Most days Noah Booker is a fifth grader at Chilton Christian Academy, but on Wednesday he spent the day as Benjamin Franklin.

“I have really enjoyed getting to learn about Benjamin Franklin,” Booker said as he donned a white, curly wig. “He was pretty cool.”

Fifth grade students at CCA spent the day on Wednesday portraying historical figures for the school’s first Living Wax Museum.

“We thought it would be a good way to bring history to life,” fifth grade teacher Tricia Hodges said. “The students worked really hard on this project and have had a lot of fun putting it together.”

The idea for the Living Wax Museum came about after the students were asked to write research papers on different historical characters.

“They were first assigned to write about the characters they represent today, and I have seen wax museums at other schools and thought it would be really neat to incorporate that into the research project,” Hodges said.

Students played characters such as Franklin, Elizabeth Blackwell, Clara Barton, Annie Oakley, Henry Ford, Billy Graham, George H.W. Bush, Ben Carson, Heather Whitestone and Mary Lou Retton.

“It is funny because each student that picked his or her character to portray really fit with their personalities,” Hodges said. “It all worked out really well.”

The students spent the day dressed in costume, coming to life when fellow classmates at the school would walk by and shake a water bottle in front of them indicating a cue to speak.

The students also had a backdrop behind them with the name of their character, which was created by the seventh and eighth graders at the school.

“The students were responsible with coming up with their costumes, and we tried to keep their speeches under a minute each,” Hodges said.

Natalie Naylor played Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman in the United States to receive a medical degree.

“I learned a lot of neat things about Elizabeth, and I have had a lot of fun portraying her,” Naylor said. “One interesting piece of information I found out was she actually adopted an Irish orphan. I didn’t know that so that was really neat to find out during my research.”

Emily Hagler played Annie Oakley and stood with a wooden gun by her side as she told fellow students about her character.

“I thought Annie Oakley was really neat because she grew up on a farm just like I did,” Hagler said. “I thought we had a lot in common.”

Joseph Kasper played George H.W. Bush and told about an interesting fact about the former president.

“I do not like broccoli,” Kasper said.

Other students who played characters included Alexis Blackmon who played Clara Barton, Tyler Price who was Henry Ford, Houston Bice who was Billy Graham, Daniel Tolleson who was Ben Carson, Lizzie Moate who was Heather Whitestone and Claire Ellen Jolley who was Mary Lou Retton.