When the students of a Croatian high school returned to school after the New Year's holidays, they found musical stars instead of teachers.
The famous Beatles, Nirvana, Madonna, Lady Gaga, as well as the Croatian singer and singer Mišo Kovač and Severina, among others, watched them in front of the school walls, all in editions from the covers of famous albums.
In fact, we are talking about the professors of the Josip Slavonski High School in Čakovec, a city in the north of Croatia, who completely transformed into them in order to surprise the students.
The professors jumped into the "new editions in order to wish their dearest high school students a successful, cheerful and singing New Year". they stated from the school on Facebook.
Their photos were later published on social networks, which caused a lot of positive reactions throughout the region.
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The idea "has been smoldering in the minds of colleagues in the assembly hall for several years", all with the aim of "bringing it closer to the students", says the director of the gymnasium, Sandra Breka-Ovčar, for the BBC in Serbian.
"We need to bridge the distance between students and teachers, show that we teachers are flesh and blood people, with all human weaknesses and passions - students don't perceive us that way," says Breka-Ovčar.
David Bowie, Robert Palmer, groups Queen, ABA, Kiss and Spice Girls, as well as Croatian rapper Hiljson Mandela, were introduced to the students on the walls.
Petar Pavlic, an English language teacher and author of photographs, says that his students might find some new music to enjoy on the list of albums.
"Some of the iconic covers may not be familiar to them at all, so it was challenging for them to research some of that classic music of the eighties and seventies," Pavlic told the BBC.
"All this is for them, so that we can get closer to them and experience us as people who are amused by something, who like to joke."
High school love
The entire undertaking lasted approximately two months.
"Everyone could choose a musician and a group on the basis of physical similarity with the original, the best possibility of transformation, possession of props and the like," says director Breka-Ovčar.
One of the most memorable photos is a replica of the famous Nirvana album Nevermind, and on which is exactly Pavlic.
"It's sort of my high school musical choice," the 41-year-old English teacher says with a smile.
The famous album cover - which has been the subject of court proceedings in recent years - shows a baby diving into a pool in search of a bill.
However, it is not so easy to repeat in practice.
"From the technical side, it was demanding to make it match so that it would be an empty pool, so that the corners match and be somewhat similar to the cover," says Pavlic.
"It took about 40 dives for the photo to turn out the way it was intended," adds Breka-Ovčar.
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"Getting out of the comfort zone"
More than 30 out of a total of 60 professors at the school, attended by 631 students, participated in the implementation of the entire action.
"Most of the photos were taken right at school, colleagues made an effort, prepared the props to make the photos as close as possible to the original," says Pavlic.
"One colleague had a hip operation, so we went to her house, carried a canvas and photographed everything there, but we mostly finished everything at school".
He adds that some of them chose their musical counterpart according to their taste, and some according to the cover they wanted to repeat.
One thing is certain - there are various varieties and genres.
"One colleague has a high school daughter, so he disguised himself as Hiljson Mandela (a famous Croatian rapper), which is perhaps the closest to our students and their generation."
The photographing of the professor in the role of Freddie Mercury, who wears women's clothes on the album cover, was especially impressive.
"We wanted to do it on Saturdays, when there are no students at school, but they were still there because of some action," says Pavlic.
"It was so strange to them that they didn't even realize it was him - they thought it was someone else."
"Everyone who was ready to expose themselves, step out of their comfort zone and show themselves in a new light in front of students and the public should be praised," says Breka-Ovčar.
Dancing with the professors
Breka-Ovčar also states that replicas of famous album covers are not the first such action at their school.
"It is a tradition that in the run-up to Christmas, teachers present themselves to students in a different light and step out of their usual role as professors," she states.
That is why they have organized their versions of famous television shows several times, such as Dancing with the Stars, Singing Stars and Your Face Sounds Familiar.
Their versions had custom names - Dancing with the professors i The professors sing.
"Those points regularly aroused the enthusiasm of students and professors, and last year, as part of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of our existence, we decided to make table calendars in which we recreated famous scenes from movies and series."
The reactions, he points out, were also excellent in the public, and they "even reached television".
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2466134303522922&set=pcb.2466134513522901
"The idea of continuing the story this year came as a simple logical sequence, so this year we decided to focus on music.
"The reactions are again very good - both from students and parents and the public."
Breka-Ovčar actually calls the entire undertaking "a kind of team building", during which the professors got to know each other better and connected.
"Now we are ready to cooperate faster and better in other areas in connection with our dear, exemplary job - teaching."
Pavlic also said that he was particularly pleased with the positive reactions.
"We did it all for them," he says shortly.
"We try to make them feel as good as possible at school and make the atmosphere as pleasant as possible - students have a lot of tests, exams and so on, so they are under stress, but we can influence other things to make it nicer and more fun for them."
And maybe someone will discover some good music.
"That's for sure, yes," he says with a smile.
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