Classroom 231 would like to give a sincere thank you for all who supported their Blacks in Wax Museum Exhibit.
It is with joy and so much pride that I write to inform you of the amazing students in room 231. On February 27, 2025, the students of room 231 presented a historical blacks in wax museum exhibit. Each student, over the course of the month, took time researching a historical black or Latin figure who made monumental contributions to the fields of science.
Students were taught what credible resources are, developed research notes, completed a display board, and wrote an oral presentation. Unsurprisingly, my students did not need their note cards as they were performing as their actual figures without them! Students had to budget and enter the community to shop of their costumes to present as their character. This was a fun experience for us all and would not have been possible without the contributions of our community, The Local American Legion Post 420 and a fully funded Donors Choose Project.
The day of the project I’m sure I was more nervous than them. Students assisted with decorating the area and performing to 30 groups which included our junior and senior high school students, as well as our elementary students! At each station, viewers pressed a light and watched their characters come to life. From Lonnie Johnson to Ynes Mexia, our students shared the important contribution of these figures to the field of science. New Student Natalia Moreno performed as scientist Cristina Romero Castillo in Spanish and amazed our students.
Exhibit Curator Wali Butler was a crowd favorite and really struck a note with our younger students. Ty’Lisa Gibson’s bubbly personality was nothing shy of amazing, while Tai Jones’s elegant speaking voice won over our staff. Isaiah Villamil’s attention to detail and time-period did not go unnoticed,
as educators and students alike said his presentation felt like they were in a real museum.
I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge each of our students and their characters:
Samerus Rivers-Lonnie Johnson/inventor of the super soaker gun which grossed 1 million dollars
Tai Jones-Mae C. Jemison / first African-American woman in space
William Potts-Guion Bluford /the first African American to travel to space as a NASA astronaut
Esperanza White-Brown-George Robert Carruthers / an American space physicist and engineer Carruthers perfected a compact and very powerful ultraviolet camera/spectrograph for NASA to use when it launched Apollo 16 in 1972
Ty’Lisa Gibson- William Warrick Cardoza / Pediatrician famous for his research in sickle cell anemia and Hodgkin’s disease
Omari Chester- J. Ernest Wilkins Jr. / co-developed the Wigner-Wilkins approach for nuclear reactors
Isaiah Villamil-Bessie Coleman / both first African American and Native American Woman to own an international pilot’s license
Omarzuriel Guevara-Rodriguez-Helen Rodriguez Trias / American pediatrician, educator and women's rights activist. the first Latina president of the American Public Health Association
Natalia Moreno Torin-Cristina Romero Castillo / PhD Oceanographer and author of AntropOcéano: Cuidar los mares para salvar la vida (AnthropOcean: Looking after Seas to Save Lives, Espasa, 2022)
Milianis Acosta-Hernandez-Ynes Mexia / Mexican American botanist notable for her extensive collection of novel specimens of flora and plants originating from sites in Colombia, Mexico, and Peru
Jay’Zier Moon- Emmett Chappelle / made valuable contributions in the fields of medicine, philanthropy, food science, and astrochemistry. His achievements led to his induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his work on bioluminescence, in 2007
Wali Butler-Harriet Tubman was an American abolitionist and social activist. After escaping slavery, Tubman made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including her family and friends
Jason Williams- Patricia Bath / She became the first female member of the Jules Stein Eye Institute, the first woman to lead a post-graduate training program in ophthalmology, and the first woman elected to the honorary staff of the UCLA Medical Center
A SINCERE THANK YOU TO THE STUDENTS, EDUCATORS, AND STAFF FOR SHARING IN THIS EXPERIENCE WITH US!!!
To view the album of photos from this event, please visit: https://photos.app.goo.gl/HXYtwJSx6Xxdfccs6
