Schools

VIDEO: World Record? (Full Story)

The Class of 2012 made an attempt at the record books on Wednesday.

Like a scene from the Noah's Ark story, they came in two by two by two by... well, you get it. The Amity High School Class of 2012 has 14 sets of twins and one set of triplets, some that have been together since Kindergarten.

Katherine Holden, (a triplet) of Orange remembers going to Mary L. Tracy School with her siblings, Eric and Rachel with seven sets of twins. This got her thinking that the huge amount of "multiples" at Amity must be some kind of record.

"She did all the research," Eric said, looking proudly at his sister, "this was all her."

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Katherine contacted officials at the Guinness Book of World Records in London and learned that another Connecticut high school attempted the record for most twins in one school class — this was the Class of 2010 at Pomperaug High School in Southbury with 13 sets.

But something may have gone wrong with their application, since Guinness has the current record holder as Raymond J. Grey Jr. High School in Acton, Mass., which had 10 sets of twins in the same class in the 2006-07 year (according to an Internet search).

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J.J. Pearce High School, in Richardson, Texas, was featured on the Today Show in March 2011, with 10 pairs of twins, and a set of triplets in the junior class as the newest record holder.

In that case, Amity's entry may very well be featured in the 2012 World Record Book.

To prepare, Katherine's research revealed that all of the "multiples" had to be present at a public venue with witnesses, photos, and video to submit along with a pile of paperwork.

Wednesday, Oct. 19 was yearbook photo day at Amity High School and Katherine chose this for the official world record attempt.

The event was scheduled for 9:30 a.m., but began much sooner, with reporters and Channel 8 waiting in the conference room for them.

The 31 honored students filed in and faced the press, then made their way to the media room where Robert Taylor Photography was setting up the shot with the twins and finally the Holden triplets along the bookcases and pilars for the official World Record photograph.

With each pair, he set them up so that they were "obviously" together, either sitting or standing next to one another or touching — connected in some way. "Brilliant" is how one onlooker described it as he stood back, took a look, then had someone move a leg or arm until everything was "picture perfect."

To make it official, the tri-town first selectmen, Jim Zeoli of Orange, Derry Gorski of Bethany and Ed Sheehy of Woodbridge were present to serve as witnesses "independent of the school."

A student from the multimedia class videotaped the entire affair.

Now that the important stuff is over with, Katherine has all the busy work to complete — getting copies of birth certificates and one other form of identification, the witness statements from the first selectmen, getting copies of the photos, news articles and the video and sending the entire package to the Guinness officials in London, England.

She is confident that they will have confirmation by graduation in June.

If everything goes as planned and Guinness approves the application, the  graduating seniors who will be making history at Amity are: Grayson and Tanner Amoroso; Marc and Michael Cerami; Freeman and Miranda Demirjian; Ashley and Simone Finch; shane and Shannon Gallagher; Ashley and Nicole Gherlone; Jennifer and Matthew Heyman; and Eric, Katherine and Rachel Holden.

Also, Jonah and Kyle LeMere; Melissa and Rebecca Matyasovsky, Jasmin and Kiele Portelinha, Camila and Daniel Recalde; Elizabeth and Rachel Skalka; Allison and Samuel Stack; and Andrew and Sarah Teitelman.

Photo set up by Robert Taylor Photography.


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