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'Win, victory, love' sign creates record

Students from different GEMS Education schools create iconic three-fingered salute

It was a show of victory, love and patriotism by over 2,000 students of GEMS Education schools on Monday as they set a world record for the world's largest transforming human image.
Donning the UAE flag colours, 2,223 students from different GEMS Education schools in the UAE marched with poise on the sports grounds of GEMS Modern Academy and in a matter of minutes created an image of an open hand which then transformed into the iconic three-fingered salute introduced by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The formation was their way of celebrating 45 years of the 'Spirit of the Union'.
The principal of GEMS Modern Academy could be seen giving high fives and wishing the students, majority of whom were from Our Own English High School, Sharjah.
Wearing track pants and flag colour T shirts, the students - mainly from grades 5 to 9 - took their respective positions as per the instructions of the school teachers who accompanied them to boost their morale. On the countdown of 5, the teachers were asked to step aside and let the students transform the open hand into the famous three-finger salute created by the Dubai Ruler in February 2013 symbolising 'Win', 'Victory' and 'Love'. The sign is an innovative trademark to inspire youth in work, ethics, success and love of the nation.
As adjudicators from the Guinness World Records took the head count, Ross Mccauley, senior vice-president for marketing at Gems Education, kept the students engaged and excited by announcing on the spot "the mannequin challenge". The announcement of the popular mannequin challenge, imbued the students with new energy and they ended up freezing like statues for a good five minutes!
Ross said: " GEMS was born in Dubai and we are very proud of that. We are proud of our wise leadership and their vision and that's why we wanted to achieve this record around the national day."
The record was validated by the Guinness World Records officials on the grounds and the GEMS Education was awarded a certificate by the Guinness World Records to mark this remarkable achievement.
Dino Varkey, managing-director and board member, GEMS Education, said: "The UAE has transformed itself over the last 45 years into a dynamic modern nation admired by the rest of the world for its ability to evolve and change with the times. By creating the 'World's Largest Transforming Human Image' we wanted to pay tributes to the rulers of the UAE for their visionary leadership which served as a catalyst for the growth GEMS Education in this land.
This is the third world record attempted by students of GEMS Education and the second record that they have created as a category. Previously in 2015, GEMS students paid tribute to the UAE for National Day by creating the record for the world's largest human sentence. In 2014, students of 119 nationalities from GEMS Education sang the UAE national anthem at one time .
saman@khaleejtimes.com