Boise State is having their annual Engineering and Science Festival on Saturday, February 3rd and for the 3rd year in a row, I’m going attempt to break a Guinness World Record there. There are dozens of activities, presentations, exhibits, and more for kids and adults alike to get a taste of STEM. I highly encourage anyone in the region to come check it out from 9 AM to 4 PM.
At 2 PM I’ll be in the Hatch Ballroom juggling, balancing, and attempting impossible feats while weaving in the story of how I went from an average kid in public education to an engineer at MIT (and then back to an average technology professional in Boise with 36 Guinness World Records).
The culmination of the presentation will be an official Guinness World Record attempt for “Most times to hit a target using a foam-bullet gun in one minute”. Think NERF gun shooting. The record to beat is 11 in 1 minute. That might not sound hard until you realize the target is over 5 meters away and just 9.8 inches wide. The darts not only have to stick but remain stuck for the full minute and 5 seconds after. If any foam dart hits one already on the board it bounces right off. The gun also has to be a single-loader so it can only hold one foam dart at a time and has to be reloaded after every shot.
But like all challenges in life, if you work hard and pursue it with a passion, you can accomplish anything. This is a challenge for which I have practice and for which I am ready.
