For Women’s History Month, these Paseo Academy students strike a pose as famous figures | KCUR 89.3

A Kansas City school is celebrating Women’s History Month by tweeting out photos of students dressed like famous women from history.

Students, teachers and staff at the Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts have been recreating pictures of women they look up to — athletes, singers, actresses and others — and posting them each day of Women’s History Month. They did the same for famous Black figures during Black History Month in February.

Aneshea Quarles, Paseo Academy’s community engagement liaison, said the idea came from principal Keyona Powell’s vision and her love of taking photos of students.

“It’s great to see them by the person that they look up to, as well as just getting more information out to the community and our school about people they might not know about,” Quarles said. “A lot of people, they would try to do people that are already well known. So I’d be like, ‘Can you think about somebody that’s from like 60 years ago that we don’t know now?’”

Each post features a side-by-side comparison of a student next to a photo of a person they admire. Some students went the extra mile to style their clothing, hair or makeup to match their chosen figure.

With dozens of photos to choose from, Quarles has some favorites including Martin Luther King Jr., Janet Jackson and especially her own recreation of actress Quinta Brunson – students often compare her to Brunson’s character Janine Teagues on the show “Abbott Elementary.”

Quarles said she initially used a spreadsheet to keep track of students who wanted to…