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Community Corner

Attempt at Spooning Record Prompts Student Snuggling

While the event drew hundreds, the students at Washington University in St. Louis failed to break a record set in 2010.

Washington University students got up close and personal Thursday at Francis Field in an attempt to set the world record in spooning.

The cuddlers couldn't clinch the title, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

The event happened as part of Senior Week, a week of student activities sponsored by the Senior Class Council. Students began to arrive at about noon.

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“We started looking for a record to break back in February,” said Stephen Bailey, external vice president for the senior class of 2011. “We stumbled upon the record for most people spooning, 529 people, and we felt it would be both a feasible goal and that it would be kind of funny. Spooning is an act of physical intimacy that involves enveloping one person in another person’s arms. Our participants are going to line up and hug in a line.”

The record for most people spooning is held by the students of Carleton College in Northfield, MN, the Guinness World Records website states. They set the record on June 4.

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“We feel confident we can break the record,” said Alex Kiles, the Senior Class Council president, as students began to file in. “We’ve got 1,256 students in our class. And we bought 530 cups of Ted Drewes ice cream so they’ll have something to do while they wait.”

As 1 p.m. approached, more than 300 students had come through the gate to spoon. Kiles and Bailey encouraged everyone to call or text a friend to come join in and raise the numbers.

At 1 p.m., students split up according to freshman floor so that they could be with the group of friends they lived with during their first year on campus.

They made their way onto the field.

As it became apparent the students would not reach a record-breaking number, several students began to desert the group.

Kiles addressed the grumbling crowd from a megaphone.

“People keep asking me, ‘Are we gonna break the record?,’ Kiles said. "Maybe. We’re at 400 right now, but we came here to spoon, and ... we’re going to spoon!”

In the end, 246 students spooned for the five minutes required by the Guinness World Record rules. Many  headed on to a picnic in Forest Park, another component of Senior Week.

Kiles stayed in good spirits even though the group didn't break the spooning record.

“I’m very happy,” Kiles said. “We spooned. People got to reconnect with their freshman floor. And we’ve got more events coming up. Senior Week is not over yet.”

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