DeKALB — NIU’s ARTD 464 (Advanced Photography: Post Production) class recently broke a world record for the world’s largest paper snowflake. The event was put on by the photography department Tuesday at the NIU Convocation Center, with people able to watch in person as well as via Youtube Live. 

The students of ARTD 464 have been preparing for this moment since the beginning of this semester. 

The idea for creating the World’s Largest Paper Snowflake came from  Jessica Labette, School of Art and Design professor. 

“I’d been really interested in paper snowflakes for a while, and one day I just wondered what the biggest one in the world was, and it said 20 feet, which didn’t seem that big, so I thought,  ‘I could do that,’ but I needed help, so we had to do it together,” Labette said.

Each student in the class chose a design to incorporate into the snowflake. 

Chloe Insley, a junior photography major, said she chose a computer and headset for the snowflake. 

“I chose the computer and headset because that’s personally how I’ve been living my life the past couple years with COVID-19, school, doctor’s appointments,” Insley said. “I felt like it was a good thing to add.” 

Most students in this class as well as many other art majors are used to working individually, but the snowflake has been a large collaboration between all of the students.

“Photography is usually a solo thing, so being able to work so closely with all of my classmates and our professor, Jessica Labette, has been a unique experience that not a lot of people get to do,” Alex Dulski, a junior photography major said. “This is a very out-of-the-box piece; we’ve all been able to come together to make something that will hopefully make a large impact on us and other students here at NIU, it’s an amazing feeling.”

Not only did the class of ARTD 464 have to work extremely hard to plan the design, but the execution was also not easy. 

“We’ve been working on this all semester, and everyone’s been very excited about it,” Labette said. “Everyone at the university and the city of Dekalb have been very helpful. The past two days have been very exhausting; a crazy mix of emotions.” 

“This is a dream come true, I was a little girl looking at the ‘Guinness Book of World Records’ imagining how cool it would be, and now we’re here,” Labette said. “I’m very proud of everyone involved.”

The class finished the project at 11 p.m., and witnesses measured the snowflake at a groundbreaking 44 feet and 6.6 inches, officially breaking the record as the world’s largest paper snowflake.