The writings of the children would last in memories, but more of a record of the works of several writing students was recorded on DVD as part of a local writing project.

Young students ended a weeklong writing workshop on Friday with a presentation of their writing to their families, writing also shared through a DVD each student made as part of the project.

In the DVDs, participants read their works and the audio was combined with drawings, images of themselves or subjects related to the story, and photos from the weeklong camp. Each movie also started with the child's introduction of herself, with personal drawings and photos.

After the child's DVD was shown, each one stood in front of the class and read from the original work.

Arion Papeno shared her story of having a friend with a broken leg when her own arm was broken. Kaitlynn Mize's DVD shared her story of an adventure between different drinks and she read a story about a trip to Pennsylvania for a competition. Nina Caruso told a story of two "old ladies" and talking sunflowers on DVD and read a story about a family trip to Indiana in person. Gillian Conley's DVD talked about the "Wonders of Nature" and talked about visiting several theme parks in Florida.

Kate Rock told the story of a sailing ship with dolphins and "giant catfish 100 feet long." Delia Cormier's recorded story was about a boy and tree and described going to the beach during the reading.

The workshop itself was done in two parts: one week for children in grades three through five and another week with students in grades five through seven.

The program is a spinoff program of the Plymouth Writer's Project from Plymouth State University and gives children the opportunity to focus more on their writing skills and receive feedback from instructors and fellow students.

Janet Caouette, a second grade teacher at Woodland Heights Elementary School in Laconia, went through the Plymouth Writer's Project last year. She worked with Donna-Marie Gamlin, a third-grade teacher at Elm Street School, in helping students in Laconia implement lessons and techniques learned there.

This is the project's first year with the technology component to make the DVDs. Teachers worked with the students to put together their DVDs.

"I think the video piece helps them learn about the power of their voices," Gamlin said.

Students during the week learned about different genres of literature, including non-fiction, fiction, and personal narrative.

Around eight students took part in the first week of the program and around 19 are expected to take part in the second week.

The group of older students will work on making their own DVDs, while the younger students had help.

"I think this with the component of the technology adds to it and they have an opportunity to [have] people from other schools come together and work together," Caouette said. "When you share your writing, you really get to know them because you're getting their thoughts and ideas."