Madison Dillery, an eighth-grade student at Friday Harbor Middle School, wrote this composition about the sixth-graders’ Egypt Day in the Commons Feb. 11. Ben Troutman’s eighth-graders were asked to write a news story on the day of exhibits, models and informative posters on Egypt’s ancient civilization. Madison’s composition was determined to be exemplary and was submitted for publication.

By Madison Dillery
We knew how hard the sixth-graders had worked, but we didn’t know their projects would look this good.

On Feb. 11, the Friday Harbor Middle School Commons overflowed with Egypt Day projects; it was like walking into a museum! The projects were observed and critiqued to the highest standards by the eighth-grade English class.

A couple of projects really stood out to me. One of them was constructed by Sophia Dillery and Kori Rasmussen. They made a wonderful model of a shaduf with the help of Sophie’s father, Ted. Back in Egypt, around 3,000-1200 B.C, Egyptians made shadufs to get water out of the Nile River. They were especially helpful in the dry season. Overall, their project was informational and entertaining.

Another project that caught my attention was a wonderful pyramid made by Jade Cooper-Yockers and Ashton Timmons. The pyramid they made is a much smaller version of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, a famous pyramid located near Cairo, Egypt. It was built over a course of 20 years. Pyramids were likely used for protection and to honor sacred people. In my view, this was my favorite project.

Egypt Day was a success. The projects were colorful and helped us learn a lot about old Egyptian times. I did not do an Egypt project. If I had, it would be nothing compared to the 2009 sixth-grade Egyptian projects. They did a great job!