PARIS — Sitting on a chair out of newspapers and tape can be comfortable.

At least that’s what some Oxford Hills Middle School students think.

With the assistance of the Sun Journal, which provided the newspapers to the class, the students built chairs as part of the Quest project in Zac Knight’s science class.

“On Quest days all the students in the building are doing hands-on, project-based learning on a topic that they got to choose,” Knight said. “Many of the Quests are focused on giving students exposure to possible careers that might be of interest to them.”

During the Quest classrooms, students become immersed in projects that combine real-world experience with learning experiences they have in school. Students are involved in a rotation of Quests that involve STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), the arts or the humanities. At the end of each trimester, all students and most staff will rotate to their next experience.

Knight’s students focus on engineering and technology and during the Quest days, Knight said he gets his students to think like engineers.

According to Knight, some of the Quest projects in his classroom have included building an incubator to keep an egg warm and safe from a drop, building a bridge out of spaghetti to support as much weight as possible, and the most recent activity: building a chair of newspaper and tape.

“After they were finished with their chair, they each got rubrics to go around and assess their classmates’ chairs for comfort, ergonomics, safety, style and use of materials. The students who got the best overall score were declared the winners,” he said.

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On Tuesday, March 7, projects completed by Oxford Hills Middle School students will be exhibited during the annual “Celebration of Learning” parents’ night.

CREATIVE — Oxford Hills Middle School student Trista Chasse sits on the chair she made with newspapers.