Marlborough is officially in the 2011 Guinness Book of World Records for breaking the record of the highest number of people to jump rope at the same time. On Feb. 1, 2010, over 300 Californian schools, with a combined 70,880  people, rallied together and jumped rope for ten minutes.

The California Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (CAHPERD) organized the event.  Their goal was to have 80,000 people within the state jump at one time in order to surpass Australia’s record of 50,000 people.

Julie Napoleon, the Middle School Athletics Coordinator, orchestrated the event.  As an athletic administrator, she thought it was worthwhile to participate in this activity and support CAPHERD.

“It was a great way to promote jumping rope, which is a good form of exercise, as well as a fun activity for the school to participate in as a whole,” Napoleon said.

Students weren’t the only ones who helped accomplish the goal.  Teachers also took time out of their busy schedules to jump rope with the student body.

“I remember Mr. Scarborough trying to jump rope without any shoes on,”  Pilar ’15 said.

While all students at Marlborough are required to wear some sort of athletic shoe, teachers are not.  The fact that the teachers weren’t wearing athletic shoes posed a problem when they tried to jump rope, according to mathematics instructor Alison Moser.

“I remember thinking it was a very bad idea to wear heels that day,” Moser said.

Marlborough hosted two separate jump rope extravaganzas during the 2009-10 school year: the CAPHERD event and the 8th graders’ annual Jump Rope for Heart event, for which they’ve raised $15,000 over the last three years.

“It was exciting to find out that we were a part of something with over 70,000 other people.  It’s an example of what can be accomplished when people come together,” Napoleon said.