Record popped 848 times

By Jade Lawton
BERWICK Secondary College is now home to 848 world-record holders.
On Tuesday, 848 students simultaneously opened bottles of Pepsi Max in the school’s stadium.
The event smashed the previous world record of 760 bottles, held by Dubai and Coca-Cola.
Organiser James Lund, a Year 12 student at the school, said the event was a year in the making.
“We were actually writing letters but someone on the school council had a friend at Pepsi, so we went through them,” he said.
Pepsi donated 3000 bottles of Pepsi Max to the cause. Each participating student then paid $3 to take part.
The cash, along with money raised through the sale of the remaining Pepsi bottles, will go to World Challenge. A group of students will head to Thailand next month and use the funds to build materials and teach disadvantaged students.
Eighteen-year-old James thanked Pepsi, and Berwick Party Supplies for donating the cool room, Narre Warren North MP Luke Donellan for witnessing the event and Captain Eric, from the Salvation Army, for officiating.
“It extremely overwhelming because this has taken so long to plan and my Year 12 has suffered a little because of it,” he said.
“But it’s a great record that everyone can get involved in and I hope this starts a thing at the school that if it’s broken they try it again.”