceeded its goal, raising more than $960 as of Tuesday. While Stakelin has ceased the school's forced Bieber Fever, he's keeping the fundraiser open.
"Any more we raise would be better for them," Conner told USA Today Network.
Here's hoping Stakelin's public-office ambitions end after graduation. Although imagine what Bieber torture could do on a national level...
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Lauren Hansen produces The Week’s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.
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