Photo: Abby Fox

When Jennifer Fleming’s third grade class at Frenchtown School begins research for the annual wax museum project, when students are asked to learn everything they can about a person from history, dress up in costume as him or her, and give a presentation, they often choose people they feel an affinity for.
Alex Candow’s favorite golf player, for instance, is Tiger Woods. Naomi Shimberg chose J.K. Rowling, out of a fondness for Harry Potter novels.
But as the students look up information in books, online and even in museums, they often find they are developing an interest in the history behind the person. Seth Barney, who turned into Ringo Starr, says he would like to learn more about the 1960s, while Thomas Shaughnessy, who was Abraham Lincoln, said he’d love to go back in time to the Civil War era.
While they learn about history, students also get a sense of how important figures are able to break out of the cultural limitations of their time, and make change, such as Emeline Muoio, who said she appreciated Amelia Earhart not “giving up when people said she couldn’t fly, because she was a woman.”
Probably the most unusual museum piece in this year’s show was Captain Edward John Smith, portrayed by Rachel D’Ellena. Fleming said D’Ellena had a difficult job, because she had to go beyond the school’s library to learn who the captain of the Titanic was.
Josh Fazio, who was one of the few contemporary figures, Lance Armstrong, said, “We got to learn about someone we didn’t know much about.”  Caitlin Hureau, who played Tara Lipinski, said, “It required a lot of hard work, but if paid off.”