DALLAS TWP. — Leonardo da Vinci was good at so many things, said Wycallis Elementary student Rashid Ofsiam.
“He (da Vinci) is my role model,” Ofsiam said. “He was a painter, scientist and inventor. He was good at so many things.”
Ofsiam researched da Vinci for a fifth-grade reading assignment. Then, he portrayed the over four century-year-old man for the school’s annual Wax Museum event on Oct. 27.
The project required 23 fifth-graders to read biographies about a historical person or a celebrity, said Caitlin Cooper, a reading specialist at Wycallis Elementary School.
“The students had to take notes on their person and create a presentation from the first-person perspective,” Cooper said. “They cannot break character but if asked a question, they can answer.”
Students chose a variety of people that included the likes of Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Malala Yousafzai, Thomas Jefferson, Neil Armstrong, Anne Frank, Sacajawea and Michelle Obama.
Ofsiam really tried to bring da Vinci to life for his classmates and parents who visited the Wax Museum.
He wore a long gray beard, a replica of da Vinci’s signature black hat, and held a pallet of paints.
Visitors pressed a colored sticker, which was stuck on each of the children, to bring the “characters to life.”
When activated, Ofsiam spoke with an Italian accent and told how da Vinci lived during the Italian Renaissance.
“He has the talent to do many accents,” Roula Ofsiam said of her son.
Fifth-grader Megan Rothschild portrayed Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani girl who was outspoken about the right to an education for girls. A Taliban gunman shot Yousafzai in the head in 2012. She survived and received the Nobel Peace Prize.
“I picked her because she is a strong woman,” Rothschild said.
Fifth-grader Alexander Vasquez presented Neil Armstrong.
“He is very interesting,” Vasquez said. “I didn’t know that he went on his first plane ride at age 6.”
Luke Robinson was dressed in a baseball uniform and held a baseball bat as he portrayed Jackie Robinson.
“I played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, was the first to break the color barrier, which means black and white players could play together,” Robinson said in character. “They retired my number, 42, when I retired.”