Story co-written with Sara Stanley. Story was originally published in The Sylva Herald on Feb. 20, 2020
Smoky Mountain High School attempted to break the Guinness World Record for the ‘most people hugging soft toys simultaneously’ on Friday, Feb. 14 in the school’s new gymnasium.
Over 800 students and staff from SMHS and the Catamount School aimed to break the record, which is currently set at 654.
As participants entered the gymnasium Friday morning, record witnesses collected a ticket from each person to verify the numbers.
Over the last several weeks, students collected over 1000 soft toys in their first period classrooms to use for the record-breaking attempt.
SMHS junior, Victoria Wlosok, was the student behind the idea for this event.
Wlosok was inspired to break a world record after reading the Guinness World Records books throughout her childhood.
“This is a personal passion project for me, and I am not getting any school credit. I thought it would be something cool for SMHS and all of Jackson County. I wanted to find a way to bring us all together,” Wlosok explained.
Wlosok said the school’s motto throughout the planning process was “spread the love.” This inspired them to hold the event on Valentine’s Day, as well as donate most of the stuffed animals afterwards. Donated toys will be going to the local Department of Social Services, REACH of Jackson County, and local EMS. SMHS student council volunteers will be distributing donations in the coming weeks.
Wlosok believes the school broke the record based on the first overall count. Official results will take approximately 12 weeks to be verified by Guinness World Records.
Wlosok was not alone in planning this event. Evelyn Graning, principal of SMHS, supported Wlosok throughout the preparation process.
“I feel like I’ve just been a cheerleader in the wings. I have reached out to people letting them know this is happening and posted on social media. This is completely and totally student-led, student-driven,” Graning said.
Graning and Wlosok both hoped this experience would boost student morale and encourage community engagement throughout the school.
“SMHS has risen to be number 10 in NC in terms of academic growth. Our teachers are amazing, our kids are amazing, we’ve got great school spirit,” Graning said.
Although the event lasted an hour on Friday morning, class schedules were altered so that no instructional time was missed.
Wlosok said she was happy with how everything came together and is grateful for all the support shown by students and staff.
