INDIANOLA, Iowa — Myles Finn began teaching at Indianola High School six years ago, and has become a well-known name not only around school, but around the country as well.
"There are a lot of current educators that are reaching out that are like, 'Hey, I love what you're doing, I am actually doing this with my class today. We'll take something from my video and just be like, I'll have my kids do that,''' Finn said. "It makes me so happy that there are people that are using stuff that I am doing, and I think it's benefiting the choral community, which is great."
"Mr. Finn" went viral on TikTok in the fall of 2022 for the way he revealed the school's musical theme to his dozens of students involved in the show. He began the school year with 13 potential musicals his students would perform in spring of 2024, and day-by-day, Finn created videos removing one or two musicals at a time.
But on the final day, when there were two, Finn removed both, and what came next you have to see below:
Finn has garnered national attention since, including appearing on ABC's Good Morning America three times.
"People really locked in to the fact that the kids were so excited about it, and were just like pumped about me putting forth like this much effort for just announcing what musical we were going to do," he said.
Finn and his wife came up with the unique idea together a year ago, and he told Local 5 News that he wanted to bring excitement to the show they were doing that year.
For the school's spring musical, Indianola High School will perform "The Addams Family."
"It's good for the kids to have some sort of excitement, especially at the start of the year," Finn said.
That excitement you can here in the video above, or even in the videos he's posted after the "viral reveal" video, Finn still keeps his students guessing what they'll do that day when they come into class.
Finn sets up his phone above the grand piano in the spacious classroom, tells the class what song they'll warm up, hits record and watches their reaction.
After the class ends, Finn goes online and posted the video where he lets his TikTok audience do the reacting. Finn has more than 1 million followers and nearly 28 million likes across his profile.
Even though Finn prides himself on his social media success, he admits his students are what get him through his life every day, and his viral moments wouldn't be possible without them.
"The relationship I have with the students is the most important part of my job," he said. "Truthfully, if I don't have a good relationship with my students, then everything else that I do is null."