Students attempt seventh world record

TAYLORSVILLE — Eisenhower Junior High students took on Guinness again Friday — this time, to break the world record for the longest straw chain.

And they did it. The students broke the old record of 3.87 miles, set by a school in Bridgehampton, N.Y., by linking 42,963 straws to make a chain 4.57 miles long, teacher Clayton Brough said late Friday. Students were planning to make a chain 8 miles long on the school gym floor between 1 and 10 p.m. Friday. More than 100,000 straight straws and 1,000 flexible ones inserted into each other were expected to do the trick.

The students already hold six world records — a world record within itself.

"I just get tingles — it's fun to see," P.E. teacher Denise Fiack said over thumping pop music as more than 125 teenagers shuffled about, folding one crimson straw into the next. "It brings tears to your eyes to see them succeed.

"It's something they can keep forever."

Eisenhower was crowned with the title for the world's biggest bread loaf — 307 pounds, browned in a Hercules oven used to cook missile casings — back in 1987.

Chasing world records — be it through Guinness, the Germany-based Book of Alternative World Records, or Ripley's Believe It or Not — has become an obsession since. Students have come to look forward to their chance to try.

"It's our last year here, so we want to make it memorable," ninth-grader Danielle Southworth said.

Eisenhower holds the records for the world's longest balloon chain (708 feet, made in one hour); the world's largest paper clip chain (22.17 miles); the world's fastest human conveyor belt (a 100-student line transferred an object in two minutes); the world's tallest ice cream cone (13 inches) and the world's tallest tower of pencils (1,466 pencils at 7 feet, 2.5 inches).

Students also have established the World Records for Schools Web site (www.worldrecordsforschools.org), offering tips for coordinating and certifying world records.

Engineers Friday were on hand to assist with Guinness certification procedures. Students also planned to send documentation and videotape to the alternative records book and Ripley's. They also can be certified under World Records for Schools.

The honors are great for students.

"(We'll) feel like we've accomplished something in life that's important," said ninth-grader Melissa Bateman.

Students have put in a lot of work leading up to the feat.