St. Luke School students’ ‘Wax Museum’ project raises money to help feed the hungry in Indianapolis

Avalin Senefeld, left, impersonates Gene Stratton-Porter, the author of A Girl of the Limberlost, during the St. Luke School Wax Museum on May 14. Fourth-grade students researched Indiana historical figures and presented two-minute speeches about their lives while students and parents listened. (Photo by Kamilla Benko)

By Kamilla Benko

A boy in suspenders, white cotton shirt and straw hat stands frozen in a school gymnasium. He leaps to life when two kindergartners drop a nickel and two dimes into a collection box

“ ‘AAH! AAH!’ I heard all the screamin’ so I ran out to the back yard to find the problem,” shouts Max Habegger, a student portraying Indiana hero Levi Coffin, a conductor on the Underground Railroad.

“I saw three black men in a blacksmith’s shop being beaten by a burning anvil,” Max continues as he raises his voice to be heard over students portraying St. Theodora Guérin, John Purdue, Gene Stratton-Porter and other notable people from Indiana history.

Max was one of 69 fourth-grade students who participated in St. Luke School’s “Wax Museum” on May 14 in Indianapolis.

The Wax Museum was a chance for the students to demonstrate their knowledge of Indiana history and raise money for The Food Link, a hunger relief organization based in Indianapolis.

The “wax” figures in the museum were students who had spent weeks researching important historical figures with Indiana ties.

The fourth-graders dressed as their characters and stood frozen in place until coins were dropped into collecting cans placed in front of them. Only then did they move from their position and give a two-minute presentation about the life of their character.

Tara Land, fourth-grade teacher and coordinator of the Wax Museum, said she came up with the idea after seeing street performers in New Orleans.

“People would be frozen in a position, and when you dropped coins in their basket they came to life,” she said. “So I decided to take that idea and turn the coins into a charity.”

This year, the wax museum donated $5,128.36—enough money to feed 1,500 families, said Wynn Tinkham, co-founder of The Food Link.

“I really think the money will make a difference for all the hungry people in Indianapolis,” said Sam Dattilo, a fourth-grade student.

Standing in a Larry Bird jersey, Sam said the Wax Museum experience had been fun. Not only do the students get to help people through donations, he said, but “we also get to teach everyone about Indiana history.”

Mary Grace Marxer, a seventh-grade student and one of nearly 1,000 people who attended the Wax Museum, said she enjoyed the interactive learning.

“I’ve learned a lot about people you usually don’t learn too much about in regular school and how they affected Indiana,” Mary Grace said.

“If you live in Indianapolis or Indiana,” Max said, “you should know about what has happened in our state and who has made a difference.”

But the Wax Museum shows a person doesn’t have to be featured in the pages of history books to impact the community.

“This project,” said Land, “is about seeing the kids realize the difference they’re making and seeing how proud they are of what they’ve accomplished.” †