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Elementary school teacher's dance videos raise nearly $20,000 to pay off student lunch debts

"The students are required to be in school every single day, we should be able to pick up that bill for their food.”

Image via Canva

Teacher makes TikTok dance videos to raise money for school lunch debts.

TikTok dances are totally mesmerizing. Who hasn't gotten sucked into watching stunning choreography to your favorite songs? While most of us struggle to nail those dance moves, special education teacher Kati Jo Christensen does not.

As any great teacher does, she is using her love of rhythm and talent for dancing for a good cause. Christensen decided to join the social media platform in January 2025 to raise money to pay off school lunch debts at her school, West Haven Elementary, and more in her local Weber County, Utah.

Christensen began with the goal of raising $4,000 to cover her school's lunch deficit, a number she has exceedingly surpassed. She has raised nearly $20,000 in five months.

@mrscactusvibes

Our new lunch deficit for school ##4##utah##lunchdeficit##feedthekids##creatorfund##teachersoftiktok##loveandpositivity##payoffschoollunches##dancingteachersoftiktok##dancingteachers##spedteachersoftiktok##school##classroom##govspencercox

“I had seen another creator doing this for her own school on TikTok,” Christensen told the Standard-Examiner. “And I knew that my school, West Haven Elementary, had a bit of a lunch deficit. … I thought I could probably do the same thing. So, I figured out how much my lunch deficit was going to be and then I started making videos and working on getting 10,000 followers on TikTok. And then it just kind of grew into what it is now.”

Christensen has more than 47,000 followers on TikTok who watch her creative dance moves to artists like Taylor Swift, Coldplay, Lady Gaga, and more.

@mrscactusvibes

Working to cover a new school lunch deficit! $343.50 #creatorfund #teachersoftiktok #roadto10k #spedteachersoftiktok #school #loveandpositivity #payoffschoollunches #700 #coldplay

Since she reached her goal of covering the school lunch deficit for her elementary school, she has also been able to contribute to the school lunch debts at five additional schools in her area. She explains that while students are never denied a meal, the debts accrue over time and can ultimately effect graduation.

“No child is denied a lunch. So, they will always be fed,” Christensen explained. “But then that school lunch debt or deficit will follow the student all the way until they graduate high school. And, in some cases, if they haven’t paid for that, they don’t get their high school diploma. So, it kind of stands in the way of them actually getting to their future goals. … I feel like we, as a state, can definitely help fix that. Just because the students are required to be in school every single day, we should be able to pick up that bill for their food.”

@mrscactusvibes

Please stay 1 minute to help pay off student lunch deficit 🫶🏻 #creatorfund #teachersoftiktok #spedteachersoftiktok #school #loveandpositivity #payoffschoollunches #dancingteacher

If viewers watch her videos for one minute, she earns revenue. "If you have a TikTok account and you go onto your TikTok and if one of my videos comes up on your 'For You Page,' if you watch for a minute, then that gives me income so that I can take that money and then donate it to school lunches," she explained to Studio 5.

She has big goals to expand her reach. Christensen is currently in the process of starting a nonprofit. “I want it to be not just school lunch stuff, but I wanted to also help teachers and students with school supplies,” Christensen told the publication.

Ultimately, she wants to bring awareness to others through her dance moves and encourage people to pay off debts in school districts close to home.

@mrscactusvibes

Happy Friday everyone!!! #may #teachersoftiktok #statetesting2025 #tiktok #utah #lunchdeficit #feedthekids #loveandpositivity #payoffschoollunches #dancingteachersoftiktok #spedteachersoftiktok #school #classroom #helpthekids #tiredteacher

"They can donate to their local schools; it doesn’t have to be through like me or any kind of organization," Christensen added. "They can just call their local school or a school that they know is struggling and they can donate to school lunch deficit."

Christensen's viewers love her passion for her moves and students.

"'School lunch debt' should never be a phrase anywhere! Sending love 💕," one commented.

Another added, "Came for the lunch fund, stayed for the dancing 💃🏼."

And another viewer wrote, "Those babies and their families are so lucky to have someone who cares about them as much as you do! I pray when my son starts school there is someone like you!❤️"

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Joy

Brazilian dancer stuns viewers with an unbelievably fluid robot routine

Nope, this isn't AI.

Maikon Alves | Instagram

Some people have such amazing control of their bodies

Meet Maikon Alves, a dancer from Brazil turns heads on social media with moves so fluid and robotic that people around question if he's human.

In one particularly viral video, Alves dances to "Boom Boom Pow" by the Black Eyed Peas—to say his moves are impressive would be an understatement. Alves pops his chest to the beat while slowly stepping in place making it look like he's gliding from move to move. Some movements are crisp and sharp like a robot while others are so fluid it's nearly unbelievable that it could be coming from a human.

While the man's moves do look slightly out of this world, he is indeed a real person, or at least he appears to be in other videos on his page.

Comments ranged between being in awe of his abilities and questioning if he was human.

"Loved. I like how everything is in sync - from the music to the moves to face expressions. 👏👏👏 and your cool personal style," one person writes.

"Doesn’t even look real it’s that good..!! Love this," someone says.

"You will be the dance instructor for the children of our AI overlords someday," a commenter thinks.

"Nah, this is God-level pop-locking," someone compliments.

Even Nicole Scherzinger, actress, singer and former member of the pop group and dance ensemble, Pussycat Dolls gave Alves praise saying, "you are a legend!"

Alves' uncanny robot dance even made its way to season 19 of America's Got Talent. His audition routine included pretending to play the Violin and a fun moonwalk to robotic themed music.

Gotta hand it to folks like Alves, who remind us all what amazing feats the human body is capable of, and how dance can instantly spark joy. Whether you're the one performing the moves or not.

To catch even more of his nifty routines, follow Alves on Instagram.

This article originally appeared last year.

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Health

Why is it the closer you get to home, the more you have to pee?

The urge intensifies at the toilet, too.

via Canva/Photos

A woman has to go to the bathroom really badly.

Isn’t it a little strange that while driving home from work, you start feeling like you have to pee as you get about a mile from home? The closer you get to home, the greater the feeling intensifies until you do the pee-pee dance while trying to figure out which key opens the front door. The problem is, it doesn’t stop there. The feeling intensifies until you reach the toilet.

Why do you have to pee the closer you get to home?

If you know this feeling all too well, you should be happy to see that it isn’t a coincidence that the closer you get, the more you have to go; it’s science. “The closer you are to that access, the more you’re going to feel that sense of urgency and your body is going to say, ‘Oh, hey, we’re almost there, we have it,’” Jessica Stern, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU Langone Health, told The Huffington Post.

You’ve probably heard of the mind-body connection, but did you know it also extends to the brain-bladder connection? According to Stren, there is an ongoing dialogue where the brain tells the bladder whether it’s okay to go to the bathroom. So, when you’re commuting home from work, your brain says, “Not now, bladder,” until you get closer to home, and then the brain gets less demanding, and the bladder takes over.

bladder, brain, pee, poop, use bathroom, restroom, urgency, dance, A man has to go to the bathroom really badly.via Canva/Photos

“As one gets closer to the bathroom, the inhibitory signals from the brain become less and less as the thought of urinating becomes stronger and stronger,” Dr. Victor W. Nitti, a professor of urology and obstetrics and gynecology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, told The Huffington Post.

The more you wait to use the restroom until you get home, the more your mind will associate coming home with having to go to the bathroom until it becomes habitual. “The more you go to this place where you’re arriving at home and having to go to the bathroom immediately, the more that pattern is going to start to develop,” Stern said.

bladder, brain, pee, poop, use bathroom, restroom, urgency, dance, A woman on the toilet.via Canva/Photos

So, now that we know there’s a brain-bladder relationship happening, what about your bowels? Is there a brain-bowel relationship, too? Because it seems like the closer we get to home, the greater the utrge to poop as well.

Why is it the closer you get to home, the more you have to poop?

Jack Gilbert, a professor of surgery at the University of Chicago and the university's Microbiome Center director, says there is a similar effect on the bowels. Our body chemistry changes when we get home which makes us more comfortable going poop. Gibert says that coming home “triggers the relaxation response that allows you to release the inhibitions that led you to hold it in' while in unfamiliar surroundings.” That’s a big reason why people often suffer from constipation when they go on vacation, because the body isn’t sure where it’s safe to go. Remember, many of our systems are running on ancient evolutionary data that, thousands of years ago, meant that going to the bathroom in the wrong place could get you eaten by a wild animal.

Interestingly, our mind works overtime, communicating with our bladder and bowels without us knowing it, so we have a safe and comfortable place to go to the bathroom. Still, it would be cooler if the brain tols us we have to go pee or poop after we opened the front door instead of a mile from home.

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Humor

Comedian's hilarious raps get nursing home residents grooving any way they can

Pauline Schantzer (aka Polly Wolly) created "The Finger Dance" so those in wheelchairs can groove.

therealpollywolly/Instagram

Comedian Polly Wolly raps and dances with nursing home residents.

You're never too old to sing or dance. And Los Angeles-based comedianomedian Pauline Schantzer (@therealpollywolly) is making it her mission to keep residents in nursing homes doing both. The actress, writer and rapper (aka Polly Wolly) has been bringing her beats, songs and dance moves to nursing and assisted living homes, inspiring them to live it up and find joy.

"I started performing in nursing homes in November 2023," Polly tells Upworthy.

She got connected with her first nursing home via her friend, Rena Hirsch, who was the director of the nursing home that first booked Polly. "At first I didn't plan to pursue [work] in nursing homes. But I grew up going to see my grandma in the nursing home, and my mom Judy who is my comedic inspiration also lives in an assisted living home," she shares. "She has minor dementia, so it means a lot to me to give people laughter. My mom used to be full of laughs and jokes, and she's lost that. So it's been really tough on me to experience that. And humor is how I've dealt with it."

Understanding her audience, Polly recently created a song called "The Finger Dance" that allows everyone to get dancing, including those in wheel chairs. In the video, Polly raps and sings as she interacts with the residents. "In the wheelchair, let's groove! What's that button do? Oh ooh. It's electric, vroom vroom. Can't get up? That's fine! Put your fingers up real high, aye!" she raps and sings in the video.

She continues, "Move it from side to side. Yeah girl, looking real fly! Aye! Shake them fingers, don't be shy. You got arthritis? Come on just try!" Polly pans the camera to the small crowd, who have their fingers up and are grooving along with her.

The sweet video got tons of supportive comments from viewers. "Ur in those homes everyday! I love it! Respect what you do so much, laughter is the best medicine," one wrote. Another added, "👏👏 I love how you bring a moment of happiness and joy to our seniors !! ♥️" And another viewer shared, "You've got me over here doing the finger dance at my desk while at work. Lol."

Polly adds, "I wrote this song, 'The Finger Dance' because my mom always did this dance [with her fingers]. She was so cute, she was overweight and her cheeks would look all chubby and she'd point her fingers up in the air. It was inspired by her."

In another post, Polly performed another original song in another assisted living home, encouraging everyone to dance through their aches and pains with more funny lyrics. "You got aches, you got pains, da da da da da da. So groove with your cane, da da da da da da da." And viewers noted that her performance was "100x better than Coachella" and "Next stop…Coachella."

Another bop she created is called "Shake It Doll", and it's a banger that has consistently put smiles on faces when she performs it. During a recent show, she told the crowd, "Let's get wild up in here, you know? We only live once. Let's do it!" she said as the song started. "Shake it doll, shake it at the mall! Shake it doll in the bathroom stall!" The beat is irresistible, and in the video Polly dances alongside an enthusiastic woman.

"It makes me really happy to see the residents really enjoy it. A lot of times they will first refuse to dance and enjoy. But when I get a man or woman who doesn't [initially] want to dance to suddenly get up and move, it means so much to me," says Polly.

She has big plans for the future and reaching more residents in nursing and assisted living homes. "I would love to do a nursing home tour around the United States. I have a lot of big visions for it," she says. "It really warms my heart a lot seeing how many people around the world tell me how much I'm making their day and giving joy to them. It means so much to me to see people have laughter. That's what life's about."

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