Standing in front of a room packed with third-graders sitting in short plastic chairs, Amanda Penda smiles and says nervously, “Hi, I am Florence Kelley.”

Penda, a senior political science major and history minor, is one of eight students participating in the living history performances at Charleston’s grade schools as a part of Women’s History Month.

Each of the students who participate in the living history demonstrations must choose one important woman in history and research her to give 15-minute performances in front of the grade school students, Penda said. Students receive one college credit hour for participating in the living history performances.

“I just picked (Kelley) because I thought the kids would relate to her,” Penda said.

Kelley worked to establish child labor laws in the 1800s. Before Kelley spoke up to the government, children would work 14-hour days, six days a week for only $1 per week, Penda said.

Penda peers over the classroom at Carl Sandburg Elementary School and asks the children, “What would you do if you were not in school?”

Some students from the audience call out “sleep” or “go to Florida,” but Penda informs them they are much better off than the students of earlier years.

“It is better to be here than a dark, dirty, noisy place,” Penda said.

While standing in front of the class, Penda swishes around in a long blue dress with black beading like a woman might wear in the 1800s, and asks if anyone has a question. One student asked how she gets her dress to stay puffy.

Penda lifted the corner of her skirt and said it has a hoop under it.

All of the students have been interested in what Penda has to say, and they are always very inquisitive when she comes in, Penda said.

Penda said she joined the program because “it sounded like fun presenting in front of the kids.”