Heather Webster of Wiscasset said one of her son Russell Webster’s strengths is talking about his work, selling people on it like a salesman. She said the Wiscasset Middle High School seventh grader got to do a lot of that March 23, as he and other students in grades seven and eight shared their digital projects in an evening event in the cafeteria.

“He was getting a lot of traffic,” Webster said. One attendee, a flag aficionado, liked the inclusion of an early 1900s Maine flag in one of her son’s projects; the next day, Russell Webster received a package containing a replica of the flag. “He thought that was awesome,” and then wrote a thank you note, his mother said in a followup interview Monday.

The event was a great experience and students’ work showed a lot of variety, she added. One project her son worked on involved a tether for kayak paddles. He had to plan the product and its marketing, all of which tied into social studies where his class has been working on understanding the economy, and the project had personal relevance because his family kayaks.

According to science teacher Heather Sinclair and technology integrator/coordinator Tricia Bursey, the digital projects benefited students’ problem-solving, communication and technology skills, including the research, script-writing and rehearsing that led up to recording their voices. Seventh graders needed to convey emotion in their voices on digital essays; and eighth graders used storyboards to give a character’s perspective. In addition, seventh and eighth graders did pieces on digital citizenship, with statements, images and voice-overs.

Sinclair’s seventh graders did essay analyses that had them reading and interpreting a variety of non-fiction, biodiversity-themed essays at different reading levels, and sharing their interpretations with the class, the teacher wrote in an email. “This allowed us to examine biodiversity through multiple lenses: Rachel Carson, extinct species, and threats to both the polar bear and our local lobsters.”

Projects took collaboration and perseverance, Bursey wrote in a separate email.

Students had until March 30 to complete projects for five Meridian Stories competitions, Bursey added. 

Under a Maine Department of Education contract, Meridian Stories, a Freeport-based nonprofit, has shared its software with WMHS, Auburn Middle School and Blue Hill Consolidated School, executive director Brett Pierce said in a phone interview Friday. The schools were not charged the software’s $350 a year subscription, Pierce said.

Asked about the March 23 event he attended at WMHS, Pierce said, “It was very, very exciting to see how much pride (students) took in their work, and in showcasing it to one another.” The work with WMHS began last October, he said.