By Jenny Kiefer
Photos by Chris Witzke
Each year, the Kentucky Derby Museum’s education department teaches about 50,000 kids, both onsite (where they get to watch a short Derby movie on a 360-degree screen) and throughout the state. In February, second-graders from Hartstern Elementary in Okolona visited the museum. Here’s what they learned.
DYLAN HANCOCK
What did you learn today?
“I learned that it doesn’t matter about how if it’s a boy or a girl.
You can be it, but you have to be five feet tall. There’s people that
wear silly hats and some people that don’t wear silly hats. Some of them may
not even wear silly hats or even not-silly hats.”
RHIAN JALANDO-ON
What did you learn today?
“The winner gets over one hundred thousand money. And they also get
things for the horses. Also the jockey. And also that ladies have ’Tucky Derby hats.”
DYLAN COOP
What did you learn today?
“That horses can be three years old and that when jockeys win the race,
they can get lots of money and a trophy.”
CODY SEGO
What did you learn today?
“There’s over a hundred — wait. There’s twenty horses in the Derby,
and they need to be three years old to ride. The riders have to know how the horses
like to run, and then they might win. When one of the riders win,
they get to have over one thousand dollars.”
What was the most exciting part?
“The movie, because we got to lay down and I like movies.”
TRACEY JEAN
What did you learn today?
“We do the Derby every year.”
What was the most exciting part of your visit?
“We got to watch a movie about the Derby. It has to have more mud puddles in it.”
KAILEE KLEIN
What did you learn today?
“I learned that horses get scared of shadows, so they have to put this little thing
on their nose so they can’t see the shadows.”
KEYANAH ABSTAIN
What did you learn about horses?
“I learned that the jockeys ride the horses. That’s all I learned.”
What did you know about the Derby before today?
“I did see the Derby race before. I don’t know what the place is called, but I just saw it.
I don’t know how to describe it. It’s not like a museum. I don’t know
what it’s called, and I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s not this place.”
COLIN ALLGEIER
What was the most exciting part of today?
“The movie. The horses were running straight towards us.”
WILLY GUERRA-RAMIREZ
What did you learn about horses?
“That they can only be three years old when they race.”
What did you learn about the Derby?
“That there was a thing where girls wear hats.”
MARIA GUERRA-RAMIREZ
What did you learn about the Derby?
“The Derby is a tradition.”
Who rides on a horse?
“A jonkey?”
What happens when they win?
“They get a metal trophy.”
This originally appeared in the April 2017 issue of Louisville Magazine. To subscribe to Louisville Magazine, click here. To find your very own copy of Louisville Magazine, click here.
