Whistling Record Unbroken
February 26, 2009 • By Rachel Chemerynski, The Breeze
Print This Post
Email This Post
HARRISONBURG, Va. — From whistling in the shower to happily tooting a tune while reading the newspaper, whistling isn’t something people give much thought to. But a group of students considered this simple activity and gathered together in Transitions on Sunday in attempt to break the world record for most people whistling at one time.
Unfortunately, not enough people came to take part in the record-breaking attempt. They needed 126, but those 40 or so who did show up were eager and ready, many of them practicing their skills with friends as they waited.
Sophomore friends Sarah Berlinger and Kelly Gatewood anxiously waited on a couch outside the room for the whistling to begin. Berlinger was especially excited for the contest because she’s always been a huge fan of Guinness books.
“I think it’s really cool,” Berlinger said. “I used to read Guinness books all the time.”
Berlinger said that she has heard stories of these fun and corky group-record attempts before, and even had a friend from Rutgers University attempt the most people dressed up as teenaged mutant ninja turtles in the same place.
The idea for the whistling record first came about as a project proposal for the Honors Learning Community. Freshman Bryan Brady and five other freshmen — Mary Nguyen, Steven Szatkowski, Rachel Gribling, Kevin Coleman and Jennifer Koch — were told to plan a group activity, such as a pizza party or sporting tournament.
But the ambitious group of six decided to take their project a step further. So the six brainstormed and figured, why not break a world record?
When the students began researching their options for possibly breaking a world record, they came across some interesting group records, from most people brushing their teeth at the same time to the largest bagel ever made.
Then they came across the whistling record, and thought it was the most feasible. Brady said the first whistling record was only about a year ago and therefore it hadn’t had a chance to build up yet. And the 126 people needed seemed attainable.
However, there was also a lot of work involved in the planning process for the project, including putting up flyers around campus and assigning two witnesses to make sure everything was official.
One of the chosen witnesses, former mayor Rodney Eagle, said that when the students asked him to participate back in November, he was more than happy to help, especially because they were JMU students.
Eagle’s job would have entailed making sure everyone signed in and to ensure everyone was carrying a tune, which Eagle admitted he could not do himself.
“Nothing surprises me about JMU and all the great people here,” Eagle said. “They’re always doing something fun.”
Contact Rachel Chemerynski at chemerrl@jmu.edu
Comments
Got something to say?
Check Out New Videos!
March 4, 2010 Issue in Print
2010 Baseball & Softball Guide
