Fort Worth high school is up for a Guinness World Record. But for what?
William West told his students all they needed were a few pairs of scissors, a committed team and enough paper to fill a gymnasium.
The Dunbar High School art teacher was recruiting 14 of his students to help build a paper snowflake measuring over 58 feet wide that would top a Guinness World Record paper creation that was 44 feet and 6 inches in diameter.
“When I first presented the [idea to my students], they kind of gave me a side eye like, “What you talking about?’,” West said.
For several days the art teacher and his band of students labored over hundreds of feet of paper — carefully folding and cutting — to create the mammoth snowflake.
The icing on the flake: “Dunbar” and “Fort Worth” were incorporated in the design. Now they wait for a call from the folks at Guinness for confirmation that their creation has broken the record.
Dunbar teacher proud of Guinness World Record attempt: ‘My kids were incredible’
West couldn’t be prouder of his students who helped in the huge undertaking.
“My kids were incredible, [they] were just amazing,” West said. “The best compliment I can give my kids is they did not expect me to have all the answers, they had to solve these problems and overcome these obstacles in order to succeed.”
An odd request to break a Guinness World Record
For West, paper snowflake’s are his bread and butter when it comes to teaching his kids. It allows students to be creative and make something unique with every cut or fold, he said.
He is always looking for creative opportunities. One day, as West was perusing the Guinness World Record website, he stumbled on the world’s largest paper snowflake record.
“I thought wait a minute, my students can do that,” he said. “And I just sort of built from there.”
West said he ran his idea by two assistant principals and principal at Dunbar, who asked him if this project was even feasible. The art teacher reassured them it was, and the school got behind West and his odd request.
“I mean, think about it, you’re a high school principal and some weirdo art teacher comes in and says, ‘I want to make a giant snowflake’,” West joked.
After getting the green light, finding enough paper was on West’s mind.
He called around town looking for a company who could provide the amount of paper needed for the project. Intercon Paper out of Dallas was happy to help — saving the the last few sheets of paper on each roll, which would have gone to recycling anyway, West said.
Assembling a Guinness World Record crew
West put together a crew of 14 students who ranged in age and grade — from the first level of art to kids in advanced placement classes.
Over a couple weeks, West and his students tried out techniques in creating such a large paper snowflake. They started with a 15-foot wide model, eventually incorporating techniques that worked and improving on others.
On March 2 it was go-time. The crew met at the MLK Community Center to begin splicing the giant paper rolls together into a 60-foot by 60-foot sheet of paper, West said. Everyone then helped fold the paper into the right configuration to be cut.
The following day, West and a few of his students went back to mark the design of the snowflake.
Finally, on March 4 notches on the paper were cut and then carefully unfolded so as not to tear anything.
After three days of work, the Dunbar crew finished a creation that West dubbed, “It’s Bigger in Fort Worth.”
“I cannot tell you how fantastic they were, these kids,” West said. “They just amazed me.”
Around seven or eight rolls of paper were used in the project.
This snowflake is one for the Guinness World Record
Just like a real snowflake, West told his students the paper version would only be around for a short time.
After being in the gym for a few days, they had to cleanup the project before the weekend was over because someone else needed to use the space. But West, who also teaches photography, made sure to snap more than a few photos of his students and the adults who helped make the project.
West is still waiting to hear back from Guinness on the status of their world record attempt. A normal application to Guinness can take up to 12 weeks for them to reply and then other 12 weeks to review the evidence for the attempted world record.
The Dunbar students included in the world record attempt are: Aniyah Browner, Isabella Chavez, Alondra De Leon, Ja’Leel Johnson, Ta’Mya Johnson, Lesly Martin, Lisbeth Moreno, Carmen Pineda, Danianett Rivera Figueroa, Mayte Sanchez, Isabel Vega, Gabriel Washington, Lanesia White and Raymond Whitney.
Along with the students, Chris McAfee, Alfred Brooks and West, are all on the ticket for the Guinness bid.
West said without Intercon, the MLK Community Center and the Wishful Wings Foundation, this project would not have been possiblre.
“The students just wanted to sort of shine a light on their school and our our city, and show people that positive things do come out of Dunbar,” West said.
