A day at the museum
The students were the exhibits at Holy Redeemer Catholic School’s biographical museum FridayBy Deb Gau
Article Photos
MARSHALL - It was the day before Halloween, and everyone was in costume. But there wasn't any trick-or-treating going on in the chapel at Holy Redeemer School Friday morning - more like the opposite, as the kids tried their best to stand perfectly still.
"It's pretty tough. You don't want to blink and stuff, because you want to make it look good," said fifth-grade student Hannah Bock, who was sporting a robe and a fake beard as St. Francis of Assisi.
The act was part of the fifth-graders' "biographical museum" project. Each student researched a famous person and created a museum exhibit for classmates and parents to visit. The students themselves stood in for wax models of everyone from Helen Keller to TV pitchman Billy Mays.
"The hardest part is staying in the pose," said student Weston Magrath - especially if it's an action pose, like some of the ones he picked to portray baseball legend Willie Mays. People trying to make you laugh don't help either, he said.
The wax museum has become an annual event for the fifth-graders, said Holy Redeemer teacher Sonya Vierstraete.
"It's part of language arts and social studies," Vierstraete said. Besides the museum, the kids do writing projects and give a class speech. "This year we're having the kids blog about their project. They've started out by writing a three-paragraph assignment, and later we'll open them up for kids to post peer edits and comments."
The students said they had fun coming up with their costumes. Some borrowed items from their parents.
"My dad had it," Kendra Vroman said of the Nascar jacket she wore to portray Dale Earnhardt. But Vroman said she had to improvise a mustache with magic marker. "I was going to use a fuzzy mustache, but I forgot it."
The kids said they tried to pick people they thought were interesting to research.
"I'm Madam C.J. Walker," said student Chisom Nwakama of her costume. Walker founded a successful cosmetics and hair care company, and was one of the first woman millionaires. "I had thought about her because of African-American history month, and because I wanted to do something that I liked."
"It was really hard to pick. We had to pick three people and narrow it down," said classmate Amber Engels. She decided on aviator Amelia Earhart. Just down the aisle, Noah Louwagie was also in a flight jacket as Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron.
"It's good to have the flight goggles on," he said. "It helps when people take pictures of you and the flash goes off."
As much fun as dressing up could be, getting to relax after the museum 'closed' might have been even better. As the doors shut, there was an audible sigh of relief in the room.
"I'm tired," one student said.
Logan Wherry said he was lucky to be sitting in a chair as Benjamin Franklin, but it's tough pretending to sign the Declaration of Independence for 10 minutes straight.
"My neck kind of hurts," Wherry said.
