Auburn gets some famous visitors

Auburn, N.Y. -- West Middle School in Auburn was visited by dozens of famous people Thursday night.

There was Tiger Woods, complete with a set of clubs. Shirley Temple was there, cute as a button with a red frilly dress, curly locks and shiny patent leather shoes. Thomas Edison, dapper in a green sport jacket, brought along a couple of his famous inventions -- the phonograph and a light bulb.

And Elizabeth Cady Stanton sat prim and proper marveling that women today not only can vote, but one is running for president.

These famous folks came to West Middle School in Auburn for the sixth-grade annual Living History Museum. Ninety-two pupils selected a famous person to research and then dressed as that person and talked about their "lives" as scores of people filed through the school.

Matthew Jordan, 11, plays second base in Little League, so he wanted to learn more about a famous infielder, Honus Wagner. He talked about the teams Wagner played for, how he played every infield position there is and how he was one of the first 12 men elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

"I like baseball and he was one of the best," Matthew said. "He was the best shortstop in history."

The biggest surprise Matthew uncovered about Wagner was how much his baseball card is worth. "One was auctioned last week for $1.1 million," he said, with a twinkle that meant he wished he had one of those cards.

"There are less than 50 left in the world," he said.

Alyssa Coleman, 11, was appalled to learn what suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton's father said when Stanton was young.

"He said he wished she was a boy," Alyssa said.

RaeAnn Jupin, 11, memorized everything she learned about Anne Frank, the Jewish girl who kept a famous diary of her time in a Nazi concentration camp in World War II.

"She was a very good person and made a difference in people's lives," RaeAnn said. "She taught us to fight for what you believe is right."

Sixth-grade teacher Dawn Reilley said the Living History Museum is the culmination of the Dreamers & Doers unit. Each pupil was supposed to "choose someone who had a dream and did something to follow that dream," she said.

They then read a biography of the person they chose and did research in magazines, books and on the Internet. They then wrote a summary of their work and a speech for the museum and found clothes and props for their presentation.

Source:
http://blog.syracuse.com/news/2008/01/auburn_gets_some_famous_visito.html