Wax museum characters come to life at PES
Presidents, famous athletes, and adventurers were seen walking the halls on a recent day at Perryville Elementary School, where Denita Shilli and the fifth-grade students have been hard at work on a project that turned the classroom into a wax museum — one where the students are the exhibit.
"Each of the students chose a famous person from the past or present and read that person’s biography,” Mrs. Shilli said. “They did additional research to create a presentation about their person, told from that person’s point of view. They actually ‘became’ the person by rehearsing their presentation and many students chose to dress as their person. When someone visited their exhibit, the student then told the story of their historic figure.
“Our was museum came alive with people who changed the world and made it a better, place,” Mrs. Schilli said. “Among them were a few Missourians including George Washington Carver, Mark Twain, and Walt Disney.”
People portrayed by students also included Marco Polo, Betsy Ross, Annie Oakley, Anne Frank, Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Dianna, Eleanor Roosevelt, Michelle Obama, Thomas Jefferson, Ronald Reagan, the Wright Brothers, Sally Ride, Marie Curie, Thomas Edison, Dr. Suess, JK Rowling, Rosa Parks, Dolly Parton, Taylor Swift, The Beatles, Caitlin Clark, Kobe Bryant, and Babe Ruth. (This is not a full list.)
Many students said they enjoyed learning about their person’s life.
“The wax museum was fun to do and interactive,” said Aubree Wichern. “It also showed us the life of our person,” said Josie Hoeslscher.
“I liked all the things my person Dolly Parton accomplished,” said Amelia Harrison. “I liked Dolly’s quote, ‘If you don’t like the road you are on, start paving another one.’”
Multiple students including Hunter Rogers, Aiden Bishop, Aaliyah Gaulding and Brax Hampson said they liked dressing up and presenting to the class because it was fun.
Skylynne Schremp said, I liked to perform in front of everyone because all our work paid off!”
Lex French said, “I was kind of nervous at first but then I thought it was fun and cool to teach others about my person. I liked the wax museum.”
Paul Lohmann said “Wax Museum was good because of its history and we learned all people’s back stories.”
This was the 21st year that Mrs. Schilli hosted Wax Museum.
