By Tim Leeds
The Havre Central gymnasium was filled with living snapshots of history during the first student wax museum Thursday evening.
After researching a historical figure or event, students created a set and dressed in costume, then stood still as wax figures for a half hour during the presentation.
Students from Alma Seidel's eighth-grade history class chose from topics picked from the Civil War on, and students from Joyce Hellman's fifth-grade class picked from pre-Civil War topics.
Matthew Hartman, a fifth-grader, portrayed Squanto, the Native American who helped the Pilgrims in the 17th century.
"I liked making the costume best," he said.
He said he learned a lot doing the research for the presentation, when and where Squanto was born, how he taught the Pilgrims to plant corn and helped them in other ways.
C.J. Leeds, a fifth-grader, showed George Washington crossing the Delaware. He said he's always been interested in Washington. He said researching the topic and making the costume was a lot of fun.
Eighth-grader Allie Sun Child showed Sandra Day O'Connor. She said the best part for her was showing all the people what they had researched.
Eighth-graders Danielle Barton and Aricka Turner showed Neil Armstrong and "Buzz" Edwin Aldrin, Jr. and the first flag planted on the moon.
"I thought it was important in history," Barton said.
They said they learned a lot researching the event.
"I learned I' meant to put a' in my famous quote," Barton said as Armstrong.
Turner said she learned that it was actually her character, Aldrin, who planted the flag on the moon, and that he walked in space.
Fifth-grader Richard Verploegen showed Davy Crockett, who he said he's interested in from seeing so many movies about him.
"I knew he had a pretty interesting life, and I knew people who had the costume," he said.
He said the most interesting thing he found out was how many bears Crockett had killed.
"He said he killed 105 bears in a month, and he said he killed 47 bears with 46 bullets," he said.
Seidel said she thought they would do the wax museum in future years as well.
"We're very happy with the results," she said. "The people the kids came up with, the props. The ultimate thing, of course, is what they learned. We always appreciate the parents' support."
