Thanks to the Christa McAuliffe Charter School in Framingham, MA having me out on Monday to give a talk on STEM education, growth mindset, and overcoming adversity. I did some juggling, some balancing, faced some challenges from the kids (The 3 ball challenge) and then attempted to break an ambitious world record.
The record attempt was for “Fastest time to burst 200 balloons with a nail”. The previous record was 33.74 seconds. I had lots of great help from the students to inflate and tape 200 balloons to the wall. The wall was not even, the tape didn’t stick, the air was blowing, and the balloons kept popping, but we still made the attempt.
After a talk to the student body of about 400 about STEM education, having a growth mindset, facing failure, and overcoming adversity I attempted the record as the closing segment.
I made it through the first 50 balloons in 5 seconds on pace for 20 seconds. I then hit a few uneven sections of the wall, a couple balloons fell off the wall when the balloons before them popped. I had to slow to round a couple corners but I thought I might still get there. On the way back on the 2nd row of a hundred, even more balloons flew off the wall. I had to stop, pop balloons in mid-air, go back for a couple but finished on another good run.
I went to consult the timers. The final mark was just over 36 seconds. It was a failure, but that’s just fine. I have failed more times in my life than I have succeeded, but so long as the failure doesn’t define me – rather how I respond to it, all will be well. And that’s what I told these kids. Don’t let failure define you. Failure is an opportunity to learn and I learned a LOT from this. I’m going to call this my practice run and crush the record next time I try!
