School’s out for summer … again. Northside Elementary concluded its summer session Friday afternoon, its students marking the occasion by performing a play of social significance, recalling the early days of the civil rights movement in their rendition of "The Unstoppable Rudy Bridges."

“It’s our favorite part of summer school,” said Northside Assistant Principal Beth Pafford of the performance. “They have worked on it since the beginning of the session.”

Pafford pointed out that the play, directed by Alisha Day and produced by Kristy Lasser, is not so much for entertainment but as an educational tool for the summer school students.

“These are students who might not otherwise be involved in a play,” she said of the 58 students who enrolled in summer school at North. The school, during regular session, has over 600 students.

She noted that learning lines, even if they are being read from a script, is educational.

“Drama improves literary skills,” Pafford noted.

Along with practicing and putting on a play, the students also learned of the early days of the civil rights movement, specifically strides made by the real-life Rudy Bridges.

Ruby Nell Bridges Hall is an American civil rights activist. She was the first African-American child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis in 1960.

The play discussed the outcry by locals about the integration of the school and how the young Rudy Bridges, the student who crossed the racial barrier, was able to overcome the hatred and make new friends at the school.