West Hartford Elementary School Sets New Guinness World Record

It’s official. Guinness World Records has been named Webster Hill Elementary School of West Hartford as the record holder of the world’s largest origami butterfly with its measurements of 4.36 by 3.29 meters.

This monumental act was recorded on March 11, 2015 in the school’s gym under the direction of math tutor Madelyn Filomeno and physical education teacher Eileen Shahverdian.

Fifth-grade students Amy Ni and Annie Lopez-Lopez folded a 7.3 meter Kraft paper square into the world’s largest Origami butterfly.

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While setting a new world record is an impressive accomplishment, the real victory is the creative inspiration of math.

The idea to establish a record-breaking origami butterfly began several years ago as a result of the school’s Family Math Night that used a concept called Math in Motion.

Family Math Night challenged students to come up with a creative way to solve a math problem in their own unique way. The special event was set up like a science fair and students had an opportunity to teach their concept to anyone who that stopped by his or her table.

“We have seen such wonderful expressions of math in very non-conventional ways, including songs, puppets, posters, poems, games, and now origami,” Filomeno, one of the founding members of Math in Motion, said in a press release.

The introduction of Origami a few years ago was a natural progression of the seven steps of problem-solving found in the West Hartford math and science curriculum.

“Origami is inherently rich in math concepts, vocabulary, prepositions, 3-D imagery, symmetry, prioritization of accuracy, and the list goes on and on,” Filomeno said. “Students had so much fun and were so focused, they did not know they were learning!”

Eileen Shahverdian, physical education teacher at Webster Hill School, infused her PE lessons with the art of origami. Many students chose to return to the gym during recess to learn more. Their learning was self-motivated and interdisciplinary across several academic areas.

“We felt that starting with these sectional pieces of symmetry, we could reinforce fraction concepts and math vocabulary,” Shahverdian said. “We allowed the students to problem solve and evolve freely through their own experiences with math.”

Two students in particular, Amy Ni and Annie Lopez-Lopez, were so keen on it that they gave up many recesses to attend.

“Once we felt Amy and Annie were knowledgeable in creating the origami butterfly on a small scale, we decided to try and make larger and larger models until one day we decided to go for the world record with Guinness!” Shahverdian said.

The one-hour record-setting attempt on March 11, 2015 was captured through measurements by a certified land surveyor, official witness statements, 106 photographs and video. All of the documentation was submitted to Guinness World Records of London, England, along with supporting research papers on the Origami folds and the Kraft paper that was used.

Many individuals were involved in this event including school custodian Mike Johnson and teacher assistant Greg Staley who carefully pieced together the sections of Kraft paper to create the giant square.

Land surveyor Peter Woelk and Surveyor Assistant David Flynn who measured the paper before and after the fold. Expert witnesses including origami specialists Julie Phillips and Dori Melowicz, engineers Dan Gilmour and Julie Vera, public notary Susan Rheaume and public relations specialist Renée McCue.

After a lengthy review, Webster Hill School got word that they were the official record holder.

“We were so proud of the problem solving skills and discipline used by our students to continue to work on this record for over two years,” Filomeno said. “They had to practice, learn, develop, fail, re-fold, and try again and again until they finally secured the record. Their dedication and hard work was inspirational. Whether they did or did not obtain the world record was not as important as the problem solving they gained as a result of experience.”

Superintendent of Schools Tom Moore said:

“Congratulations to Webster Hill Elementary School for this world record, for changing the way math can be thought of, but more importantly, for cultivating passion, confidence and self-motivation in our students’ learning!”

Contributed photos

Photo 1: Annie Lopez-Lopez and Amy Ni, Webster Hill fifth grade students who folded the giant square into a butterfly. (The girls are now at Sedgwick Middle School).

Photo 2: Madelyn, Annie, Amy and Eileen putting the final folds on the butterfly.

Photo 3: Madelyn Filomeno, Webster Hill School math tutor, Annie Lopez-Lopez, Amy Ni, and Eileen Shahverdian, physical education teacher, Webster Hill School.

Photo 4: Superintendent of Schools Tom Moore with certificate

Photo 5: Guinness World Record Certificate