Students who helped set up a classroom for a teacher who has been fighting cancer, and others who helped with last summer’s unpacking at Wiscasset Elementary School, had the attention of the school committee on Sept. 24.

The recognition for the students was the start of a planned monthly agenda item. The committee agreed to the addition when Superintendent of Schools Heather Wilmot proposed it in August. Students and some of their family members comprised a large part of the turnout for the Sept. 24 meeting in the Wiscasset Middle High School library.

Deb Pooler, technology coordinator at Wiscasset Middle High, told the committee that adding the recognition time to the meetings is one of the best things the school department has done in a long time. The community should know about the excellent things students are doing, she said.

Wiscasset Elementary Principal Mona Schlein and Wiscasset Middle High Principal Cheri Towle took turns addressing the committee and calling students up to receive certificates for volunteer work over the summer.

Towle honored several students who helped art teacher Shalimar Poulin prepare her classroom for the new school year. The work included moving what school staff said were large volumes of items from other rooms, in connection with the school’s change to serving grades seven through 12. Poulin continues to undergo treatment, but her latest tests show that she is cancer-free, Towle said.

The students volunteered on Wednesdays over the summer to come in and help with Poulin’s art room, Towle said.

“The heart that they poured out for their teacher was outstanding,” she said.

The students were David Roach, Elicia Creamer, Josh Kramley, Andrew Hendrickson, Alex Hendrickson, Tyler Peaslee, Seven Claypool, Skyler Stickney and Avery Thomas.

“I thought it was awesome to be recognized just for being nice and helping,” Kramley, a junior, said Sept. 25.

“Miss Poulin is a great teacher, and I like helping her out however I can, whenever I can. I think any of these kids would help any teacher,” he added.

Towle also recognized Daren Wood, Trent Shorey and Grant Hefler for helping unpack items at Wiscasset Elementary on a hot, sticky  day.

Schlein recognized Wiscasset Elementary fifth grader Madison Westrich, who volunteered more than 80 hours over the summer to help unpack items from the former Wiscasset Primary School. Westrich, 10, also volunteered at Wiscasset Elementary’s ribbon-cutting and watermelon welcome. She made signs and served as the event’s lead tour guide, Schlein said.

After the presentations, Wood received an additional mention from his father, Gregg Wood, about a conference Daren Wood attended in Boston, Massachusetts. The Congress of Future Science and Technology Leaders took place in June. Gregg Wood praised the conference and thanked the school committee for getting his and wife Karen Hefler’s son the $985 in tuition.

The committee tapped the Seth J. Wingren fund for the money, School Committee Chairman Steve Smith said.