Eugene Field sixth graders bring history to life with wax museum project  

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- Sixth graders at Eugene Field Elementary brought history to life with a creative “wax museum” project. 

Each student picked a famous figure from history, read a book about them and did research before writing up a report.  

Students also designed backdrops and got into character to present their work to parents and teachers.  

“We learned how to write a thesis and put all the research together and write an essay to make them more comfortable with researching from different sources,” sixth-grade teacher Amberly Howard said.  

Students were encouraged to use both the internet and the popular Who Was biography series to help build their reports.  

They’ll be graded not just on their essays, but also on how well they told their person’s story.  

To make the project extra fun, students also acted as “wax figures” who came to life when visitors stopped by. 

“Whenever people walk by, they have a talking piece. I think students from any grade could do it because it's so fun to see how it all comes together,” Howard said.  

Howard says the project took about a week, but the focus was on the learning process, not just the final presentation. 

She says since it was their first year doing the project, they weren’t sure what to expect—but they were thrilled with the results.  

“We talked about it last year a little bit, but we weren’t sure if we should and then this year we were like let’s just do it and see how things go and it turned out to be better than we thought,” Howard said.  

For sixth grader Sophia Runge, her favorite part of the project was dressing up as Betty White, whose cat shares the same name.  

“I am feeling really good, I am really excited because my friend is also here and she is dressed up as Eleanor Roosevelt and the other one is dressed up as Elvis Presley,” Runge said.  

Teachers said the project was a big success and they hope students will remember, not just the costumes and fun, but the hard work that made it all possible.