NEWBERRY — History came alive at Newberry Elementary School with the Black History Living Wax Museum, in celebration of Black History Month.
Students, second to fifth grades, hosted the biographical interactive wax museum, honoring African-Americans from past to present. Visitors were able to “meet” historical and modern day figures chosen by the students.
Carlton Kinard, parenting coordinator at Newberry Elementary, said the idea for the Living Wax Museum came about two years ago.
“I went to Ms. Farr (principal) and I said, ‘what are some of the plans of what we are going to do for Black History Month?’ We sat down and talked, and as a whole school, we worked as a team. We put our brains together, also the teachers, and came up with the Living Wax Museum,” Kinard said. “The first year we put everything in place in three to four weeks and made it happen.”
This year, Kinard said they gave the students more time. They started planning in December, prior to winter break. He said the students had the months of January and February to get everything prepared.
“Pretty much the students go through their research and pick a person they’d like to become. With the Living Wax Museum, they do the research on that person, not only in class with their teacher, but also in the computer lab and also using the books we provide in the library,” Kinard said.
He added that the students researched their chosen individual, and with a provided triboard, put their research together.
“The day of, they dress up as that person and folks come from the community — we had two local schools visiting us this year. The only way they can tell who they are is by pressing a button,” Kinard said.
When it comes to choosing their historical or modern day figure, Kinard said the students were pretty much allowed to pick that person. He said they did provide a few names for students to choose from, if needed.
“The teachers provide the names from the past and present. We allowed them to use the computers to see that person, also read about them — if they liked that person we let them do it,” he said.
Some of the names chosen by the students were unexpected, according to Kinard. He said some students picked Marcus Garvey (activist), he added while he heard of Saquon Barkley (football player), he really didn’t know who he was until this event.
“Also folks like Rosa Parks, common names we always have and always talk about. Students enjoyed that, but (they) also wanted to talk about folks we are not familiar with and I was surprised for that,” Kinard said.
Principal Stacy Farr said this event also helps to bring in culture and diversity to Newberry Elementary.
“That is something we are big on here at Newberry Elementary School, diversity. I definitely think that has been a big educational experience for our students as well,” she said. “It is inside the classroom, but you can see that it is also something going on in the home as well. The parents are coming in, they are talking about how the students worked on their boards at home.”
