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Ross professor goes viral dancing
as potato in Zoom review session
Student’s TikTok has 20 million views, 4.7 million likes
It’s not always business
as usual when it comes to
assistant professor Ryan
Ball’s graduate accounting
class.
In August, an anything-
but-conventional
Zoom
review session kicked off
with a blaring rendition
of Michael Buffer’s “Let’s
Get Ready to Rumble!”
and a stock image of the
University of Michigan’s
Ross School of Business on
screen. Students, confused
yet intrigued, danced along
to the music not knowing
what exactly was to come.
Then, in an entrance
nothing
short
of
spud-
tacular, Ball, with the screen
name Dr. Po Tato, suddenly
emerged
as
a
floating
potato with sparklers and
a birthday hat, dancing
around the Zoom screen.
After
watching
the
entire
sequence
unfold,
Business graduate student
Amelia Charamand-Quelas
told The Michigan Daily
she wanted to share the
spectacle with her family in
Argentina.
“The
primary
way
(my
family
and
I)
communicate because of
the
time
differences
is
we just send each other
WhatsApps,
YouTube
videos and TikTok videos,”
Charamand-Quelas
said.
“I just posted on (TikTok)
for my four followers, who
were all pretty much family
members, to see.”
The
next
morning,
Charamand-Quelas awoke
to find that her video,
originally
intended
for
family and friends, became
a viral hit on TikTok with
hundreds of thousands of
views. Not expecting the
video to go viral overnight,
Charamand-Quelas had not
previously asked Ball for
permission to post the clip,
so she quickly deleted it.
“My initial thought was,
‘Oh, I’m getting kicked
out
of
the
(Master
of
Management
program),’”
Charamand-Quelas said. “I
knew I needed to contact
the professor and let him
know this happened.”
Despite fearing the worst,
Charamand-Quelas
said
Ball asked her to repost
the TikTok for his children
to see. Soon after being
re-uploaded, the TikTok
went viral again, rapidly
drawing in 20 million views
and 4.7 million likes.
As the viral video found
its way into nearly every
U-M
student’s
direct
messages, For You Page and
Facebook group, the entire
U-M community shared the
joy of watching a professor
dance around as a potato.
For Ball, humor plays a
key role in his instruction,
and he said his potato
prank was just another
way of keeping his students
engaged — especially over
Zoom.
“I think with any class,
particularly virtually, you
reach a certain point where
you can just tell people are
fatigued,” Ball said. “And
I think that that occurs in
person as well, but I would
do other stuff, tell stories,
whatever, just to capture
their attention … I don’t
plan it. It just feels right.”
When
Business
junior
Alysse
Armstrong
first
saw the TikTok, she said
her reaction was like most
users’.
“Initially, I was surprised
by
the
whole
thing,”
Armstrong said. “But I
appreciate that professors
are making an effort to
make Zoom classes more
enjoyable and fun even
though we’ve all been doing
them for so long.”
Brands
across
the
globe even joined in on
the fun, with the official
Zoom
TikTok
account
commenting,
“They
just
won at Zoom.”
The video’s response was
so overwhelmingly positive
that
Charamand-Quelas
worked alongside Ball and
posted a follow-up video,
which, not to her surprise,
outperformed the original
with 26.1 million views and
5.9 million likes.
“I had hoped that it
would (perform better) just
because I knew it was such
a good video,” Charamand-
Quelas said.
In part two of the spud
saga, Dr. Po Tato checks in
on his “family members”
who, to his absolute horror,
have
all
been
baked.
Afterward,
Ball
“gets
serious” and moves into his
exam review session, still as
a floating potato.
Among the most-liked
comments on this second
video is one from the official
account of “The Office” that
says, “Truly such Michael
Scott energy.”
EVAN DELORENZO
Daily Staff Reporter
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
M-36 Coffee Roasters opens at old
South U. Espresso Royale location
New cafe owned & operated by former ER employees
M-36
Coffee
Roasters
opened a new cafe Aug.
16, filling both the vacant
storefront and coffee void
on South University Avenue
left after Espresso Royale
closed in June 2020 due to
pandemic hardships.
M-36
owners
Ken
Pargulski and Lisa Tuveson
were both Espresso Royale
employees. They started their
business after purchasing
Espresso
Royale’s
coffee
roaster last June.
“(After Espresso Royale
closed),
my
immediate
thought was that I wanted
to keep doing what I do,”
Pargulski said. “I really love
coffee roasting, I really love
coffee, and Lisa and I have
had a long working history
and a lot of experience. I just
wanted to keep going.”
M-36
Coffee
Roasters
can be found at 1101 South
University Ave. Their hours
Monday-Friday are 7 a.m.-6
p.m. and Saturday-Sunday
from 8 a.m.-6 p.m.
After buying the roaster,
Pargulski
and
Tuveson
said their initial goal was
to continue selling their
coffee to grocery stores and
other remaining Espresso
Royale locations in Urbana-
Champaign, Ill. When the
opportunity came to lease
the old Espresso Royale
location, Pargulski said they
were excited to return to
their roots.
“We
started
really
thinking about it … (and said)
this is a good opportunity,”
Pargulski said. “I mean
we miss(ed) having that
presence directly in Ann
Arbor, and this was an
opportunity to do it.”
Tuveson said the cafe’s
atmosphere is diverse and
inclusive, catering to both
Ann Arbor residents and
University
of
Michigan
students.
“There has always been a
mix of ages, types of people,
demographic,
anything
at all of our cafes … we’re
pretty laid back people and
we
welcome
everybody,”
Tuveson said.
Tuveson said that many
old Espresso Royale staples,
such
as
the
pumpkin
chocolate chip bread, vegan
zucchini bread and almond
raspberry scones will be
returning to the M-36 menu.
For Ann Arbor resident
Sofia Csazar, the return
of a coffee shop to the old
Espresso Royale location is
a welcome surprise. Csaszar
said she frequented Espresso
Royale and is happy she
can get her favorite coffee
beverages from the new
location.
“I used to really miss the
Espresso Royale that used to
be here, but I’m really very
happy with (M-36),” Csazar
said.
GEORGE WEYKAMP &
SCARLETT BICKERTON
Daily Staff Reporters
BECCA MAHON/Daily
M-36 Coffee Roasters brings back many old Espresso royale staples.
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com