Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald: Gage Lunt portrays Bob Ross at the Pima Elementary Fourth Grade Living Wax Museum on Wednesday.
By Jon Johnson
PIMA – Where else would one possibly chance to see Bob Ross, Michael Gambon, Ray Kroc, Wyatt Earp, Frida Kahlo, John Wayne, and many, many more famous but unrelated individuals all in one spot? Why, at the New Gym at Pima High School on Wednesday afternoon during Pima Elementary School’s Fourth Grade Living Wax Museum.
Other elementary classes, as well as parents and community members, paraded around the living wax figures and when prompted the figures would recall interesting facts from their lives.
The event was organized by Pima Elementary Fourth Grade Science & Social Studies Teacher Emily Lockridge. Her students have been working on the project since March, with the presentation being the culmination of all their work.
“My students got to choose a famous person who is dead,” Lockridge said. “And they got to research them and write a report about them. We have portfolios in the middle of the room that show their research process. They made a poster, and they wrote a speech, and they got to pretend to be their person for today. In the process, they learned how to do research and learned how to make a presentation.”
Lockridge said while the process was a long one, the payoff in the end was well worth it.
“I had a lot that wanted to quit right in the middle but they did good,” she said. “I’m proud of all of them.”
The event was bittersweet for Lockridge, who originally hails from Morenci and is in her third year teaching at Pima Elementary School. She will hand the reins over to another facilitator next year as she will be on maternity leave.
“I’m grateful for the turnout that we’ve had – all the parents who came to see their kids,” Lockridge said. “I’m just grateful that I work at a school that allows us to do this . . . It’s stressful but it’s rewarding in the end to see the kids come together and do this.
