Brainerd High School added a little pop to this year’s Fourth of July. BHS’s Spanish students attempted to break the Guinness Book of World Records for the most party poppers simultaneously popped.
Brainerd High School junior, Megan Wroolie says, “It was a brand new idea that nobody has really done before and it’s just different. No one really thinks of it. And it’s a Guinness World Record.”
The goal was to get 1,000 people to pop 1,000 party poppers at the same time. The Spanish students promoted their event for two weeks around town. They sold buttons to donators who wanted to take part in all the excitement.
Reilly Miller, Brainerd Spanish junior, says, “Just seeing all the confetti going in the air and all the people and the actual Guinness people being there is a pretty big deal. And I don’t think we’ve done anything like this in Brainerd, so the fact that it’s a new thing.”
While it doesn’t look like a world record will be broken today, the donations from this event will help the Brainerd High School Spanish students fund their trip to Peru.
Brainerd junior Spanish student, Jillian Richards, says, “Each person who wants to go on the trip and I think there’s 49 of us has to raise $3,350 in order to go to Peru. And whatever money we don’t make fundraising we have to come up with ourselves.”
During the last two weeks the students sold buttons for five dollars, bagged groceries and sold bratwursts at Cub Foods. They say it’s important for them to raise the funds so they can put their Spanish studies to the test during their trip to Latin America.
Wroolie says, “It’s a big language and you can use it almost everywhere, so it’s worldwide and it’s a good skill to have to learn how to speak it and write it and everything.”
Miller says, “Yeah and staying with families that speak strictly Spanish and minimal English will be a challenge and I’m excited for that.”
The students were only able to pop 154 party poppers this time. But they say they’re happy to go down in the Minnesota record books.

By — Lakeland PBS

Our mission to educate, entertain, enrich, and enlighten.