By David Vitrano
L’Observateur

RESERVE – Fifth Ward Elementary School in Reserve bid farewell to Black History Month last week with a presentation unlike any other.
The school’s Fifth Ward Five Ways program, which fosters the performing arts, put on a living wax museum Thursday for the other students in the school.
Tabari Simon, who helped organize this year’s Black History program, said this is the third year the group has done something to commemorate Black History Month. He said the group does something different every year. This year, the students picked out whom they wished to portray, researched that person and came up with their own costumes for the presentation. Students portrayed figures ranging from Harriet Tubman to Oprah Winfrey to Tupac Shakur and just about everyone in between.
Jasmin Porter, who head the Five Ways group, acted as the museum guide as she led classes past the performers, who stood stone still in imitation of a wax museum. Porter then told the classes a little about each person being portrayed. But unlike traditional wax museums, the “statues” occasionally came to life, singing one of their hits or swinging a tennis racket. That touch really brought the presentation to life and kept the students entertained for the duration.
“We want to show that students that all history is important,” said Porter.