Forget the PA system. Simley High grows student fan base through Instagram.

Soon after Will Short, Simley's activities director, wrestling coach and a former All-America wrestler at the University of Minnesota, unlocks an inconspicuous door in the high school's media center, students begin to trickle in after him — rolling in whiteboards, booting up cameras — and he prepares himself for a different kind of coaching.

In the gym, he's guided the Spartans wrestling team to six consecutive state titles after he won two of his own during his time as a Simley student.

Now, for an hour each day, Short guides a group of self-starting students through the elusive art of Instagram reels.

Social media has become a major way — if not the major way — for professional and college sports teams to connect with fans.

But most high schools don't have the funding for a dedicated sports marketing specialist, and activities directors already juggle enough logistical responsibilities to keep them from worrying about the latest social media trends.

Simley tapped into the social media know-how of its students, who now produce content that publicizes its athletic activities in exchange for class credit.

It started with a question.

"How do we get to know Reese McCauley?" asked Short, who comes from a long line of prominent wrestlers; his family includes a father and brothers who also coached and competed at Simley.

McCauley won two state titles at Simley before continuing her career with the Gophers. Though she competed with the Spartans, McCauley was homeschooled.

Short's question didn't just apply to homeschooled athletes but to any athlete who might fly under the radar at a large school.

The Spartans' answer? Simley Overtime, a place for content creators and on-camera personalities — all seniors enrolled in an independent study course — to interview fellow Spartans about upcoming competitions and past accomplishments.

"It's not your standard form of information from like the school announcements over the PA system, where it's something everyone is just so used to," senior Charlie Bultman said. "A class like this builds community, and it's something away from the norm."

3, 2, 1...action

Four years ago, Short started a sports science class that introduced a handful of students to sports marketing, which evolved into the independent study group. The students that took a liking to making videos leaned into the short-form style that's popular with teenagers and cleaned out a small storage space adjacent to Simley's media center.

"We had nothing," Bultman said.

As Overtime's tech specialist, Bultman helped rewire the lights and paint the walls in the studio: "We've spent our own time, countless hours, just building that up to what it is."

Now, eight students meet each day for an hour in a storage-space-turned-studio.

The week begins with a whiteboard rolled in, so the students can plan what they will film each day. Perhaps an interview with the girls hockey team captain, or the next installment of "Keep up with Jones," in which Jerrod Jones highlights the week's sports schedule on video.

"We've got in every winter sport?" said Short, looking at their calendar.

"Not Nordic ski, yet," said producer Belkys Merlos.

One recent day, Bultman held a cellphone and looked between classmate Lila Fumich and wrestler Vristol Short, Will's nephew. They'd already filmed a quick, snappy interview, with Fumich asking Vristol about his 150th career win.

"What do you want the video's outro to be?" Bultman said.

"We've been practicing lifts," said Fumich, a dancer.

"We can do 'Dirty Dancing,' " Vristol said.

Each Simley Overtime video begins with the students on screen asking the trademark, "What's good, Simley Overtime?" and ends with something unique — a dance, a flip, a silly joke. This particular reel ends with Vristol hoisting Fumich over his head, a move they'd rehearsed in dance class.

Fumich and Vristol went viral once before, with an Instagram reel posted last February. The video received over a half-million views and 20,000 likes.

"[Instagram is] an app that a lot of teenagers use," Merlos said. "It gets the word out to students that aren't part of a sports team."

New era, new media

For the producers and personalities, Overtime is a place to get creative. They try their own hands at social media instead of just scrolling through it. All the while, they're learning marketing and video-editing skills. Most are athletes themselves.

Student engagement with athletics has increased, both in participation and attendance in the stands. Eighth- and ninth-graders new to Spartans sports are often eager to be featured on the show. For the various team captains, there's an added expectation that they'll be a spokesperson for their sport online.

Roughly 10 underclassmen will join the class next quarter to learn from the current seniors before they hand off the Instagram handle. They'll also begin taping a weekly SportsCenter-style show.

At a recent state activities administrators conference, Short was asked to talk about Simley Overtime and how other schools could replicate the model.

"If it's only goofy and stupid, then [the videos] are goofy and stupid," Short said. "We've got to give information kids will get from it. We give a little fun, but we give a little substance."