More than 300 area 5th graders are participating in Monday’s annual Ben Franklin Day at Fort Hays State University, sponsored by the American Democracy Project staff, Department of Teacher Education and Forsyth Library.  The event is inspired by two original, handwritten letters by Benjamin Franklin housed in Forsyth.  The letters, as well as two original pages of the Pennsylvania Gazette newspaper, were donated to FHSU by alumnus Cecil Currey.

Franklin is portrayed by Fred Krebs of Johnson Community College.  After a snack at the “Boston Tea Party,” students listen as Franklin talks about his famous kite-flying experiment using a metal key to prove lightening is electricity.