High school students hoping selfie stick stunt will land them Guinness record

Some southwestern Ontario high school students are hoping a homemade selfie stick will help make them famous.

Win Grau, a teacher at London's Saunders Secondary School, said he and his photography students snapped a photo with a 36-foot selfie stick just before the start of March Break.

They are aiming to take the record for the longest selfie stick from comic actor Ben Stiller, who was recognized by Guinness World Records in this very same category last month. Stiller was trying to promote the recently released sequel to Zoolander and it involved a selfie stick that measured just over 28 feet (or more than 8.5 metres).

But records are made to be broken and Grau's photography students want to do just that.

"It's worth a try," Grau told CBC Radio's Afternoon Drive on Tuesday when explaining what he told his photography students when they asked if he thought they could break the record.

Hang-glider parts used to build selfie stick

The selfie stick they used in their record attempt, which measured nearly 11 metres in length, was constructed from the parts of a disassembled hang-glider Grau had in his classroom.

"I have an old hang-glider that I used to use and I kind of decommissioned it, so I had the poles sticking around and you know we put 'em all together and lo and behold, we're sitting at about 36 feet," he said. "And we put a camera on the end, gave it a try and sure enough, we could lift it up at 36 feet."

Whether this will be enough for the students and their teacher to get the official record-holding title from Guinness is yet to be seen. Grau said they will be submitting an "evidence package" and hope to hear a verdict within a few weeks.

The final photo includes dozens of students, who Grau said were a mix of photography students and other people at the school who just wanted to take part in the moment.

Grau said some students used a drone to record the event as it was happening.