Wax museum set up at Austintown school

By AMANDA TONOLI

atonoli@vindy.com

AUSTINTOWN

Student imitations of Barack Obama, George Washington and John F. Kennedy made their appearances during Austintown Elementary’s Wax Museum.

Students, to create their project, were tasked with picking a famous person.

“It’s a research project on that famous person,” explained second-grade teacher Stacy Banko. “They memorize a speech and present.”

They were able to pick from a variety of scientists, athletes, artists and more.

“We like to incorporate a variety of standards to encompass the entire project,” Banko said.

The fun part is that every second-grade class has different characters.

“They also bring in an artifact or some kind of physical thing that they can hold that represents their character,” Banko said. “It turns out really cute.”

Banko continued to say she was most impressed with her students’ hard work.

“They impress themselves,” she said.

Her favorite part is being able to see it all come together and listen to students’ speeches.

“[I like] seeing them watch it all come together, and seeing them so proud and sharing their speech with others,” Banko said. “The quiet ones come out of their shells because they are so proud of their hard work.”

A proud Bryce Stovall, second-grader, portrayed Derek Jeter for his project and brought a baseball as his artifact.

“I like that he plays baseball and I play baseball,” Bryce said.

Annabel Walsh, also a second-grader, dressed up as Georgia O’Keefe and felt similarly.

“She loves art and I love art,” she said.

Annabel’s favorite part of the project was giving her speech: “It was so cool to dress up as her [O’Keefe].”