Franzen students chip in to pursue world record

Teachers at Franzen Intermediate School in Itasca knew they wanted to do something special for Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday.

When they discovered they could help break a world record by participating in the "Four Score and Seven" project, headed by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Principal Joanna Medwick knew they'd found that special something.

The project urged all U.S. school children in fifth through eighth grade to join in a simultaneous reading of the Gettysburg Address at 9:30 a.m. Thursday. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the record for most people reading aloud simultaneously is 223,363.

Whether that record actually fell Thursday is expected to take some time to determine.

Franzen students prepared well in advance to do their share in breaking the record, practicing the speech at home and studying Lincoln's legacy in class.

"They came in and they just knew it," Medwick said. "You could tell they had practiced and, even though we had the speech on a big screen in the gym, they were very loud and clear and many didn't need it."

To make sure the school followed protocol required by the Guinness Book of World Records, Itasca Police Chief Scott Heher and Assistant Fire Chief Greg McDonald acted as official witnesses.

To pay further homage to the former president, the 309 Franzen students and 39 staff members who participated also created Lincoln-themed name tags with their own pennies, dressed in red, white and blue, and sang "Happy Birthday" to the man in the stovepipe hat.

"He may not hear it - well he may hear it somewhere - but we just thought he needed his birthday sung," Medwick said.