Presidents, first ladies come alive at Mars Elementary
ADAMS TWP — Parents, grandparents and siblings gathered at Mars Area Elementary School on Friday afternoon for what has become an annual Presidents Day tradition.
Fifty-three third-graders in the classes of Kim Thomas and Jennifer McClelland explored American history by taking on the roles of past presidents and first ladies at the school’s annual wax museum event in the school’s cafeteria.
The program, a Mars Area School District history education mainstay since 2004 — in 2021 COVID protocols canceled in-person presentations — had students dressed as presidents and first ladies and giving presentations in-character to visiting parents, relatives and other students passing by.
Georgia Parish, of Mars, waited in the lobby before the event’s 2:20 p.m. start, excited to see her son, Orion Parish, even if she was uncertain which president he would be portraying.
“I’m not sure which president he’s playing,” Parish said. “He just told me he was doing a wax museum thing. He was all excited about the presentation.” For the record, Orion portrayed Calvin Coolidge.
Donna Succop and Pat Tigano were waiting to see their grandson Eli Tigano’s presentation as Barack Obama.
“We’ve never been to this before,” Succop said. “We were impressed by the research a third-grader can do.”
Keith Irwin, of Valencia, said his son, Jack, asked him at the last minute to attend to see his portrayal of Harry Truman.
Thomas said there was nothing last-second about the preparation her students, and McClelland’s classes put into the event.
She said the two classes started researching the presidents and first ladies they were assigned in January and practiced in class several times before Friday.
She said the third-graders may have been confronted with some unfamiliar words, but they seem to like the assignment and learn a lot of information during their research.
“We do it as a cumulative process. They read different articles at first, and then they do a writing process for their roles,” said Thomas.
Thomas said some students dressed up as their historical characters, but it wasn’t a requirement for the event.
“It’s a very popular event. Parents have always been very appreciative to see that their children are able to do this,” said Thomas, who originated the event with a since-departed teacher in 2004. The event included third-graders in the life skills and autistic support classes.
The students representing their presidential or first lady character sat at tables arranged in a circle. Pressing a sticker on the back of their hand would animate the “wax figure’” who would give a presentation of their life.
Ellis Tigano, whose character was Barack Obama, said it wasn’t difficult to write his presentation.
“It was easy to find stuff about him. I got a whole packet about him,” Ellis said. “It was hard to choose the facts. I had a lot of choices.”
On the opposite end of the political spectrum, individual education program student Thomas Reddinger gave his presentation as Donald Trump through a video screen using Pic Collage and Chatter Pic apps.
Allison Reddinger, Thomas’ mother, said, “He’s not always the most cooperative, but he tries.” His IEP teacher, Deanne Rapp, said the video option had been used for other students at the event in the past.
Some of the figures presented were not as well known. Sienna Chernosky was Abigail Fillmore, the wife of Millard Fillmore, the 13th president.
Sienna informed her audience that she had two children, Millard and Mary, presided over the introduction of running water and a bath tub to the White House and started the White House Library.
Sutton Campbell, who was Dwight Eisenhower for the afternoon, had a military-type jacket and hat for his presentation as the 34th president.
“It wasn't hard,” Sutton said of his presentation. “I had a lot of people helping.”
