Students bring history to life [with gallery]

Published 2:46 am Saturday, November 17, 2018

Since 2005, Andalusia sixth graders have paraded the streets of Andalusia and set up on the square to bring history alive.

On Friday, Robert E. Lee, Princess Diana, and Christopher Columbus were among the more than 140 historic characters “told” their stories to entertain parents and spectators as part of an English project that involves researching someone in history, writing a speech about that person, and delivering a first person speech in costume.

Noble Bell decided to be Christopher Columbus because he was pretty interesting.

“He actually discovered America by accident,” Bell said. “He didn’t even mean to.”

Bell and his mother built a makeshift replica of “Santa Maria,” the ship in which Columbus sailed to America.

“It was pretty fun to build the ship,” Bell said. “It took about two days to build and it was really hard.”

Ariyanna Pryor dressed up as Sally Ride, an American astronaut, physicist and engineer who was the first American woman in space. She said that she has learned a lot about Ride.

“I learned a lot about space and about Sally Ride’s early life and what she did in her career,” Pryor said. 

Audrey Warmack portrayed Diana, Princess of Wales, who was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, the heir apparent to the British throne, and the mother of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.

“I wanted to be Princess Diana because I wanted to be a princess,” Warmack said. “She is also a really good person. She helped a lot of people.”

Annie Park dressed as Queen Elizabeth II, the current queen of the United Kingdom.

“My teachers gave me a few people to choose from and I picked Queen Elizabeth,” Park said. “I have heard of her before and she seemed really important to me. I really learned a lot about her by doing this.”

Cade Cassady dressed as Robert E. Lee, an American and Confederate soldier, best known as a commander of the Confederate Army. He commanded the Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War from 1862 until his surrender in 1865.

“I have always seen Robert E. Lee as a good guy,” Cassady said. “We learned a lot about him in history and I liked him a lot.”