After several weeks of preparation, eighth-grader Michael M. was ready to set up his basketball based game for the history fair that took place on Oct. 20. The seventh-grade fair was in the auditorium, while the eighth-graders were in the gym. Michael said the break from traditional schoolwork excited middle- schoolers.

“It was really fun being able to break from our normal routine of things,” Michael said. “In class we always have to work individually and now we get a chance to work as a group doing fun things. It was a great experience.”

The middle-school history teachers got together and planned the fair, in which the seventh graders dressed up as historical figures from the Constitution, while eighth-graders channeled those from the American Revolution.

“The high-school students and other visitors entered from one specific area of the gym and auditorium,” eighth-grade U.S. History teacher Amy Dimond said. “They were given a passport when they entered so as they moved around and visited each booth, they were introduced to either a topic from the spirit of revolution or spirit of independence in United States history. Then they got the passport signed from the persona represented.”

As an attempt to get middle-schoolers more involved in activities around the school, the administration set out to look for ways and thought the middle-school history teachers could help.

“We wanted to be able to give the middle-school students some form of connectedness to the school where they actually feel as if they’re playing a larger role in the big events here at West Shore, not just academically, but being able to show the high school students that they have a place here,” Dimond said. “[Principal Rick] Fleming and [Assistant Principal Glenn] Webb came to me and asked if there was something that we would be able to do to help with that. They wanted to be able to put whatever it was on display because in high school there’s a lot of different activities that the students are involved in that you can see on campus whereas with the middle school it’s not as noticeable.”

Eighth-grader Clifton Coyle said the experience as a whole was a good way to interact with the upperclassmen.

“It was a really good way to get more involved with student activities,” Coyle said. “Because the high-schoolers get to do all the cool things, it seems like we just kind of get to watch but this time it was like we got to take the lead and they came to us to learn.”