(Not that record, I’m talking vinyl records)

I gave a talk to the kids at Futures Public Charter School describing my journey from not being smart enough for the gifted program to getting an electrical engineering degree from MIT and from having no Guinness World Records 4 short years ago to having over 130 today.

I juggled, balanced, and hopefully inspired kids to believe they can do more than they thought possible, especially when working on challenging problems. I loved the kids’ reactions and their support.

I then attempted to break the Guinness World Record’s Title for “most vinyl records smashed in 30 seconds”. The previous record was 38. The records were removed from their cases and inspected for micro fractures before the attempt. A few were found with small holes drilled near their center (maybe indicating that they were no longer playable?) Those were all removed before the attempt.

I had 30 seconds to break them completely, one at a time using only my hands. I started off strong and did well until I got a few records that were more flexible than the rest and instead of breaking they only flexed. In practice, I discovered it’s much faster to drop it and move on to the next instead of trying even hard. If I take up precious seconds there’s a chance it might break, but sometimes the records just bend all the way in half and never breaks.

When time was called I had broken 38. It was good enough to tie the record but I wanted to do even better. We lined up another stretch of records and tried again. This time I went even faster. I was doing great until again, I ran into a stretch that just flexed. I touched 46 records in 30 seconds but 7 didn’t break and had to be disqualified. The final count was 39. A new Guinness World Records Title!

As soon as I finished I realized my hands were covered in a half dozen cuts from the shards of the fractured records. The kids could see the blood and showed their concern but I was happy to have broken the record and assured them that my hands would be fine. It was a wise decision to wear safety goggles for this one.

Thanks to Amanda, Estee, Chris, and Future’s Public Charter School for having me out to inspire kids to pursue STEM with a Growth Mindset!