Fourth-graders at Queen of Angels Catholic School tonight will become someone else.

They will present a Museum of Historical People from 6 to 7 on the second floor of the building. As part of Catholic Schools Week, members of the public are invited to attend and learn a little history.

Since November, the students have been learning about an important person in history that they chose. After reading a biography, students wrote a report about the person, and then prepared a speech about their person that they delivered in front of the class.

But all this was just warm-up for tonight, when students will dress as their historical figure and deliver their speeches to whomever comes to hear them. Each child will sit in the hallway silently until visitors "activate" them by tapping the paper buttons taped to the wall next to them.

The students' historical figures run the gamut from the instantly recognizable, like Anthony Riccelli's Neil Armstrong, to the somewhat more obscure, like Carly Tatarek's American Indian sainthood candidate Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha.

At a Monday dress rehearsal, the costumed fourth-graders practiced their speeches in front of the other grades. Students wandered the hallway, stopping in turn at each figure. The younger children excitedly pressed the paper buttons and then listened with rapt attention to the speech that followed.

"Courage doesn't mean you don't get afraid; courage means you don't let fear stop you," said Jamie Wilson in the guise of Bethany Hamilton.

A surfer from Hawaii, Hamilton lost her arm to a shark attack when she was 13, yet persevered to compete as a surfer.

"She inspired me a lot because she's been though a lot of things and never gave up," Wilson said.

Aaron Knoch chose Pittsburgh Pirate Roberto Clemente for his figure "because he was a great baseball player."

"My life took a tragic turn when on Dec. 31 of 1972 the plane I was on carrying relief supplies to an earthquake in Nicaragua crashed," Knoch solemnly intones.

Students chose people they admired or felt were important to history. Katie Barrett went with Sandra Day O'Connor, who was the first woman to serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

"I feel that she made a good impact to all the women and the voting and became a special person on the United States Supreme Court," Barrett said.

Fourth-grade teacher Michele Yakel said she came up with the idea for the museum last year, and the students loved it. She said not only do her students enjoy doing the work, but the other students in the school look forward to seeing the results.

Visitors this evening also will have the chance to view the science fair projects of the fifth- through eighth-graders on the second and third floors of the building.

Events to celebrate the remainder of Catholic Schools Week include a 1 p.m. talent show on Thursday and a celebration of the 100th day of school on Friday morning.

The school will host the annual teacher-student volleyball game Friday, starting at 2 p.m. in the gym.