It may have been 102 years since the ocean liner Titanic sank in the North Atlantic in the greatest recorded passenger ship maritime tragedy, however, the hours before the fatal sinking were brought to center stage recently by Cowan Elementary School students.
The students held a re-enactment showcasing how life probably evolved as the minutes were ticking away on near midnight on April 14, 1912, after the oncedeemed “unsinkable” ship had hit an iceberg and later sank in less than three hours.
During an assembly to re-enact the events, Cowan students served as speakers, portraying themselves as passengers and personnel on the ship — Jim Thorpe (Bret Smith), J. J. Aster IV (Louis Hayden), Margaret (“The Unsinkable Molly”) Brown (Cathy Olsen), Bagpipes (Rev. Andy Gay) and Capt. Edward Smith (Sherwood Ebby).
Friday’s activities integrated waltzing, math concerning the Titanic’s dimensions and static weight related to the ship’s sinking, cold water temperatures simulating an ice-berg-laden ocean, period authentic crafts, and the Ala Cart Restaurant, which served sherbet and French petifore cakes on fi ne china and crystal, decorated with oil and water coloring paintings from the 1912 period.
The activities also included games, marbles, chess, checkers, jacks, interactive computer games, displays from students depicting era, plus class projects and a promenade with students dressed as though they were from the epoch.
Cere Reeves and Linda Carr are second and fifth grade teachers who organized the day’s activities.
Next year, plans are to re-enact the Dec. 7, 1941, bombing at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, that engulfed the United States in World War II.