For a brief amount of time on May 24, historical figures told their stories at both Middle Gate Elementary School and Head O' Meadow Elementary School when students shared "Living Biographies" projects.

The Middle Gate fourth grade classrooms were opened to visitors for the event. All fourth grade students at the school were tasked with studying a famous person with a connection to Connecticut, from the past or present, and preparing a presentation based on the person's life. Each student also dressed up and pretended to be the person they studied for the presentation. As people visited the fourth grade classrooms they tapped students on the shoulder to hear them "come to life" as the person they studied. Students in Linda Baron, Heidi Beauty, Liza Eleoff, and Alexa Calo's classes participated in the project.

Student Mary Guion said she wanted to study Newtown's benefactress Mary Hawley because she heard she was kind, and she said she learned a lot in her research, like how Ms Hawley also had a "mysterious side."

"She always inspired me because she was so nice and donated all the buildings," said Mary.

Students portrayed historical figures like Mark Twain, Eli Whitney, and Ella T. Grasso. Some students chose to study more contemporary people like Steve Young, Diana Ross, Tomie dePaola, and Suzanne Collins.

For Head O' Meadow third grade students the project was a celebration of completing a study of biographies, according to teacher Tina Murphy. Ms Murphy said students in her class and in Bonita Cartoun's class were able to choose who to study, how to make a display for the project, and the students could choose how to depict the person they studied. Around the school's cafetorium on May 24 students portrayed the person they studied as visitors stopped to hear presentations.

Students Josh Taylor and Sebastian Los entertained family members nearby when they performed a scene from the Broadway musical Hamilton as Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, respectively.

Cooper Thomas Williams said he chose to study Tom Brady because "he's my favorite football player." Across the room Olivia Gulalo said she studied Amelia Earhart because she "never gave up."