A diverse, entertaining, world record breaking O' Week

Wednesday 28 February 2018

Thousands of students have kicked off the study year with Orientation Week, held over the past two weeks on Massey's campuses.

A diverse, entertaining, world record breaking O' Week - image1
Last updated: Thursday 25 August 2022

Thousands of students have kicked off the study year with Orientation Week, held over the past two weeks on Massey’s campuses. Student accommodation is filling up and staff have been on hand to answer new and returning students questions about life at Massey University.

Last week, Manawatū got the party started with $1 ice-creams all week on campus. O’ Week events included an international dinner, the midweek market and live music, the Massey University Students’ Association Future Fest Comedy Gala and OpShop Ball at Massey’s Sport and Recreation Centre, water sports on the oval at lunchtime and a pool party at the Lido Aquatic Centre.

Undoubtedly the highlight was the two world record attempts, which saw hundreds of students smash both the record for the most amount of high-fives in one minute and the most people participating simultaneously in a game of tunnel ball.

Massey smashes world records

For the first record attempt, participants had to stand in a line while one person tried to high-five as many hands as possible. The record they were trying to beat was 290 set in San Diego in 2016. After two unsuccessful attempts by a student and a staff member, Massey sports coordinator Chris Sharrock was able to surpass the magic number, exceeding it by 20, for a total of 310 high-fives.

The next world record attempt was to have the most people participating simultaneously in a game of tunnel ball. It involved lines of 20 students with a ball starting at the front of a line, which is passed from front to back. Alternate people pass over their head, then between their legs to the person behind them. When the ball gets to the end of the line, the person at the back runs to the front and the passing then repeats.

The current world record was 120, achieved by St Columba’s Primary School in Brisbane, in 2008, but the Massey students easily surpassed that number with 450 people taking part.  

In Auckland, students celebrated diversity, with cultural performances from Tongan, Chinese, Japanese and African performers, including drumming, dancing and cultural games. New students were also given the opportunity to test ride E-bikes, play hungerball, get free henna tattoos and learn how to make decorative Pacific leis.

O' Week in Wellington

And there was plenty of entertainment in the capital, with live music, carnival days and a comedy night – much of it in student solidarity with the Victoria University Students' Association.

Events were launched with a toga party last Friday and lunchtime activities in the campus Pyramid. Clubs and Giveaways Day on the Tussock Lawn, organised by the Massey at Wellington Students’ Association, saw more than 30 clubs, societies and cultural groups to introduce their services to new and returning students.

There was also a comedy evening with comedian Guy Williams, Carnival Day and next Tuesday (March 6) students from both Massey and Victoria universities will gather for an outdoor film night; all culminating the following night in a Fact of the Day quiz at the Hotel Bristol in which staff and students from each university square off against each other in a battle of the brains.