On Oct. 29, the eve of his retirement from Wiscasset schools, Roger Whitney’s words of encouragement to a college-bound senior bespoke the support that parents and Whitney’s colleagues have said he showed his students.

The brief exchange occurred just after Whitney received applause from School Committee meeting attendees and handshakes from Superintendent of Schools Heather Wilmot and School Committee Chairman Steve Smith.

The committee had a heavy heart in taking up Whitney’s resignation, Smith said. Whitney has taught band and music 34 years, all of them in Wiscasset.

”A very, very long time,” Smith said.

Then the chairman noted that his son, Wiscasset Middle High School senior Sam Smith, will attend the University of Southern Maine’s music school. “Certainly a huge reason for that is what you did with him for those many, many years ... You taught him how to practice. You gave him the spotlight,” Steve Smith told Whitney. “So I personally really appreciate what you did for my son, and I’m sure that many, many parents over many, many years have the same story ... I would like to thank you for all your years.”

“It’s been a pleasure,” Whitney said.

Then Smith called on his son, in the back of the school library’s meeting area, to thank Whitney and shake his hand. He did. Then Whitney told his longtime student, “Good luck next year.”

Earlier in the evening, Wilmot and Smith gave the school’s new principal Peg Armstrong a Wiscasset Wolverines sweatshirt. The presentation came during a meet-and-greet for Armstrong, with cookies and cider.

“It makes me feel welcome,” Armstrong said later about the event.

Her start to the job was going well, she said. “I’m very excited about what I’m seeing from the kids and from the teachers. It’s a very warm community.”

During the committee meeting that followed, Armstrong gave certificates to students who took part in an Oct. 4 breast cancer walk. Armstrong said the event’s coordinator reported that the students represented the school well, adding great energy and being very respectful. Maeve Blodgett, Gabby Chapman, Matthew Chapman, Brooke Carleton, Trinin Jeffrey, Ethan James, Kevin Lynch, Alex Strozier, Sam Strozier, Josh Gabriele, Sam Storer, Brandon Goud, Kayla Cossette and Garrett Cossette were the students taking part, Armstrong said.

In other honors, Wilmot recognized three students who helped the department find the school’s new principal. Trent Shorey, Daren Wood and Samantha Arsenault helped in the search; Shorey, by taking part in the first interview of candidates and in candidates’ technology-based site visits; Wood and Arsenault, by serving as candidates’ tour guides, Wilmot said.

Wilmot also announced Wiscasset Elementary School’s students of the month, fifth graders Amy Caton and Myra Pekich, and sixth graders Daniel Lackie and Latisha Wright.

The recognition time for students was in its second month as a regular item on the School Committee’s agenda.