The 852.19 meters of ribbon stretched across McKinney ISD’s football stadium held a whole lot of meaning for the Valley Creek Elementary School community.
The material represented four months of work by students, teachers, staff, parents and community members that began Nov. 7 and ended March 3. The five ribbon colors, reflecting the school colors for Faubion Middle School and McKinney High School, represented the future for Valley Creek Elementary students. The item itself, a friendship bracelet, represented a message of unity, kindness and connection.
It also represented a world record.
The McKinney ISD elementary school now officially holds the world record for the longest friendship bracelet according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the district announced on Thursday, May 4.
The announcement comes after a surveyor came to the MISD football field on Friday, April 28 to officially measure the bracelet in its entirety. The previous record was 660.48 meters.
“The students of Valley Creek Elementary have reminded everyone that when we come together and work towards a common goal, we can achieve great things and set a positive example for all humanity,” the record website states.
Korrie Lawson, vice president of academic enrichment with the school’s PTA, said the idea came from an effort to enrich every school subject this year, including art. She had an idea for a project where everyone could do a small piece of a larger project, she said.
“And I just came up with this idea of like, ‘What if we just made a giant friendship bracelet? Well what if we set a record?’” she said. “And I just Googled it and was like, ‘Look there’s a record. Let’s break it.’”
As a result, she said, they filed for an application with the Guinness Book of World Records in June.
Preparation for the project included finding a knotting technique that would work for all grade levels. That involved working with Amanda Kelly, an art teacher at Valley Creek Elementary who died unexpectedly in October 2022. Lawson also credited Kelly with choosing the symbolic five ribbon colors for the project.
Lawson said the goal of the project was to bring the community together as a whole.
“It just sounded so great, with all the divisiveness in society these days,” Lawson said. “We just wanted something where everyone worked together with the thoughts (of) just kindness and friendship and community and just working off of all those themes.”
Valley Creek Elementary Principal Dr. Ebonee King added that this school year’s theme is “stronger together.”
“It was just a great connection between the theme we had for this year, (...) just the symbolism of everybody coming together and everybody being united,” King said. “And so because it tied in well with our theme, you kind of start to see the connections between the community, the parents, the students, district leaders, city leaders. It was awesome. It all came together.”
Audrey Henvey is the reporter for the Frisco Enterprise, McKinney Courier-Gazette and Celina Record. Email her with story suggestions at ahenvey@starlocalmedia.com.
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