Students at Massachusetts school complete world’s largest jigsaw puzzle

CAMBRIDGE – A school in Cambridge has come together to show that each piece matters, especially when it comes to completing the largest jigsaw puzzle in the world.

“We have all been working on this for 11-ish months,” said student Aniket Srivastava.

60,000 piece puzzle

It took roughly a quarter of the student body at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School to complete. The puzzle has around 60,000 pieces, which means each student completed 240 pieces.  

“I have been down here doing gymnastics all over, trying to get everything together, put everything together.”

Emily Houston, a teacher at the school, came up with the idea.  

“I do so many puzzles myself every year. Last year, I did about 80,” Houston said.

The puzzle had 60 sections, which, when pieced together depicted a map of the world with iconic landmarks. 

She asked each staff member to host a portion of it in their classroom.

“Some classes whipped right through them, brought them back, sections back to me in a week or two, others took 6 months to do a section,” Houston explained.

Making friends through puzzles

The students really enjoyed it and began to make friends while strategizing with peers that they had never spoken to before. It was also a mental exercise in problem solving and staying away from technology.

“I enjoy just the peaceful quality. I never really pay attention to shape and pay more attention to color,” Srivastava said about his process for completing his section of the puzzle.

The school thought about hanging the puzzle up, but instead they decided to break it down so they can try again in a few years. Or maybe even make the puzzle bigger.