LEWISTON – Lewiston Middle School eighth-graders have made a contribution to the archive of stories at the Franco-American Heritage Center at St. Mary’s for the sixth year.

Students, in a presentation to board member Rita Dube on June 9, presented 80 stories in written form and three videotapes, which have been accumulated from senior residents from the Lewiston-Auburn area. The seniors consisted of grandparents, family friends and neighbors.

Dube, chairwoman of the center board, praised the students for their efforts for the center and encouraged them to include studying French in their academic pursuits.

The activity, conducted by Michel Courchesne’s French classes, was a service learning activity for the students. Service projects include a dual focus – the goals of academic learning and of authentic volunteer projects.

The academic learning in class dealt with the study of Franco-American culture in the Lewiston-Auburn area. The volunteer project, in this case, was the accumulation of oral histories for the Franco Center.

This is the sixth year of a partnership between the Franco Center and eighth-grade students. The stories will be archived at the Franco Center for use in the educational area of the center.

This year, students had a wide range of stories. Some told of their experiences while working in the mills and shoe factories. Others spoke of their family gatherings at holidays and special events. Still others spoke about their families, their churches and military service.

One student’s grandfather remembers picking up a tourtiere, a meat pie, from Lacasse’s Bakery for the family supper on the way home from the mill at the end of his shift.

Another student’s grandfather told him about swimming in the canal to retrieve a baseball hit into the water from the baseball field on Canal Street where the Country Kitchen Bakery now stands.

Still another heard about Lamontagne’s grocery store in Little Canada and learning to dance at the hall at Thibault-Faucher’s in the Dominican Block.

Over the six years, students have produced and contributed more than 400 written histories for the center. In addition, individual students have recorded interviews in oral form and on digital videotape.