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September 29th, 2006
BRADENTON - The countdown at Harllee Middle School began at exactly 11:24:50 a.m. on Thursday, September 28.
“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six...“ the students at Harllee chanted in unison.
When the countdown reached zero, it wasn't the sound of a rocket that filled the air - it was the voices of more than 700 students reading aloud.
The students at Harllee joined their middle school peers across Manatee County and around the state in an effort to set a Guinness World Record for the largest number of people reading the same piece of literature aloud, simultaneously, in multiple locations.
The previous record was set in 2004 when 155,528 students in 737 schools throughout the United Kingdom read the poem “Daffodils,” written by William Wadsworth. Led by Governor Jeb Bush, state of Florida Education officials were hoping to rally more than 300,000 middle school students to read aloud together to smash the old record.
The selection read by the students at Harllee and elsewhere was an excerpt from the book, “Peter and the Starcatchers,” written by Dave Barry and Ridley Peterson. Broadcasting live from Walt Disney World in Orlando, Gov. Bush paced the reading-record effort and the students at Harllee chimed in.
“I was walking through the hallways and it was thrilling to hear everyone reading at the same time,” said Harllee Principal Carol Felton. “I could hear it echoing through the hallways and then at the end I heard everybody cheering.”
Marissa Maulbeck, an eighth-grader at Harllee, said she was glad to be part of the record-breaking attempt.
“I think it's pretty cool,” Maulbeck said. “It's like we're making history.”
Each school that participated in the run at the record had to have volunteers come in and witness the students reading aloud together. After the reading was over, the students had to sign forms saying they had actively participated.
Carmen Preseault, a reading coach at Harllee, said she hoped the event deepened the students' appreciation and interest in reading. Preseault also said it took a school-wide effort to take part in the project.
“The cooperation of the teachers and staff was great,” Preseault said. “It really took a combined effort from everybody.”
State education officials said it would probably be mid to late November before the assault on the reading record can be verified and recognized.
Harllee Middle student do their part to help set a new reading record