By Victoria Hurley-Schubert, Staff Writer
Thirty-five Princeton Girl Scouts hope to help break the Guinness World Records title for the most people doing jumping jacks by participating in National Geographic Kids magazine’s “Let’s Jump!” on Tuesday.
The girls did jumping jacks in the courtyard of the Princeton Shopping Center for one full minute. But, it wasn’t as easy as it might sound.
”After 15 seconds I got really tired,” said 9-year-old Emily Sullivan, a fourth grader at Community Park School. “But it wasn’t that hard.”
”We want to get a record,” and be in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2013,” added troopmate Lydia Cohen.
Nationally, more than 20,000 people had to do jumping jacks continuously for one minute sometime between 3 p.m. on Tuesday and 3 p.m. on Wednesday to break the record. The Princeton scouts did their stint at 3:45 p.m.
”It was fun and it’s really nice to do something people across the country are doing,” said Jordan Haller, a fourth grade Girl Scout at Stuart Country Day School.
”Let’s Jump!” supports First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign, which encourages kids and families to be healthy and active.
”I saw it on Yahoo that First Lady Michelle Obama had this Let’s Move! campaign with National Geographic Kids,” said Karen Freundlich, leader of Cadette Troop 70675, who organized the event in three days. “The shopping center was wonderful. When I had this idea I called up the general manager and she said yes. If she hadn’t we wouldn’t have had a place to meet.”
An independent timekeeper and witness were onsite to verify the number of girls and how long they jumped.
Participating girls received a “Fitness is Fun” badge.
