Baylor Invites Central Texas To Help Break Zumba World Record
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On April 18, 1996, Baylor University lifted its 151-year-old ban on dancing with great fanfare. Fifteen years later, Baylor hopes its collective dance fever will set a Guinness World Record. And Central Texas is invited to join the party.
The accounting department of Baylor's Hankamer School of Business is calling on Baylor faculty, staff and students and Central Texas residents to help break the record for the world's largest Zumba class on Thursday, April 14, on Fountain Mall on the Baylor campus. The current world record stands at 1,135 people, recently set by the University of South Carolina.
The event - dubbed Bear Zumba - will help raise funds for Baylor accounting students' vocational mission trip to Uganda this summer.
The entry fee is $5 for participants who register online for Bear Zumba at www.baylor.edu/zumba. Early registration is encouraged in order to make the morning of the event as efficient as possible.
Registration the day of the event is $10.
Check-in will begin at 8 a.m. Thursday, with the attempt at the record-breaking class beginning at approximately 9:15 a.m. Fountain Mall is located on Fifth Street in the center of campus.
Zumba is a Latin-inspired, calorie-burning dance-fitness party that is moving millions of people toward joy and health. Since its inception in 2001, the Zumba program has grown to become the world's largest - and most successful - dance-fitness program with more than 10 million people of all shapes, sizes and ages taking weekly Zumba classes at 90,000 locations across more than 110 countries.
The Bear Zumba event will coincide with this year's Diadeloso, a Baylor holiday meaning "Day of the Bear." The Diadeloso of 1996 marked the first official day Baylor students could dance on campus.
The money raised will help fund the 2011 Accounting Vocational Mission trip to Uganda from May 16-27. Students on the trip work together with Uganda Christian University and Compassion International to provide hands-on consulting to small businesses and churches in Uganda. The accounting department also hopes to raise enough money to provide venture capital, or small business loans, to Ugandan startup companies.
Baylor senior Doug Kimball will be part of the accounting mission trip for the third time.
"This trip is about equipping and encouraging God's people for His glory. I hope this trip encourages students to view their future business careers as much more than making money and earning a title," Kimball said.
Like Kimball, senior Victoria Sanchez also will make her third trip to Uganda.
"Everyone on this year's team feels called to go Uganda. I am a firm believer that when God calls us to do something, he will always provide a way to make it happen. I am excited to see how God is going to use something as crazy as beating the world record for a Zumba class to impact Uganda," Sanchez said.
Event sponsors include Pollei DesignWorks, Ernst & Young, W-Promotions, Deloitte, PKF (Pannell Kerr Foster), KPMG and Joy's Dance Studio.
For more information about the event or to volunteer, contact Dr. Kathy Hurtt, assistant professor of accounting, at Kathy_Hurtt@baylor.edu.
Donations are gladly accepted for the Uganda trip on the President's Scholarship Initiative website. -->
Media contact: Lori Fogleman, director of media communications, (254) 710-6275