More than 41,000 kisses recorded as Pennsbury prom tries for Guinness world record

Seniors at Pennsbury High School hope their prom will be remembered for breaking a world record for the number of kisses they could collect on a mural.A lot of kissing took place this year as Pennsbury High School seniors prepared for their prom Saturday.A total of 41,692 smooches, to be exact. At least, that’s the number recorded on paper.The Class of 2019 hopes that will be more than enough to put the school in the Guinness World Records. As befitting the school’s previous Reader’s Digest and Seventeen ratings for holding “the best prom in America,” the senior class wanted to do something extra special for their big event.So students asked family members, friends and anyone else they could entice to put on some lipstick and smack kisses on little pieces of paper that were then glued to a mural. The mural has grown to 63-feet in length and 11-feet high with an even larger guitar in the center.On Saturday, members of the public viewed the giant display of lips during the pre-prom walk through at the high school’s East Campus where the first floor of the school, including bathrooms, are covered in artwork befitting this year’s theme, “Prom to the Music.”As a special guest, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame President and CEO Greg Harris was invited to attend. He’s an alumnus of the Class of 1983.Gary Nolan and his wife, Amy, of Lower Makefield came up with the mural idea as they prepared for their daughter, Melanie, to attend the prom. In 2017, Gary broke the Guinness record for running the fastest marathon while dressed in a Colonial American costume, said Ann Langtry, Pennsbury district spokeswoman. The Nolans thought the school deserved a mention in the Guinness book from all the fantastic work the students, teachers and parents do preparing for the prom each year, so they picked an assignment that they thought would be doable and that would be prom related. A mural of kisses sounded like a romantic idea.“We got kisses from everybody,” Gary Nolan said.“It was crazy. Lipstick tubes were everywhere,” said the Nolans’ younger daughter, Vanessa, 14. She noted that it was “a challenge” to convince boys to participate, but they did it for a good cause.Since a person could contribute more than one kiss, some parents “went crazy,” contributing more than a thousand kisses.The Nolans held a kiss-making party and bags and bags of paper kisses would show up at their front door. Estee Lauder and Smashbox donated tubes of lipstick. The high school’s art teachers Tonly Napoli and Curtis May prepared the mural — the largest of dozens that line the school hallways for the event. Gary Nolan said there are many requirements for a world record to be certified by the Guinness organization, so they made sure that they had the count verified and the small pieces of paper with the kisses on them were touching — no whiteboard could be showing on the mural. “We went through a gross of hot glue,” Gary Nolan said.The record is 13,316, which was set in Brazil in 2012, the school noted on a poster next to the mural.Langtry praised the Nolans for bringing their expertise in applying for the Guinness record and all the students, parents, teachers, alumni and even alumni parents who helped out in the effort. “The whole prom is one big community effort,” she said.Gary Nolan said he wasn’t sure how long it will take for the Guinness organization to verify the kissing mural, but he was glad that the students and community put so much effort into the prom, as they do every year.“The kids don’t roll up their eyes, they roll up their sleeves,” he said. “It’s nice to see people having a tradition like that and keep it going.”
Source: Morningcall