Depending on the room, Wiscasset Middle School on June 13 was a coffeehouse with song and poetry, or a wax museum of ancient Greek gods and goddesses. Other rooms offered a look into World War II or immigration in the United States, the low-down on food choices or what happens when math meets art.

The school’s “Celebration of Learning” drew parents, grandparents and others to the school as students across grades five through eight shared what they got out of weeks-long projects. Portions of the projects took students off-campus; the projects, and Friday’s presentations on them, required students to take responsibility for their own learning, Principal Linda Bleile said.

 “It makes it more relevant than just reading or hearing about it,” Bleile said after Friday’s event. “They’re active participants, and that’s why we love delivering learning this way.”

Eighth graders Logan Giles and Lily Wagg said they were surprised at how big the differences can be between fast food and home-cooked versions of the same items. A single serving of fast-food apple pie has as many calories as an entire homemade pie, they said.

“I thought it would be a few calories different (per serving), but not that much,” Giles said.

Other students’ displays showed the varied conditions that cattle, pigs and chickens might be kept under, from cramped cages to getting to roam a pasture. Some students visited Eastern River Cattle Company in Dresden, where they said the cattle get to graze on a series of pastures that each get to build back up on grass while other pastures are being grazed.

The wax museum in the gym was a group of sixth-graders portraying and answering questions about Greek gods and goddesses they had studied. Students in ancient Greek garb also treated attendees to Greek foods and a demonstration of the twirls, kicks and group turns of the Greek circle dance, “Chiotikos.”