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With A Little Coordination, The BJC Crowd Could Break Multiple World Records During THON Weekend

Dancers defy barriers every year as they spend 46 straight hours on their feet during THON weekend. (Boundaries? Not in here!) Although there’s nothing we would rather do during these 46 hours than dance, we looked at what world records the could be broken with the crowd and a little coordination in the BJC.

Cup Percussion

We’ll start off with a pretty easy one. The record for largest cup percussion ensemble stands at 2,398 participants who banged and tapped cups along to a 6 minute, 5 second song called “Pursuing” in May last year. With more 700 dancers standing this year and thousands of spectators, we could easily demolish this record. Who has some extra solo cups laying around?

High Fives All Around

While this one would be a bit more of a workout, the individual record for the most high fives in one hour currently stands at 2,514. This breaks down to approximately 42 high fives per minute, which isn’t too bad if you think about it. Although this would take some serious coordination, there is no doubt that a couple thousand spectators could wrap around the concourse with their hands out. Just make sure there’s plenty of hand sanitizer ready at the end.

Tailgate or BJC Floor?

Currently standing at 702 people, the record for largest water balloon toss could be crushed between dancers and dancer relation members alone. This attempt may be better if done earlier in the weekend, as coordination may be lost as the 46 hours creep on. Sure, the BJC floor may get a little messy, but you know how much we love to see a good ol’ OPP floor cleaning.

Most People Inside A Giant Soap Bubble

As if OPP doesn’t have enough to do over the course of the weekend, cleaning up from an attempt to break the record for most people inside a soap bubble would certainly be an added challenge. The record, which currently stands at 374, could be broken by about half of the dancers. Hey, if they have to stand anyway, why not have them stand in a giant bubble?

Longest Massage Chain

Dancers legs aren’t the only part of them that gets sore. If the dancers wanted to form a line and give each other a massage, a head massage that is, they could break the record for longest head massage chain. The record currently sits at 578 people and was set just recently in 2017. So go ahead dancers, get massaging.

Everybody Likes To Swing

Now we can’t think of a more appropriate time to break this next record. The record for the largest swing dance comes in at only 1,184 participants. If every one of the 700+ dancers grabbed a partner and pulled out their best jitterbug, this record would be gone in a jiffy.

Hug Me, Brother!

Dancers spend the weekend getting very close to committee members and their fellow dancers. One way to take that relationship to the next level would be an attempt to break the world record for longest marathon hug. At 32 hours, 32 minutes, and 32 seconds, a pair of dancers could break this record and have time to spare on the BJC floor.

MORE COWBELL

As if it’s not noisy enough in the BJC already, one thing all Penn State needs is more cowbell. With the record for most people ringing cowbells simultaneously belonging to Mississippi State University and ringing in at 5,748 students, it only seems right that Penn State students take a crack at it now.


This is only a sampling of the records that could be broken in the BJC over THON weekend. The goal of these 46 hours is to break different kinds of barriers, so why not get started? It’s all #FTK, after all.

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About the Author

Janelle Rothacker

Currently a senior studying Kinesiology, Janelle is proud to call upstate NY (the real part, not the 30 minutes north of the city part) home. She's an avid runner and enjoys everything and anything sports. She also has a love of pancakes, avoids the HUB like the plague during the in between classes rush, and can quote the majority of Friends episodes from memory. If you want to hear all the embarrassing things she does daily, or want to contact her, follow her on twitter at @janellerothack or email her at [email protected].

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