The morning presentation welcomed parents, guests, and the fourth-grade class as the student curators in their all-black attire opened with a poem titled Change Sings by Amanda Gorman. At the conclusion, the museum was now open for the audience to meander through and learn more about historical trailblazers and individuals who may have been unfamiliar to them and learn something new.

“The Living Museum is the culmination and celebration of the students' work as they have dedicated their time to research and become experts about their changemakers,” said teacher and performance director Lisa Daly. “It truly is a cross-curricular and collaborative project as it brings together history, language arts, art, library research, and live performance.”

The museum featured four different exhibit locations within Swain Library as guests were able to meet Dr. Jonas Salk, Helen Keller, Florence Griffith Joyner, Jim Henson, Hazel Ying Lee, Bessie Coleman, John Cage, I.M Pei, and more in the fields of science, athletics, activism, and the creative and performing arts. At each exhibit, the students shared a monologue detailing the life and facts they learned about their chosen changemaker along with showcasing related artifacts. Once the groups finished their presentations, guests were given their own special assignment: a scavenger hunt around the museum to match the changemaker description to the person. The student curators joined back together with Lower School music teacher Rachael Jungkeit on the piano for a closing musical performance.

Once the museum closed, the student curators opened their art exhibit for audiences. The exhibit featured individual pieces inspired by the works of two artistic changemakers – Andy Warhol and Keith Haring. In class with Lower School Art teacher Sue Bennett 1973, the students learned about the pop art movement and its influence throughout history. For the first piece, the students were tasked with taking a contemporary item of their choosing and creating a painting based on the art style of realism. For the second piece, the students had only a select few class periods to create a chalk painting inspired by the colorful and animated graffiti art style of Keith Haring.

The preparation for the Changemaker Living Museum began a few short months back with each student selecting a historical figure that was both an inspiration to them and had made a lasting and positive contribution to his or her field. Head Media Specialist Stacey Schwartz helped the students choose books and resources as part of the project research. In class with grade teachers Andrew McLean and Monica Emanuelson, students turned their knowledge into a research paper and crafted the monologues. Ms. Daly worked on the performance and staging aspect with the students as Mrs. Jungkeit worked on the musical performance.