Powell Middle School took students, staff and community members back to Mesoamerica on Friday, where every sixth grade student was involved in explaining and demonstrating the ins and outs of Aztec, Olmec, Mayan and Incan cultures.

After several weeks of studying Mesoamerican culture, sixth grade social studies teacher Amanda Haney’s students focused on what interested them in order to put together an exhibit or presentation for The Mesoamerican Culture Fair. The event focused on 10 areas of the four different Mesoamerican cultures including engineering, beliefs, social structure and entertainment. Ahead of the fair class time was spent learning about Mesoamerica through interaction, Haney said. 

The projects ranged from dioramas showcasing astrology, interactive game booths, replicas of the Olmec heads (heads carved into large stone boulders) and Mayan, Aztec and Olmec versions of a Mesoamerican ball game.

“Probably one of the most interesting things to me about this is that you will see these are three different civilizations that are all doing the same game and are passed down between three different civilizations,” sixth grade student Brody Braun said.

Braun and his partner Kallie Hyland were one of three stations where visitors could try their hand at the ball game in which you can’t use many parts of your body, Hyland said, “you could really use hips and thighs mostly.”

Braun and Hyland constructed their Aztec version using a wooden frame they built with help from Hyland’s dad and Aztec style designs were drawn onto paper that was then wrapped onto the frame.

The entertainment area as well as other interactive exhibits like a dice game and the Life Skill’s student’s cuisine booth, where a Mesoamerican drink similar to hot chocolate was served, were hits of the day. 

But, other students who put in the work to learn about the more academic and religious aspects of Mesoamerican culture also drew in crowds.

Kate Gunn and her group researched how Aztec temples were aligned with the Pleiades cluster and Orion constellation. 

The group exhibited what the temple may have looked like by creating a temple replica house inside of a shoe box that had been fitted with fairy lights to demonstrate the night sky.

Nearby, Lexi Austin chose to study and present on Olmec astronomy, one of the oldest Mesoamerican cultures.

“I thought the Olmec being the oldest or the best being a mother culture to everything else,” Austin said.  “And then I love … space and time and just how it all unfolds. And there’s so many mysteries out there.”