Shenandoah Elementary School students got a real-world taste of what life was like in an old-time Acadian Village during the school’s annual celebration the week of May 3.  The Acadian Village originally was created in 1995 by teacher Carol Whitaker, and the activity has been an annual fixture at the school ever since.  

The village is located on Shenandoah's front lawn and consists of re-created Acadian homes, a school and a barn.  For the celebration, the girls dressed in bonnets and long, traditional dresses, while the boys wore jeans, suspenders and straw hats.  Kindergarten students were paired with third graders, and together they re-enacted what life was like in a village of early Cajun settlers in Louisiana. 

The third graders did the speaking parts, including some lines that wore spoken in French.  All of the students sang French songs and participated in a Cajun fais-dodo as part of the celebration.  Some of the student presenters included students (left to right) Brooks Scafer, Eric Cox, GraceRae Hickman, Keyire Wright and Leo Jiang.  In addition, the third-grade class video conferenced with class at Maine school about the project.