BY ABBY HAGEN (CAS`23)
On March 19, just five days after the Boston University College of Arts & Sciences celebrated its 150th anniversary, Wenqi Luo (CAS`23), Zheng Han (Questrom`25), Gary Guoliang Yu and Zuo Jiaqi set the world record for creating the largest LEGO® brick number: 150.
After hearing 2023 would mark a milestone for the College, Luo, a math and philosophy major, began planning one year in advance of how he wanted to commemorate this occasion. Luo came across yearbook images of the first class of CAS students, and the extent of the University’s history struck him.
“Looking at their photos, I felt that the length of history is so subtle,” said Luo, “150 years is so long.”
The final piece uses 13,379 LEGOs to create a “150.”
This creation isn’t the first of Luo’s record-setting creations. He has four other LEGO-related Guinness World Records under his name: Largest LEGO® brick Batman symbol, Largest interlocking plastic brick sentence, Largest LEGO® brick word (2 times), Largest LEGO® brick sentence, and Largest LEGO® brick number.
His original record for Largest LEGO® brick number was broken by a challenger, so he wanted to reclaim his title and set a new record. This time, Luo wanted to channel his LEGO talents into his love and passion for CAS.
“I think choosing to spend my four years at BU will be the proudest decision of my life,” says Luo, “The variety of courses have expanded my knowledge and made me always try to find the connection between different things. For example, creating this LEGO work to challenge the Guinness World Records to celebrate the 150th CAS Birthday.”
As an international student from China, Luo already knew his first time attending school abroad would be memorable, striving to find ways to make memories and leave an impact on the BU community.
“Before I actually came to the United States to study at university, I was actually very nervous about studying and living in a foreign country,” Luo said. “But after coming to BU, I found that BU’s facilities, such as the skating rink, and various activities on campus made my after-school life very fulfilling.”
In April 2022, he broke the record for Largest LEGO Brick Word with the word “TERRIERS” made out of over 9,600 LEGO pieces, which was a project he worked on with the Boston University Global China Connection (BUGCC).
“Perhaps in the next 150 years, someone will be excited because they saw this work and knew our story,” says Luo, “If they’re inspired to do something they have always wanted to do because of our works and our stories, it is also our honor.”
Luo and his friends believe the best place for the record-breaking LEGO “150” is right on BU’s campus. By donating the Guinness World Record-setting piece, they hope to inspire the BU community.
“I’m proud to have the LEGO 150 in the Guinness World Records collection,” said Luo, “They will know that I challenged this world record because of my love for BU.”