May 11, 2015 By Suzanne Elliott 3 min read

It’s not very often that Leonardo DaVinci, Sally Ride, King Tut, Marco Polo or Steven Spielberg can be found in Venetia, let alone the same school gymnasium.

But that’s exactly what happened recently at Bower Hill Elementary School.

Thirty-six third graders who are part of the school’s enrichment program participated in Bio Time Living History Museum. The students did research on a famous person and had a speech about their lives’ ready when you visited their station at the museum (gymnasium).

“It’s an additional challenge for them,” said Lora O’Brien, Bower Hill’s enrichment teacher, who had her students pick an historical figure, read a biography, do additional research on the Internet, come up with the appropriate props and make a name tag for the project. The students then had to prepare a short presentation for fellow students, their teachers and parents. Clad in their costumes and in character, the students would wait at a table for someone to push a portable light to deliver their speech.

“These are kids you can push a little harder,” said O’Brien, adding Bio Time is not a graded activity.

Jill Kriz’s son, Austin, did his project on Marco Polo.

“He was very excited,” said Kriz of her son who was wearing a blue bathrobe and a fake beard as his costume. “We worked and worked to get his speech down from 10 minutes to three-and-a-half minutes,” she said.

Nearby stood Maggie Stech, who did her project on Sally Ride, the first woman to travel in space.

“I don’t know why I chose her,” said Stech, who was wearing a blue, NASA-style jumpsuit. “I learned a lot, though.”

Another historical figure who became famous space pioneer, Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the Moon, was the topic of Sydney Shock’s presentation. She was dressed all in white and had a white papier mache space helmet.

Zennick Buvlak picked Leonardo DaVinci. Buvlak wore a brown robe, a long, white beard, which he had to hold with one hand to keep from slipping, and a black hat. And as DaVinci, Buvlak was busy working on the Mona Lisa painting and reminded visitors to his table that he was a very busy man.

Kirsten McGrath helped her son, Billy, with his King Tut outfit. The hardest part of that task was Tut’s beard, which she made with braided fabric and used elastic to attach to her son’s head. Billy also made a replica of Tut’s tomb with Legos.

“He chose King Tut because he though it was interesting and he liked pharaohs,” McGrath said.

Some other historical figures chosen by O’Brien’s students included Helen Keller and her teacher, Annie Sullivan; The Beatles; The Wright Brothers, Dr. Seuss, Annie Oakley and contemporary figures such as Steven Spielberg and Steve Jobs.

For participating in Bio Time, O’Brien gave each student a certificate with their name and their character’s name on it.

“A lot of the kids wanted to take the light home,” O’Brien laughed.