Humbolt fifth-grade teacher Kelli LaFramboise drops an egg container from a ladder on Wednesday, May 17, 2023.

CANYON CITY — Profiles of great Americans from days gone by, catapults, chicks and egg drops were all part of the Humbolt Elementary open house on Wednesday, May 17, at Humbolt Elementary in Canyon City.

Events for the open house were organized by students in kindergarten through sixth grade and featured rainbow, chick hatching and caterpillar/butterfly journals, as well as a wax museum, catapult launch, egg drop and survival guide. Classrooms around the campus were opened, highlighting each grade’s specific activity.

Humbolt third-graders put on the wax museum, with community members using coins to activate past great Americans who were being played by various students. Ronald Reagan, Neil Armstrong, Abraham Lincoln and Paul Revere were some of the individuals whose stories could be heard following the donation of a coin.

The third-graders also dressed the part of their wax museum subjects and recited speeches they’d written themselves when “brought to life.”

Third-grade teachers Robyn Miller and Kristal Hansen said the wax museum was the culmination of weeks of learning about historical figures.

“They learn about one (character) a week to prepare us for this,” Martin said.

“They’ve learned about them, they research the character they choose and create their posterboard, create their speech, and we practice,” Miller added. Third-graders held a dress rehearsal for the Humbolt student body prior to the formal event.

Fourth-graders staged a catapult launch at the Humbolt field while fifth-graders participated in an egg drop on the blacktop at the school. The surviving egg drop container was later launched using the catapult that had the longest throw of the bunch, with the container surviving the toss.

Both the catapults and the egg drop containers were constructed by Humbolt Elementary students.

Sixth-graders provided a survival and shelter guide for the open house.

The school also held a fun run on Thursday, May 25. Kindergarten through sixth-grade students were given 25 minutes to complete as many laps as possible around the course at Grant Union High School. The event was a fundraiser, with members of the public able to financially sponsor students based on either the amount of laps run or with a flat donation.

Proceeds from the fun run will be used to help pay for school supplies, field trips, assemblies, clubs, evening events and more.

Kristal Hansen and Robyn Miller are the third-grade teachers at Humbolt Elementary. A previous version of this story transposed the wrong name for Hansen’s. The error has been corrected.