EDMONDS, Washington (STPNS) -- The sixth graders stand still as wax in a dark classroom, waiting until a tour guide shines a flashlight on them.

With that beam of light, the students are transformed into living replicas of Abraham Lincoln, Cleopatra, Pocahontas, Julius Caesar, Benjamin Franklin, Helen Keller, Daniel Boone, Amelia Earhart and others famous in history.

Welcome to the College Place Elementary Wax Museum.

About 75 sixth graders from College Place dressed as historical figures from around the world on Dec. 11 and delivered one- or two-minute biographical speeches on their characters to the rest of the student body.



For the past 10 years, College Place has put on a living Wax Museum as part of the sixth grade curriculum.

The students research a historical figure, draw a portrait, map out a biographical timeline, create a costume and prop, and practice a speech in preparation for the Wax Museum.

“The costume part was really kind of an accident,” said College Place paraeducator Vikki Yeager.  

Sixth graders needing a costume know to go to Yeager for help.

When the Wax Museum started, word got around that Yeager had an attic full of clothing and accessories perfect for giving a Queen Elizabeth II or Christopher Columbus costume the finishing touch.

As the years went by, Yeager helped more and more students with their costumes: She either let them use her own stash of clothing or sewed the costumes herself.  She’d frequent thrift stores in search of shoes, hats, wigs, full-skirted dresses, suits and petty coats and other items too difficult to make.

Yeager’s costume collection grew and grew until it needed to be transported from her attic to specially made cupboards at the school.

Collecting costumes soon turned into an all-too-expensive hobby for Yeager, so she applied for a grant through the Public Education Foundation and was awarded $500.

“That $500 I got keeps working, because every year the kids are using those costumes,” Yeager said.  “It really helped me a lot.”

She also gets donations from other teachers and friends of clothing that would otherwise go to the Goodwill.

Yeager spends about a month fitting a majority of the sixth graders with costumes from her collection, usually during recess or lunch.

“I’ve been told several times by some of the sixth-grade teachers that kids who aren’t interested in the project all of a sudden get really into it when they get fitted for a costume,” Yeager said.  “They want to be that person.”

Sixth grader Shelby Houghton was Princess Diana in the Wax Museum.  She wore a dress, a crown and a pair of three-inch heels from Yeager’s costume collection.  The heels hurt her feet, so she took them off.

“It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be,” Houghton said of the project.  “You really get into it once you’re doing it.”

Sixth grader Ye Myint was George Washington in the Wax Museum.  He wore one of three George Washington costumes from Yeager’s collection.

Myint, who emigrated from Burma last April, said he liked learning about the first president of the United States and then sharing what he learned with other students in his speech.

“It was really fantastic,” he said.  “I like practicing speeches to somebody.”

Sixth grader Zoe Enger was Sarah Ferguson in the Wax Museum.  It was her mom’s idea that she choose to be the Duchess of York for the project because sometimes people tell her she looks like Ferguson.  

Enger wore one of her mom’s dresses and borrowed a tiara from a teacher for her costume.

“I had no idea who Sarah Ferguson was before [the project], and after I had studied for a few weeks about her, I learned about almost all of her life,” she said.  “It was really interesting.”

Yeager admits that sometimes she and the sixth-grade teachers get frustrated with the hassle of fitting every student with a costume for the Wax Museum.  But once the project is over, they realize it was all worth it.

“When it’s all over, and there are costumes all over and it’s a mess, everyone is really complimentary,” Yeager said.  “Everyone is saying ‘That was nice – now I know why we do it.’”