THE UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas (UST) honored the heroism of teachers on Friday by gathering the largest number of participants to form the message and breaking the Guinness world record in the process.
It took 16,729 volunteer students and teachers to form the sentence “My teacher is my hero” in celebration of National Teachers’ Month, said Alvin Ringo Reyes, chairman of the Teacher and Education Department and the event organizer. The sentence was formed at exactly 9:25 a.m.
It was good news for the Catholic school that has been in the headlines since last week following the death of a law school freshman after brutal fraternity hazing rites.
“What I would like to emphasize here is that we are not just breaking records, we are sending a message,” said Reyes.
“We would like to stress that teachers are heroes and there are a lot of faces of heroism among teachers. From the extended work that they do as they go home, for taking the extra time to deepen their expertise, to ensure the integrity of our election by risking their lives and those who are reaching out to indigenous people who require education,” Reyes said.
The university broke the record held by India, which had 16,550 participants.
“We invited every Thomasian to participate in this event.” Reyes said.
Reyes also said the university conducted a dry run on Thursday.
Reyes said the university would send all the necessary documents to the Guinness headquarters in London which, in turn, would send a certification of the feat within two months.
UST also holds the Guinness record of forming the world’s largest human cross.