Portraying the nation’s leaders during annual State of the Union

By Joanie Morris
Kannapolis Citizen
Students worked for a month to portray the nation’s leaders during the annual State of the Union Addresses at Jackson Park Elementary School.
They learned little-known facts such as:
• George Washington had 36 dogs, 14 horses and a parrot named Polly.
• Thomas Jefferson liked to greet White House visitors in his pajamas and slippers.
• Martin Van Buren was the first president born a U.S. citizen.
• Ulysses S. Grant ate cucumbers soaked in vinegar for breakfast and Ronald Reagan loved jelly beans.
• Theodore Roosevelt was the first president to ride in an airplane and Dwight D. Eisenhower was the only president to serve in both World Wars.
Then, they wrote them into addresses, which they practiced and edited, then presented to parents, grandparents, siblings and faculty at Jackson Park Elementary School last Tuesday afternoon.
Jennifer Van Tighem’s second-graders and Jamie Clark’s third-graders presented their State of the Union addresses after all the preparation and it definitely paid off — observers loved them, if the applause was any indication.
All but three presidents — Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield and William McKinley — were in attendance, dressed to the nines in dad’s old suits, with drawn on beards and mustaches, as well as powdered hair.
There was even a really tall top hat, thanks to President Abraham Lincoln, portrayed by Amiere Ford.
Tanner Freeze was up first, as George Washington, the nation’s first president.
“Before I was president, I was a surveyor and a planter,” said Freeze, as Washington. “I owned false teeth made of hippo ivory and lead, along with the teeth of sheep, cows and humans.”
As Andrew Jackson, Grachy Vasquez smiled and waved to her mom and little sister before going onto the stage.
“I was the first president to survive an attempted assassination,” she said as Jackson. Her mom, Sara Vasquez, filmed the entire speech proudly. “I was known for fighting and this came in handy when the United States went to war with Britain in 1812.”
Andy Watson, technology facilitator for Jackson Park Elementary, also filmed the event, along with several other tech-savvy parents and grandparents.
In addition to the addresses and costumes, students prepared their speeches for displays that were on the walls around the multi-purpose room, along with their own artistic depiction of what their president looked like. During an intermission between presidential addresses, assembly-goers ate snacks provided by the classes, and many met up with their students to see the presidential murals.
Van Tighem’s class last year gave the first of what’s now an annual State of the Union address, where parents are invited to see the culmination of the month’s hard work, research and practice.
“My kids took an interest in the presidents,” Van Tighem said, explaining how the project got started. They were learning about United States history in accordance with state standards, and “just wanted to learn more.
“I bought all the president books I could find,” she added. The students spent time researching their chosen president, and then writing that president’s State of the Union address. After practicing, they presented the addresses Tuesday to a crowd of about 50 gathered in the Jackson Park multi-purpose room.
“The purpose is to learn more about the presidential history,” Van Tighem said. “It goes with our state standards, with our nation’s history.”
Van Tighem admitted that she didn’t know nearly as much about the presidents when she was in second and third grade as the students who gave addresses did on Tuesday. And it’s not something they are likely to forget with facts such as this: George W. Bush served as head football cheerleader his senior year in high school.
Contact Joanie Morris at 704-932-3336 or jmorris@ kannapoliscitizen.com.