S. ABINGTON TWP. — War heroes. Authors. Major league athletes. Filmmakers. Politicians. Inventors. Performing artists. The likenesses of famous people from a wide range of eras, careers and walks of life crowded the South Abington Elementary School gymnasium Thursday morning, June 8, as the third-grade students presented A Living Wax Museum for their parents and teachers.
According to teacher Lynn Piwowarczyk, the students worked on the project for more than four weeks.
Each child first chose a famous person to represent and researched him or her, writing a biography about that person. They then dressed up as the people they researched and stationed themselves at their desks, which were set up in the gym, presenting a short speech to the visitors of the wax museum.
Maeve Walsh, from Mrs. Piwowarczyk’s class, chose dancer Misty Copeland as her subject.
“I was the first African-American woman to dance as principal ballerina for the American Ballet Theater,” said the third-grader, talking in character as Copeland.
When asked why she chose the dancer as her subject, Maeve, who is a dancer herself, said “I think she’s very inspiring, because…it doesn’t matter what color you are – you can do lots of things.”
Brendan Dougherty, a student in Mrs. Bevan’s class, dressed as Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci.
“I picked him because he was a great inventor and artist,” he said from behind a large beard that covered much of his face.
Andie McGuinness, one of Mrs. Salony’s students, conducted her project on Corrie ten Boom, a famous Dutch Christian captured by the Nazis and imprisoned during World War II.
“I wanted to choose one that my classmates didn’t really know much about,” she said. “And then my mom was like, ‘Do you know about Corie ten Boom?’ and I was like, ‘No,’ and so I just chose her because I thought she was a really interesting person.”
