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| Waxing eloquent about history |
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| Education | |||
| Written by Kristen Waggener | |||
| Wednesday, 24 December 2008 09:00 | |||
 More than 120 fifth-graders at Broadmoor Elementary School stood still, hands stretched out displaying “buttons” that, with one push, made them give a short speech before returning to their statuesque stances to wait for another visitor. “My name is Samuel Adams,” says Hunter Mitchell, dressed in a three-pointed hat and navy blue blazer. Dressed as the fourth governor of Massachusetts, Mitchell recited facts about Adams’ life before ending his brief speech on less than happy note, “Sadly, I died in 1803.” As a final project for the first semester, each fifth-grade student researched, read about and reported on a historical figure or person they admire. The culmination of the month-long project was dressing up as that person and standing in a “wax museum” on display in the Broadmoor gymnasium. The project, which is new this year, grew from teacher Jerry Myers’ desire for his students to know more about history and become actively involved. “I want to use them (in future lessons) so they get to be the expert and share that information,” Myers said. Myers, who is new this year to the Louisburg district, brought the wax museum idea from his old district, and after hearing about it the other fifth-grade teachers eagerly joined on. Two rows away from Samuel Adams, Dolly Parton, played by Abby Tucker, gave her brief biography about her upbringing. Dressed in a blonde, curly wig, high heels and a red checkered shirt, Tucker recounted how Parton overcame struggles in her childhood to become a country music superstar. “I think she’s really good, and she’s done more than sing,” Tucker said. Stephanie Mitchell was Harriet Tubman for the afternoon, standing in front of a tall board displaying information about Tubman’s life. Though Tubman wasn’t her first choice to impersonate, Mitchell said she learned many interesting things about the African-American pioneer, including “that she ran away to a pig’s pen and she helped thousands of slaves.” USD 416 Superintendent Rick Doll visited the wax museum, seeing what the fifth-graders learned in the month-long project. This type of project, Doll said, is one way Louisburg teachers are preparing students early for their graduation research projects they do in their senior year of high school. “This is kind of cool because it gives you an idea what the seniors go through,” Myers said. It didn’t take long for BES students and parents to file through the wax museum, darting back and forth as they listened to each student’s brief speech about their character. But after one speech was over, one by one, the historical figures stood still again, only waiting for someone else to push their button so they could share just a little bit of history.
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