by Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
Seven sixth-grade students from Chancellor Middle School will have their African American history projects on permanent display in Spotsylvania’s John J. Wright Museum.
The winners were chosen out of 42 submissions entered by English and history students at Chancellor. The students had to create a Google slide presentation on an “African American Achiever” and create an object to represent their person or achievement.
They also had to present their projects to their classes and could not read from a written report.
According to the instructions, “The student should be able to intelligently discuss the achievements and or the accomplishments of their African American achiever. They must know what makes their person so great!”
The winning projects, selected for inclusion in the John J. Wright Museum’s permanent exhibit, are:
- Isabella Escobar—Michelle Obama
- Gavin Rinker—Sammy Davis, Jr.
- Keiry Hernandez-Lima—Michael Jordan
- Jlynn Allee—Aretha Franklin
- Jaycob Castro—Ray Charles
- Lourdes Matute—Little Rock Nine
- Julia Garalde—George Washington Carver
Renee Beverly, chair of the John J. Wright Museum’s Board of Trustees, said it was difficult to select winners from the group of submissions.
“Thank you to the parents and history and English teachers Michelle Lewis, Jonathan Alsheimer, Addrienne Bennett, Holly Weaver, and William Enos for their hard work and dedication in assisting the students with this collaborative African-American Achievers Project,” Beverly said.
She said the museum invites students from other county middle schools to enter next year’s contest.
All of the students’ projects—which explore a range of local and national individuals and subjects such as the Negro Baseball Leagues, the Snell Training School, Maggie Walker, Ruby Bridges, Denzel Washington, the Buffalo Soldiers, and Sidney Poitier—will be on display at the museum through the end of March.
All the students were recognized at the museum this past weekend.
