When Wiscasset Middle High School junior Kyle Ricker and fellow student council members made their new YouTube video thanking teachers, it wasn’t in response to the videos the two schools’ staff have made, he said. It was to thank them during National Teacher Appreciation Week for the “really great job” they’ve done.

“They’ve been checking in on us, and just caring,” Ricker said in a phone interview Sunday. They’re in the same kind of situation as us, but they’ve been doing a lot to reach out and make sure we’re OK.”

The plan was in motion on short notice and the other members did a very good job, Ricker said. 

The one-minute, 45-second video, with an instrumental throughout, shows one message after another, most on signs students hold while smiling at the camera. The messages read in part, “Thank you teachers for ... being our friends as much as our teachers, staying strong through this tough time to support us ... pushing us to work hard ... checking in on us ... making the workload manageable ... keeping in touch (and) thank you so much for helping us with everything.” 

What did Ricker’s father, Dale Ricker, think? “Pretty awesome, really.”

WMHS teacher Kim Andersson organized the first staff video of positive messages to students this spring. She told Wiscasset Newspaper in an e-mail response Monday, she felt “so proud” of the students for making them one. “I feel overwhelmed with gratitude to these kids for making the very best of this terrible situation. These kids have lost their spring sports seasons, concerts, academics, prom, and all the other activities that go along with their normally very active young lives, and still they thought about us.”

As of Monday evening, the video had 90 views. 

According to nationaldaycalendar.com, Teacher Appreciation Week is the first full week of May.