Mona Jennings portrayed Alexander Hamilton, one of several notable people in history who populated a wax museum at Northside Elementary School on Wednesday morning. (Photo by Bob Vlach)

STEVE JOBS, as portrayed by Roman Rogers, shared his life story to parents, students and others who visited Northside Elementary School’s wax museum on Wednesday morning. (Photo by Bob Vlach)

POCAHONTAS, as portrayed by Presley Kinney, told parents and students about her place in American history during the Northside Elementary School Wax Museum on Wednesday morning. (Photo by Bob Vlach)

By Bob Vlach

Woodford Sun Staff

Fifth grade students embodied notable people in history at Northside Elementary School’s wax museum on Wednesday morning.

To dress the part for students, parents and others visiting the museum, librarian Melinda Caldwell encouraged the fifth graders to shop their grandmother’s closet. But because she has been doing a wax museum at Northside for 15 years, she also has a collection of costumes, many donated by parents.

“I collect suit jackets and ties and wigs,” she adds.

Caldwell has been organizing a wax museum at Northside for 15 years, but says her predecessor, Sally Horowitz, started the annual fifth grade project.

The project begins with students finding reliable resources and crediting those resources for the information they learn in order to embody a notable person of their choosing.

A list cultivated by Caldwell over the years gives students “a variety of diverse people from many time periods,” she says.

From Frank Epperson – who accidentally invented the Popsicle in 1905 at age 11 – to Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, this year’s fifth graders will also do a reflection project.

They will answer questions about their person in history, explain what they learned about his or her life and if they were happy with their choice, Caldwell says.

“It was a little hard,” says Ariana Moreno of researching the life of Betsy Ross, “but I like it.” She says doing this project also bolstered her confidence.

Embodying Daniel Boone was an opportunity for Decker West, 11, to build upon an experience last year when he wrote a biography on the famous Kentuckian. Like Ariana, he enjoyed doing the research, but also “getting to dress up” like Boone, he says.

Asked why she chose to bring the life of Alexander Hamilton to the wax museum, Mona Jennings says, “I really loved the musical, and I thought (doing this) would be a nice way to connect to it.”

To prepare students to embody historical people in a wax museum as fifth graders, fourth grade students research the lives of famous Kentuckians before undertaking family art projects using a variety of materials that turn a 2-liter bottle into those famous Kentuckians.

So by the time students are fifth graders and ready to do the wax museum project, they tell Caldwell, “I know what I want to be.”