By Jay Roe
The Brookings Register
BROOKINGS The past came to life Thursday night and will do so again this evening as Mickelson Middle School sixth graders presented their annual People of the Past Wax Museum fundraiser.
Every year our students write a biography about we call it a person of the past or the POP Wax Museum and so they research and write a five paragraph essay, Michelle Jewett, middle school reading teacher, said. Then we kind of convert it into a speech, and they become the character. They dress up, they create a coin container, and then we choose a charity something pretty local within South Dakota or even right here in Brookings to donate the money to.
This year, students are raising money for the Kelly McGeough Foundation a non-profit helping families of children with catastrophic illnesses afford medical, travel, and lodging costs for treatments.
We usually give them a choice, and the students get to choose. I do think thats very important that they are part of the whole process, choosing where the money is going, Jewett said. When its all said and done, we raise usually around $3,500 to $4,000 that we donate. It kind of becomes a service project Sometimes they fundraise for different sports and activities, but this is something different for our community to try to empower them, as sixth graders, to be able to give back to their community and be a positive light in it.
The students, numbering 135 this year, fill the middle school lunch room and gymnasium, dressed in costume but frozen like wax statues. When a visitor donates a quarter, the student springs to life and recites a speech theyve researched and rehearsed about their character.
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Theyre very nervous at first, but after the show concludes theyre very proud of what theyve done personally and what theyve done as a collective group, Jewett said. I remember like a really amazing Prince costume I mean they had on the velvet little vest and they had the hair. There are a lot of queens and princesses from the past. Its amazing! We always have great Marilyn Monroes and Rosie the Riveters. Especially for our older generations who know the characters very well, its fun to see the kids re-enact them.
This year marks the 17th such annual re-enactment a tradition thats grown with burgeoning class sizes, which also means larger audiences of friends and families attending.
Thats whats pretty impressive is that our attendance is very high, Jewett said. We have two different teams of kids. We have a red team and then a black team. So thats why we have the two nights. It got too big. We used to be able to do it all at one night, but it got too crazy.
She said its inspiring seeing the students demonstrate both the knowledge theyve acquired and the self-confidence theyve developed.
Its night and day its that whole process of, I cant do this! Theres no way I can say this in front of people. So theyre very nervous and unsure of themselves, Jewett said. Once they do it a few times though, they feel its not so bad. And I think theres a really good energy the night of the wax museum. It becomes kind of exciting, and again they do feel theyve accomplished and done something they didnt think they could do.
The first night of this years event was Nov. 14 but more students will be in costume (and collecting quarters) tonight from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Its open to everyone, Jewett said. Our community has been amazing about showing up for this. Former students come back many sixth graders still remember who their wax museum character was so thats kind of a neat rite of passage.
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