Share The Flag (STF) is an initiative by the Olayan School of Business (OSB) at the American University of Beirut (AUB) that seeks to raise awareness on the quality and accessibility of education in public schools in Lebanon.
On May 9, the team laid down 60,000 red, white, and green notebooks on the Green Field and broke the Guinness World Record for the largest national flag made out of notebooks.
The event was attended by students, faculty, staff, Minister Ghattas Khoury, Deputy Mohammad Kabanni, and the representatives of President Michel Aoun, Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri, and Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
The event was also supported by the Lebanese Army that sent a band to play the national anthem. The performance was followed by AUB’s alma mater and speeches by Provost Mohamed Harajli and Tarek Tabaja, one of the organizing students.
The event took place two days after Martyrs’ Day. So, to honor the Lebanese Army and Lebanon’s martyrs, the son of the martyr Colonel Danny Harb, Rayan Harb, placed the last red notebook and completed the Lebanese flag.
The previous Guinness Record for the largest notebook mosaic of a flag was around 100 m2. Share The Flag’s one was 4,056 m2. Construction took 22 hours. Some notebooks were damaged because of the weather.
STF will be recycling those notebooks and AUB will be replacing the unusable notebooks to donate them to kids in public schools. One notebook can have a significant impact on a student’s academic life.
Students use notebooks to learn new subjects, express their thoughts, draw and do their homework.
Providing access to quality education to everyone is the only way to build a strong country. It’s a great start and a wonderful initiative!
