Taylor Swift, or rather fourth-grader Jillian Hedke playing the part of the popular American singer-songwriter, was wearing a gold dress and mastering an icy stare.
Next to her, classmate Giovanni Davila struck a convincing combat pose, playing martial arts star Bruce Lee.
Throughout the class period, they and other classmates stayed remarkably in character as the gym at North Elementary School in Franklin Park was turned into a version of “Madame Tussauds Wax Museum” on Friday.
Only when teachers Lori Airdo and Jennifer Plascencia called a close to the session did the fourth-graders break ranks and erupt into the yells and shrieks, suddenly mobile.
“Yeah, it sounds like fourth-graders,” said Shona Hedke, Jillian’s mother.
Friday’s event culminated the end of the project for the students who have been studying the genre of biographies.
After reading several biographies together as a class, the boys and girls all chose a biography of their own for a person they wanted to learn more about, Airdo said, then created a report about the person. They also learned how to make QR (quick response) codes, she said, so that when their parents and other visitors came Friday, they could scan the barcodes on iPads set out front at the entrance and see their children’s report come up.
“I think the part the kids liked the best was they got to design a backdrop for the person. Depending on who they are, they decorated it with something appropriate for their character, and then they dressed like the person,” Airdo said.
In the selection of subjects, the children showed wide range,” said Plascencia.
“We have from historical figures to movie stars to singers, politicians — a little bit of everything,” she said.
There was even someone — not even technically a person — Hatsune Miku, a humanoid persona, the creation of a singing synthesizer, who sometimes performs onstage in the image of a 16-year-old girl with pigtails as an animated projection hologram.
Fourth-grader Katarzyna Rzeznikiewicz picked her as her subject, “because I love her songs, and I really love the Japanese culture,” she said, breaking long enough from character to do a brief interview.
Olivia Dogic, standing to her side, picked actress-comedian Lucille Ball after going to the library and finding a book about her in the biographical section, “and I thought it would be easy to do because she has the same color hair as me.”
She sported a red “I Love Lucy” insignia on her apron, courtesy of a trip to Party City.
For that matter, Jillian Hedke played a convincing Taylor Swift, right down to the outfit.
“She borrowed it from her older sister,” said her mother, Shona, filling in for the interview. “Her older sister ice skates.”
Giovanni Davila’s choice of Bruce Lee was not really that far of a stretch, pointed out his parents, Jaime and Olga Davila. The fourth-grader holds a first-degree black belt in taekwondo, training four years now at ATA Martial Arts in Franklin Park.
“He likes to watch videos of Bruce Lee on YouTube,” pointed out his father.
“It’s pretty cool,” said his mother. She said her son would return from school, talking about what he had done in his project and his research at the library.
The two were able to learn about their son’s work, using the bar code to read his report on the internet.
“We learned a tad more about Bruce Lee and his biography than just the movies we used to see,” said Olga Davila.
Cody Huisman, principal at the school, located at 9500 Gage St., also visiting the “museum,” liked that it combined multiple activities — reading, research as well as technology, referring to the work with the QR codes.
“When you let kids have these hands-on learning experiences, it builds engagement to a high level,” he said. “It just creates a more engaging learning atmosphere not only today but in school all year long.”
