More than 200 Sunderland University students from 50 different countries have come together in an attempt to make a Guinness World Record.
During the recent International Welcome Event at the Stadium of Light, participants tried to set a record for most selfies taken in the space of three minutes, taking 134 selfies in that time.
Ivan Lehane, organiser of the event and the world record attempt, said:
“Everyone knows what a selfie is. It doesn’t matter what culture you’re from or what country you’re from. It’s world-recognised and it’s quite straight-forward to do. That’s why we decided to do selfie attempt, because it’s fun and interactive and everyone around the world knows what a selfie is.”
A special stage was set up for the attempt and participants were coming in two queues, taking a selfie with Ivan, who was in the middle of the stage.
This is the first time anything like this has been included in the International Welcome Event. Traditionally, the event takes place every year and its purpose is to welcome all international students from EU and non-EU countries alike and create a friendly atmosphere, but this year the organisers wanted to do something different.
That’s how they came up with the idea for the world record attempt.
Ivan said:“It took months of planning. Quite a lot of pre planning had to take place, because as easy as it sounds unfortunately it’s quite strict in terms of the number of rules they need for the official attempt itself. It’s a lot more rules than we expected.”
Students from all across Europe, China, Malaysia, Canada, America, Africa and the Middle East took part in the attempt.
“It was an incredible diverse group and it was great to see all the different communities and different cultures interacting as one.
“If the attempt is successful, we would be absolutely over the moon. I don’t think many students would have ever been in a world record attempt or have ever taken part in a world record attempt. From a student’s point of view, I think they really would enjoy it.
“We would be thrilled if we break the record. But if we don’t, we’ve had a brilliant night and I think the students had a fantastic night and that’s our main objective – just to make sure the students feel welcomed and that they are happy to take part in the event.”
The event took place on November 3 at the Stadium of Light.
The attempt is now being verified by Guinness and it will be known in 12 weeks if it has been successful.