While some Southwestern Michigan College students may have wanted to spend their first weekend of the semester sleeping in, those that wandered outside the comfort of their dorm rooms and into the confines of the Charles O. Zollar Building gymnasium were given a record-setting opportunity Saturday morning.

A world–record-setting opportunity, to be more precise.

The young men and women floating in and out the room that day helped Southwestern Michigan College earn some international acclaim through a very unique team building exercise, as the students constructed the world’s largest blanket fort. The entirety of the old lacquered wood flooring of the gym was completely engulfed by a massive canopy of fuzzy, frilly, multicolored fabric draped over dozens of wooden folding tables.

By the time the fort was completed, it measured 4,700 square feet — shattering the previous world record of 3,330 square feet established by a group of organizations in London last year.

The idea of constructing a massive blanket fort came from Student Activity Center Assistant Manager Branden Pompey, who used the event to cap off the college’s annual welcome week.

“I just thought of some things I would have loved to have done back when I was a student — and the first thing that sprang to mind was to build a giant blanket fort,” Pompey said. “Because of my position at the student activity center everything just fell into place.”

Around 150 students helped build the record-setting structure, which needed around 200 blankets total to complete, Pompey said. The blankets donated to the cause came not just from students but from members of the community as well, Pompey said.

“A lot of the kids who showed up didn’t just drop off their blankets and leave,” Pompey said. “They stuck around and watched or helped out. Some even stopped by the dorms to ask for more blankets.”

One of those students out collecting blankets was Jeren Green, a second-year student who is studying construction manager. A resident of the school’s Keith H. McKenzie residence hall, the student said he had a lot of fun participating in the build, adding that while he had build some pretty “sick” blanket forts as a child they never came anything close to the one inside the gym that day.

“I am happy the college allows us to be kids sometimes, more so than any other school I know,” Green said.

Once the structure was finished, surveyors from Stephenson Land Surveying stopped by the gym to verify the measurement of the fort. That data, along with photos, videos and eyewitness testimonials from the build, will be forwarded to the world record organization for verification.

Blankets donated for the project will be given to area homeless shelters after the structure is disassembled, Pompey said.