One by one, the legends came forward: Hank Aaron. Walt Disney. Susan B. Anthony. Laura Ingalls Wilder. Bessie Coleman. Wait. Who’s Bessie Coleman? She was the first African-American woman to earn a pilot’s license, in 1922. Students and parents at Kenowa Hills’ Central Elementary School found that out thanks to some enterprising fifth-graders, who recently staged a living wax museum to raise more than $1,000 for Kids’ Food Basket.
Lisa Monroe’s students reenacted those and other historical figures as part of a class project. After researching and writing about their characters, students made them come to life in an evening presentation.
The students made time capsules from shoeboxes to illustrate their characters. For instance, the student studying Alexander Graham Bell made his into a telephone. Parents, grandparents and others put their contributions in the boxes, which had on-off switches to activate the students’ characters.
The Famous Americans Wax Museum continued the fifth-graders’ year-long support of Kids’ Food Basket, which provides sack suppers to nearly 6,000 Kent County students in need.
“The entire project lasts a couple months and incorporates research, report writing, poetry and speeches,” Monroe said. “I couldn’t be prouder of them!”
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