More than 300 fifth-graders from Hays and Victoria spent Monday learning more about the life and times of one of American’s most prominent Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin.

This is the seventh annual Ben Franklin Papers, sponsored by the American Democracy Project in the Center for Civic Leadership.

Hays senior Anne Drees is the ADA student coordinator:

Forsyth Library is home to two original letters written by Ben Franklin as well as copies of his newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette.

Karisa Kaiser, a Hoisington senior, and others in her FHSU Teacher Education class designed and organized 11 interactive learning stations for the fifth-graders:

 

Over in the Beach Schmidt Performing Arts Center, FHSU history professor Dr. David Bovee talked about Franklin’s many accomplishments.

He showed the students his eyeglasses, joking that Franklin’s  invention of  bifocals “happened just for me:”

Cookies and punch were served at the “Boston Tea Party”  and students also got to create some of their very own Franklin Leaf Money.

From 1730 on, Franklin was the printer of all the money issued by Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Paper money was easy to counterfeit, but Franklin solved that problem by printing pictures of leaves on every piece of money.