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Hurontario Street was invaded by a student mob, Thursday morning - but luckily, it was all planned, and all in the name of good clean fun.

With OPP cruisers blocking off either end of Hurontario Street between Second and Third, a 'flash mob' from Collingwood Collegiate 'spontaneously' started dancing to Michael Jackson's Black or White as a way to boost school spirit at the end of the school year.

Teachers Lisa Cassaubon and Tracy Checkley choreographed the dance, which students practiced during the lunch hour.

English teacher Chris Young and Business teacher Chieu Hy planned the whole event as part of a school initiative called Spark to get kids more active.

"Essentially, cognitive retention increases with physical activity," said Young. "So we've been working on this during lunch hour, keeping kids active, and sending them back to class in hopes that their brains are active and ready to absorb some knowledge."

The school has only implemented the program this year, but their Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test results showed improvement within their school.

The flash mob did not have as big of a turnout as the teachers had hoped, mostly because the rehearsals took place during lunch hour. Even so, more than 100 students took to the streets to participate.

The Spark program isn't just done during lunch hour, but also during class time.

"We've had a number of school-wide Spark events where we call kids down and teachers, in the middle of class, to the gym, and we teach them a dance and have them do 10 minutes of the dance and send them back to class," said Young.

The flash mob was also a way to boost morale in the last few weeks of school.

"Last year we organized a school-wide lip dub and it was such a successful event that we wanted to do something again, but something a little different," said Hy. "And Mr. Young suggested we make it big, go big or go home, and come down to Collingwood, and let the town know what great students we have. It's to showcase the students really."

The teachers will be presenting a video of the flash mob at their year-end assembly next week.

hannah.vanderkooy@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @hannahvander