Kids at RENCi at ECU read the Gettysburg Address simultaneously with school children across the nation as part of the celebration of Lincoln’s 200th birthday.

At 10 a.m. on February 12, home-schooled students from the Greenville area gathered around the visualization wall at RENCI at East Carolina University (ECU) to participate in a worldwide celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday.

Youngsters don 3D glasses to experience 3D visualizations done by researchers at RENCI at ECU.

Lincoln imagery is displayed on the visualization wall at RENCI at ECU.

RENCI at ECU Director Tom Allen and Technology Coordinator Stephen Sanchagrin introduced the children to the visualization wall, a 21-foot by 6-foot rear-projection system capable of visualizing data at 4.5 million pixels, and presented a brief overview of the life of Abraham Lincoln.

At 10:30 the children joined thousands of others from across the nation in reading the Gettysburg Address out loud—an attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Records’ record for the most people reading aloud simultaneously. A live webcast of the event originated from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, IL.

According to Guinness, the record for simultaneous reading aloud now stands at 223,363. RENCI at ECU will submit a list of children who participated in the reading to the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. Once lists of participants are tallied, organizers will determine whether the record was broken. More information on the event can be found at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum website.

After the reading, Allen and Sanchagrin demonstrated research done using the visualization wall and the 3D visualization capabilities of the wall, much to the delight of the children.