History on display at Sunnyside

Samuel Adams and George Washington were side-by-side again Thursday night at Sunnyside Intermediate School, posing in period dress. "I thought a president would be cool," Adams, aka Noah Brown, said. The fifth-grade student said that he learned interesting things about Adams, such as that he signed the Declaration of Independence, during the Wax Museum event at the school. Washington, or James Kirby as his friends call him, said he already knew a lot about the U.S.'s first president whose face graces both the quarter and dollar bill, but that he still learned a lot during the project. His favorite part of the project was writing the report, he said. Fifth-grade students study U.S. history during the school year, but their Wax Museum projects put the people they learn about in a more intimate light. "When they put themselves in a character's shoes, it makes it kind of new," said Marge Suek, a fifth-grade teacher, adding that the project helps keep students engaged when their minds might be drifting to summer vacation. Students chose what historical figure they wanted to be, and choices ranged from Lief Erickson to Neil Armstrong, and Pocahontas to Rosa Parks. Davy Crockett stood in a fringed jacket in another classroom. Shandon Oberquell said that he has been to the Alamo before and had learned about Crockett. "(That trip) just inspired me" to be him, he said. Oberquell said he learned that the Tennessee adventurer was also a politician who became a congressman at a young age.