Culture Fair

The 8th grade class at Woodward Middle School has a really neat assignment each year.  Well, when Micah was in the middle of working on it, I wasn't calling it "neat" (although a few other 4-letter words may have entered my mind as I was making the 47-millionth trip to Paper Products for more glue sticks and card stock).  But once I saw the final results laid out in the Woodward gym, I was sold!

They call it Culture Fair.  Each 8th grader researches a person from their ancestors - they try to learn in-depth details about their life, personality, experiences, religious beliefs, etc. - then they write a report and create a display board about that person.  On Culture Fair night, the gym is lined up with all of the boards and the 8th graders are all there to talk about what they've learned.  It was like a massive pre-pubescent genealogical convention.  Pretty dang cool.

Micah decided to do his project on my dad, his Grandpa Guisinger.  You can click on the images for a bigger shot if they are too small to read.  (See if you can spot the slight error that slipped through.)

The finished project.
He worked really hard to plan it all out.
You would not believe how much glue & double-sided tape is on that board!

Micah actually had a lot of fun with this project, and I think it served the purpose of helping him feel more connected not just to his grandpa, but to all of his ancestors.  Every 8th grader at the school had some cool story to tell about someone from their family tree.  They began to realize that these aren't just "old farts" but pretty amazing people with some incredible life experiences.

Thanks to Woodward Middle School for making this a part of the curriculum each year!  And thanks, Grandpa, for helping Micah with his project.  BTW, he got a great grade on it too.  :)