The 2018-19 Westridge Sixth Graders Shine at the Wax Museum

As soon as the doors opened, streams of people flooded into the Hoffman Gymnasium, eager to see the creative works of the sixth graders. On May 10, the Westridge sixth graders hosted their annual wax museum. At the museum, each sixth grader portrayed a significant woman in history and presented her life story.

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“Each woman represents a certain level of personal character and courageous action given the circumstances of her time and social expectation,” stated Christine Kiphart, the sixth grade English teacher.

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At the beginning of the museum, the girls were anxious to perform in front of an audience. However, as the afternoon progressed, they slowly grew more comfortable presenting their projects. “At first, when the first group of people came to my station, I was really nervous to perform, and I was scared to mess up my lines. As more people came by, I gradually got used to the nervousness and eventually had a great time,” explained Florence J., ’25, who portrayed Dian Fossey at the wax museum.

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The wax museum offered the students a chance to express their own personal aspirations. “I practice judo after school for fun. After researching a lot of different women for the museum, I finally chose to portray Keiko Fukuda because she did judo, like me. Keiko Fukuda really inspired me to keep practicing judo,” Lindsay C., ’25 stated.

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According to Ms. Kiphart, this year’s wax museum seemed to go more smoothly than other years. “This year seems to be really simple and easy-going. They memorized and finished their scripts very quickly and were fully prepared with all of their props and costumes,” she stated.