Several students from Quincy Notre Dame High School pose with members of the Lincoln family during a recent field trip to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield. Shown with Abraham and Mary and their sons Robert, Willie and Tad are Shanyn Speckhart, Celeste Niemann, Rachel Schneider and Kayla Schwartz.

QUINCY - Students and staff at Quincy Notre Dame High School will be cutting a cake in honor of Abraham Lincoln on the eve of the 16th president's 200th birthday, said QND librarian Barbara Lieber. However, she said visitors will find a lot more to experience at the high school's "Happy Birthday, Mr. Lincoln" celebration.  The event is open to the public and scheduled from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 11 at the school at 1400 S. 11th St.

The celebration will feature student exhibits about Lincoln's life as well as local history. Some of the local history topics will include the railroad and the steamboats, photographers, banking, medicine, local businesses and industries.

"The evening will also include recreated newspapers of the time, quilt displays, dance demonstrations, sports of the era, a performance of period music, portraits of local notables done by QND art students, an exhibit of digital storytelling, and an interactive inventor's workshop," Lieber said.

Many of the events leading up to the bicentennial birthday celebration punctuated a year of learning about Lincoln, Lieber said. In March 2008 Jason Emerson, whose book The Madness of Mary Lincoln had just been published, related his personal experiences as he discovered the "lost Mary Lincoln letters" in an old attic trunk.

In April 2008 the entire school experienced a one-man show, Mister Lincoln, sponsored by the English department. Brandon Thomsen of the Quincy Community Theatre presented many moments from Lincoln's life, Lieber said. In October 2008 QND students were visited by Lincoln, Senator Stephen Douglas and Captain Silas Terry, portrayed by re-enactors from Freeport.

"The current research about Abraham Lincoln, his life and times, was launched with a field trip for the entire junior class to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum on Dec. 10," Lieber said. "It was a fabulous trip and the kids were so surprised by what they experienced. It was so much more than they expected and it was exciting for them. They were blown away and that made me feel good about taking them.

"However, the capstone event to our year-long observance will be the presidential birthday celebration on the night of Feb. 11," she said. The experiences over the last year were designed by QND "to promote a deeper understanding and engagement in the life and times of Abraham Lincoln, as well as a deeper understanding of the important role of Quincy as the site of the sixth Lincoln-Douglas Debate and Lincoln's connection to numerous Quincy citizens," Lieber said.