University of Calgary students get tested for STDs in an attempt to break world record
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Students at the University of Calgary finally have something to brag about to their parents. More than 500 kids are close to holding the world record for being the largest group to get tested for a sexually transmitted infection within a 24-hour period.
The university's health center had several hundred students get tested last Thursday for gonorrhea and chlamydia. The event is intended to encourage people to get tested for STIs. Officials from Guinness are still verifying if the record was broken, but the university says it is confident that they have bypassed the previous record of 500 people.
According to CBC News, the event had a "'carnival-like' atmosphere" so students wouldn't feel ashamed to get tested in the future.
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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.