'Our hard work pays off': Racine Elementary School attempts Guinness World Record for cereal box dominoes

 

RACINE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Normally, the hallways of Red Apple Elementary School in Racine are filled with books and backpacks. But on Friday, thousands of cereal boxes lined the floors instead.

In an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest cereal box domino line (yes, it's real), students and teachers spent the past month collecting more than 7,000 boxes.

On Feb. 3, they spent hours precariously lining the boxes up through multiple floors in the school, up and down stairs, and all the way down to the gym. 

Nine-year-old Zeaira Thomas said she was excited to participate since she was a virtual student through the pandemic.

"I think I set up like 100, probably?" Thomas told CBS 58's Ellie Nakamoto-White. 

Sam Monday, a fourth grader, said while setting up the boxes was "amazing", he was nervous that someone would knock one over and they'd have to restart.

Thankfully, if that happened, teachers were ready with a plan. 

"We pull out every tenth box so in case there was a mishap, we were able to pick them back up again," said Susanne Kelly-Johnson, a teacher with the school for 32 years. 

Decked out in red for school spirit, hundreds of small hands worked together to reach a big goal.

What does more than 7,000 cereal boxes and an entire #Racine elementary have to do with a Guiness World Record? Tune into ⁦@CBS58⁩ at 5 to watch how I spent my morning at Red Apple Elementary ??? pic.twitter.com/gGoryrxXgO

— Ellie Nakamoto-White (@ellienw_news) February 3, 2023

And with a final countdown, complete with screams and cheers, the boxes were off -- circling and spiraling all the way to the bottom. 

"It worked! It was crazy that it actually worked!" said Trish Howard, a school counselor. 

Fifth grader Brandon Green said his favorite part was watching the boxes fall downstairs. 

“I knew that a lot of people were excited today because everybody on the balcony was screaming," Green said.

But don't worry -- Tony the Tiger, Count Chocula, and Toucan Sam will rise again.

All of the cereal will be donated to local organizations and food pantries around the area.

“For them to realize that they are using it and it’s going to their community and possibly to some of them, when the families go to those food banks, I think is awesome," Kelly-Johnson said. 

While we do not know yet if they did, in fact, break the world record, we should know in the upcoming weeks.

“I think all our hard work pays off and it shows them that when we work together and set a goal, we can actually do this when we’re patient and we’re a team," Howard said.