World's Tallest Tower of Pencils

      On Friday, October 20, 2006 (from 1:00-5:00 PM), several dozen ninth grade students at Eisenhower Junior High School in Taylorsville, Utah, broke the world record for the Tallest Tower of Pencils. They successfully made a tower of pencils that used 1,943 pencils and measured precisely nine-feet six-inches tall.
     The world record for the Tallest Tower of Pencils is recognized by the European organization for Alternative World Records and the American Pencil Collectors Society.
     There are eight rules for making the Tallest Tower of Pencils. They are as follows:
1) Three or more students may attempt to construct the tallest free-standing tower of unsharpened pencils-- which are no longer than 7-1/2 inches in length and no wider than 5/16 of an inch in width. No adhesives or other supporting materials may be used to support the pencil tower, and no notches or groves may be cut into the pencils to support the tower. 2) The width of the pencil tower must not exceed three feet in diameter. 3) Once students have placed the pencils in a particular position they may not substantially reposition them to offer support or prevent the tower from collapsing. However, they may remove pencils from the top of the developing tower and replace them at any point in the building process. 4) Pencils may be arranged in any fashion. 5) All pencils forming the tower must be visible at all times. 6) There is no time limit to this event. 7) The height of the pencils used to construct the tower--from its base to its top--must be determined to the closest 1/8 of an inch by using a precise method of measurement. (One-eighth of an inch is equal to 0.3175 centimeter.) 8) The number of pencils used to construct the tower--from its base to its top--should be accurately counted (or reasonably estimated if the tower collapses prior to its pencils being counted).
     Eisenhower Junior High School has a history of breaking world records. In fact, the school now holds more world records than any other school in the world. (See website: http://www.graniteschools.org/jr/eisenhower/world_records.html). During the past 19 years, Eisenhower students have broken or set over a half-dozen world records, including: Largest Pan Loaf of Bread, Longest Paper Clip Chain, Fastest Human Conveyor Belt, Longest Balloon Chain in One hour, Tallest Ice Cream Cone, and Longest Straw Chain. According to school principal, Dr. Nancy Jadallah, "Attempting world records are more than fun-they also teach important educational skills to students, including creativity, organization, cooperation, communications and logistics."
     For more information about this successful event, contact Mr. Kelly Huntington (sponsoring teacher), at: 801-646-5154, Eisenhower Jr. High, 4351 South Redwood Road, Taylorsville, Utah, 84123.

On March 21, 2005, Eisenhower Junior High School set the first world record for the tallest pencil tower. This first pencil tower (shown below) used 1,466 pencils and measured 7 feet, 2 and 1/2 inches high.

New World Record set in June 2007

On June 24-27, 2007, the American Pencil Collector Society Convention held in Trenton, MO., USA, certified the following World Record for the Tallest Pencil Tower built by students:

On June 26, 2007, several 13-to-19 year-old students from Trenton High School (1415 Oklahmoa Avenue, Trenton, MO, 64683) built a pencil tower (shown below) that measured 12-feet and used 1,308 pencils.