Community Corner
Tia Maggiore Helps Bring the Egyptian Museum to Life
At Austin Prep, learning history doesn't always happen behind a desk. Sometimes, it takes shape through cardboard, clay, glue, & imagination
This story was contributed by Austin Prep, a Patch Community Partner. The views shared reflect the author’s perspective and feature real experiences from the Austin Prep community.
At Austin Prep, learning history does not always happen behind a desk. Sometimes, it takes shape through cardboard, clay, hot glue, and imagination.
For Tia Maggiore, a sixth grader from Lynnfield, that experience came to life through Austin Prep’s Egyptian Museum project, a sixth-grade interdisciplinary initiative that transforms the Middle School wing into a walk-through museum curated entirely by students.
“Well, it’s actually two projects,” Tia said. “It’s several mini projects, and then it’s a bigger one.”
The mini projects allow students to work independently, including tasks like editing book trailers, drawing Egyptian artifacts, or creating jokes written in hieroglyphics. The larger project places students into small groups tasked with researching, designing, and building scale models of significant ancient Egyptian sites.
Tia worked alongside Samantha Cambray from Reading, Isabelle Martiniello from Wilmington, and Kelsey Brewer from Peabody, and together the group selected the Valley of the Kings as their focus.
The hands-on nature of the project made it feel different from a typical assignment. Tia described working across multiple classrooms over several days as her group built their exhibit. “There was so much stuff — hot glue, glitter, everything.” She added that even groups that modeled the same site ended up with quite different results. “Other groups did the Valley of the Kings, but they all looked really different, which honestly amazed me.”
Working in a group brought both challenges and rewards.
“We all pitched in, but we also had different roles,” Tia said. “Sometimes it was hard when we all had different ideas, and they all had to kind of come together because we were on a time crunch. But we worked together.”
An Idea Born from Literature
The Egyptian Museum began nearly a decade ago with a moment of inspiration outside the classroom.
Michael McLaughlin, Head of Middle School for Austin Prep, said the idea first came to him after reading Wonder by R.J. Palacio, which includes a chapter describing a fictional school hosting an Egyptian museum where students create exhibits and guide their families through them.
“As I was reading that, I thought, this is an opportunity for life to imitate literature,” McLaughlin said.
At the time, he was just starting at Austin Prep and began imagining how that moment in fiction could translate into a real academic experience. What started as a collaboration between English and history has since grown into the sixth-grade capstone, now integrating history, English, and theology, and marking its 10th year.
Learning History by Teaching It
In history class, students approach ancient Egypt through the perspective of museum professionals.
“As they examine Egypt, they’re doing it through the lens of museum curators and docents,” said Jack Brady, history faculty at Austin Prep. “They’re thinking about how to take a story but put it into an exhibit that other people can interact and engage with.”
Each student group builds a model of a major Egyptian site, which becomes the centerpiece of Museum Night. Students stand beside their exhibits, acting as docents as parents, teachers, and guests move through the Middle School wing and ask questions.
“We really have to know our stuff,” Brady recalled students saying after practice sessions.
In English class, students read books connected to Egypt and create short book videos instead of traditional reports. On Museum Night, families can scan QR codes posted throughout the space to watch those videos as they move through the exhibits.
In Theology class, students study the Book of Exodus and examine its connections to ancient Egypt. McLaughlin said that component has been intentionally woven into the museum experience, allowing students to explore the same civilization through historical, literary, and theological lenses and see how those disciplines intersect.
Collaboration, Creativity, and Purposeful Learning
For Michael McLaughlin, the Egyptian Museum reflects a broader commitment to project-based learning that asks students to apply knowledge, collaborate with others, and develop skills that extend beyond a single assignment or assessment.
“Tia certainly shared her ideas, and was open to the ideas and perspectives of her classmates,” McLaughlin said. “Ultimately that made for a really strong project.”
That openness, he explained, is part of what allows hands-on learning to become meaningful. Rather than working toward a single correct answer, students are challenged to communicate, adapt, and share ownership of their work.
“Tia, as a student, is so poised,” McLaughlin said. “She’s focused not just on making the grade, but on mastering the material. And it’s projects like these that really allow students to demonstrate mastery, much more so than a traditional test.”
Reflecting on the experience, Tia said it was “a really good experience to work with other people and get to know them a little bit better,” adding, “When it was the finished product and we all looked at it, and the teachers came to look at it, I felt a lot of pride.”
A Museum Built by Students
On Museum Night in February, families will move through a student-created museum where sixth graders take on the role of docents, explaining their research, design choices, and learning to parents, teachers, and guests. The experience gives students an authentic audience for their work and a chance to articulate what they have learned beyond a traditional classroom setting.
As parents prepare to see the museum for the first time, Tia knows there will be surprises.
“I don’t think they’re expecting what it looks like,” she said.
For Michael McLaughlin, that reaction is exactly the point.
“Families are able to appreciate the development and outcome in their students and the pride they take in their work,” he said. “They get a front row seat to what is happening in our classrooms every day.”
Explore the Austin Prep Middle School Experience
Interested in attending Austin Prep in Reading and discovering hands-on, interdisciplinary learning experiences like the Egyptian Museum? Learn more about the Austin Prep Middle School curriculum, or complete an inquiry form to begin your journey.
