The fourth grade classrooms at Middle Gate Elementary School were filled with visiting students, parents, and district community members on Friday, May 1, as the fourth graders transformed into historical figures for a few hours.

Students in Heidi Beauty, John Sullivan, Katie Mauro, and Linda Baron’s classes all participated in the project, which is an annual one for fourth graders at the school. This year, Ms Mauro said, students began with writing essays about their chosen Connecticut historical figure before they converted the essays into speeches. Those speeches were then shared with the visitors on Friday, when each fourth grader represented his or her chosen figure.

As people milled around the four fourth grade classrooms, they could tap a student gently on the shoulder to hear the speech and bring the Living Biographies to life.

Ms Mauro, Ms Beauty, Ms Baron, and Mr Sullivan all noted a few new choices this year to the historical figure lineup. In Ms Mauro’s class, Martin Luther King. Jr, who the students discovered had summered in Connecticut when growing up, was chosen for the first time. In Ms Beauty’s class, one student chose to study Julie Andrews for the first time after learning the actress had worked for and produced plays at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam.

Ms Beauty said when the students learned it was time for the annual Living Biographies project, many began researching immediately at home.

Mr Sullivan said this year’s group of fourth graders did “very well” on the projects, and each of his fellow fourth grade teachers shared similar sentiments about their students.

When asked, the students shared different reasons for studying their chosen historical figures.

Student Eva Barricelli, who wore an apron and had a plate of dessert options before her, said she wanted to study Martha Stewart because, “I thought it would be fun to be a person who is kind of like me.”

Sarah Ruhs said she was inspired to study and be Suzanne Collins because she wanted to be the author of The Hunger Games.

Wearing a bowtie, a sports jacket, and a mustache, student Connor Dullinger said he wanted to study Martin Luther King, Jr, because, “he inspired me and he was very important in the United States.”

Gillian Torreso said she always liked Tomie dePaola’s books as a child, and her favorite is Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs, which is why she chose to study the author for her project.

Since he is a Boston Red Sox fan, Kyle Miller said he wanted to study Matt Barnes.

Sabrina Spraggins, who posed with her arms outstretched wide, said she wanted to study Marian Anderson to “celebrate my culture” as she said both she and Ms Anderson are African American. Sabrina also said she was influenced by Ms Anderson’s singing and acting, which Sabrina also likes doing.

“She really inspires me to be myself,” said Sabrina.

Wearing a mustache, hat, coat, and tie Olivia Moody said she studied Igor Sikorsky because “helicopters interest me.”

Colette Burke, who portrayed Rosalind Russell for her project, said she finds actors and actresses interesting.

With a baseball glove before him, Braden Murphy said he wanted to study Jackie Robinson because, “he seemed really interesting because he was the first African American to play [major league] baseball.”

More photos from the event are available here.