NORWAY — In an effort to understand more about what people were thinking when they cast their ballots Tuesday, Nov. 2 a group of five journalism students from Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School interviewed voters at polls in Oxford and Norway.

The students worked in teams of 2 and 3 and approached voters at the poll. Voters who were willing to go on the record with students were recorded with small digital cameras. Those videos were added to a public site that the Sun Journal shared with its online audience.

Quotes from voters were also transcribed by the students from the recordings and some of those appeared in stories written by reporters covering the vote.

The project was coordinated by teacher Pamela Chodosh and Scott Thistle, the regional editor of the Sun Journal.

The students who participated in the prjoect were: Abigail Shanor, Tyler Pelletier, Crissy Lewis, Aeron Roberts and Elizabeth Gemme.

“The Sun Journal’s mission is to ‘inform, challenge and reflect the communities we serve,” Thistle said. “This project at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School fit nicely with that mission.”

The students quickly grasped assigned tasks and did an excellent job meeting some difficult deadline and formatting requirements, he said.

“After only a short training session these bright and capable young people got the job done,” Thistle said. “This task required quickly learning how to use some new equipment but it also gave the students an opportunity to practice their public relation, time-management, writing and editing skills. The results were impressive.”

From an education perspective the project gave students some real-world experience, Chodosh said.

“There is no teaching as effective as being in the field like this,” she said. “Having to confront strangers with a video camera and this kind of question allowed these young people to learn what it takes to get a story.

“They learned about the interview process, the finesse it takes to get answers from reluctant people and the ins and outs of submitting stories over the Internet,” she said.  “The more we expose students to real life situations like these, the more they learn about the world. I look forward to more projects like this, projects that really count in the community and at our school.”

Lewis, of Auburn and one of the students involved in the project, wrote:

“I thought it was a very cool experience to go and ask the voters what they voted for and why. I liked the idea of going up to people and talking to them about it. It was nice to see the different views people have on certain issues going on.”

Chodosh and the students also contribute to the school’s Viking Voices blog.

The videos the students collected can be seen below.