Beyond 140 is a staple of Minnetonka High School. Most Mondays, students can look forward to seeing an informative, well-produced, and often comedic video as part of their morning routine. The series is a great example of Minnetonka culture, with topics ranging from parking problems to what it means to be a “Skipper.” However, while recognizable and digestible, the videos can feel slightly perplexing with quite a variety of tone and themes. To learn about Beyond 140, Breezes interviewed Principal Jeff Erickson to talk about the series.
When Erickson stepped up from being a teacher to a principal more than twelve years ago, he wanted to find what he could do uniquely. One way was joining Twitter, but, just as dramatized in the intro to the series, he ran into the 140-character limit. “People have asked me why we haven’t updated it, whether to the later 280 characters or now with X, but we’ve just kept it since kids know what it is,” he explained. He created the first episode and intro with Andy Smith, whom you may know from his daily Schoology updates, and still is his major collaborator. “It’s really just me and Andy; we work really well together!” Erickson said. The series had a difficult launch, involving lots of outtakes and some time for students to adjust. “It took about four or five episodes for students to realize what was going on, like what is our principal trying to do?” With time, students learned the formula and are largely fans of the show today, for both the humor and the messages. Geert Bennaars-Mawanda, ‘27, says the videos “[are] very productive” and Ren Watanabe, ‘25, noted that Beyond 140 “[is] more entertaining than the other Morning Show segments.”
Erickson described the series as “a way to inform, sometimes entertain, and ensure a common message across our students.” He explained how television used to be only a few channels with the same weekly shows, so there was a shared culture. So, another reason Erickson created Beyond 140 was to have one shared message across the student body, whether a funny holiday skit or a real life lesson. Every summer he maps out the themes he wants to cover over the course of the year, walking into the school year with every week mapped out. Students are more involved, included in sketches such as the recent Power of Five book signing. Part of this effort is the production quality. Filming can be quite long and complex, he described an eight minute Castaway-parody special he did a while back which took five hours of shooting with Erickson’s son and Smith.
“We want to continue to make topics that are relevant, that students find important, and that we are addressing things students feel we need to address.” When creating Beyond 140, Erickson and Smith must work hard to make sure the series stays both useful and watchable, balancing function with entertainment. A high schooler is a hard person to keep attentive, but Beyond 140 makes strides every week.
