Nazareth Area Middle Schoolers break world whistling title

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES
The Nazareth Area Middle School student body has broken a Guinness World Record for the most people whistling simultaneously at a single venue.

The district learned the students had broken the record Friday when they received certification from representatives of London-based Guinness World Records Ltd. The certificate acknowledges the record has been broken by the Nazareth Area Middle School, complete with a formalized seal.

The previous record was attained June 6, 2010, by 329 people who whistled for about five minutes at a shopping mall in Tokyo.

With a dozen Lehigh Valley-area veterans at their side and the assistance of the Nazareth Area High School Wind Ensemble, roughly 750 seventh- and eighth-graders on May 27 packed the football field to whistle "America the Beautiful" and "God Bless America" in honor of Lehigh Valley veterans.

Nazareth students also had surpassed the five-minute record held by the Japan group.

“It feels really good to reach the goal,” said Monique Ohrwashel, adviser of the student-run Make-A-Wish Club. “It feels rewarding to finally get the certificate and have it be accomplished."

The idea to break the record had come from Ohrwashel’s son, Cameron Ohrwashel, who was 14 and an eighth-grader at the time of the event. It was Cameron Ohrwashel who wanted to break a Guinness World Record and began looking up various records that the school would be able to assist him with.

Prior to the whistling, students also gathered donations from family members, friends and others to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Greater Pennsylvania, Pottsville Regional Office. Monique Ohrwashel said the goal was to raise $1 per student for a total of $750.

The student-run Make-A-Wish Club, which gained the backing of the Nazareth Area School Board, was launched in the fall by Cameron Ohrwashel following his idea to break the record. He said he had wanted to raise funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation — which benefits the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses — while breaking the record.

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