“Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'"
“Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin” it was at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium! OU Sooners broke two Guinness World Records live on The TODAY show. Al Roker, the show’s beloved weatherman, rallied the OU campus on Monday morning for “Rokerthon.” Roker is helping student bodies break a string of world records in five days at five different college campuses across the country.
Roker’s first stop was in Norman, Okla. OU students broke not one, but two world records for the world’s largest human weather symbols, including a lightning bolt and a cloud. Students, faculty and staff packed into the shapes drawn out on Owen Field. The Pride of Oklahoma marching band, OU men’s and women’s gymnastics teams, National Merit Scholars, and student fanatics made the feat possible, along with faculty and staff members.
Guinness World Records representative Michael Empric flew in from New York to verify the records were completed and executed accurately. Empric said attempting and breaking two world records was a huge accomplishment. He counted 490 people in the cloud and 280 in the lightning bolt.
OU sophomore Chase Nounou is a member of the OU REF/NEKS. He said meeting Roker and setting two Guinness World Records was an incredible experience.
“OU is already on the map. We’re a great school with great athletics and academics, but to have someone come here and want to let us break a world record on TV, that’s not something that a lot of campuses can do,” said Nounou. “It’s a really cool fact that we’re here and a part of it.”
The energy management major from Houston, Texas, joined his fellow OU REF/NEKS and LIL’ SIS members to give Roker the ride of a lifetime in OU’s Sooner Schooner. Hundreds of students cheered as Roker made his grand entrance with the ponies Boomer and Sooner.
“Riding out on the Schooner, I guarantee he loved it,” said Nounou. “I even think it went a little faster than he expected.”
But that’s not all. As a surprise, Roker announced live on TV that two students had won a $5,000 scholarship check. Both recipients said they plan to use the money toward studying abroad.
“I’m actually studying abroad next year, and that will really help pay for some of my trip, which is really nice. I’ll be going to Heidelberg, Germany for a year,” said Kelsey Hull, one of the two scholarship recipients. “This has been an incredible surprise.”
From a network-televised event to setting two different Guinness World Records, “Rokerthon” presented the OU community with a unique opportunity. This successful cross-collaboration of professionals and students combined their skills and talents quickly, pulling together a rollout of OU’s best. It’s safe to say that “Rokerthon” is an event that will go down in the history books!
