Kaitlyn Gasque, from business development for Google Education, Abby Manahan, a technology innovator from Boothbay Region Schools, and Lewiston High School sophomore Kyle Ogden, look at how Ogden is using Google Cardboard, a virtual reality device, to look at the night sky. Google and visiting educators toured Lewiston High School classrooms Tuesday. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)

Attended the opening session at the Green Ladle of Google’s ExploreEDU for educators across Maine and featuring the work being done at Lewiston High School. pic.twitter.com/xktXlqOnLG

— Bill Webster (@LewistonSuper) November 28, 2017

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LEWISTON — Lewiston High School juniors Tanner Cortes and Zach Morin were in David Brooks sports writing classroom Tuesday when two employees of Google walked in.

They were joined by educators from around Maine attending a Google ExploreEDU, a technology conference for teachers at The Green Ladle culinary arts school at Lewiston Regional Technical Center.

The tour was to allow the visitors to see how the technology is used in classrooms.

This is the second year the high school has provided a Google Chromebook computer laptop, which cost about $200 each, to every high school student 

Students said they like using them.

“Every year teachers are learning how to use it better and better,” Tanner Cortes said. “It’s a better experience for us. They make it easier to get our work done.”

Zach Morin said his Chromebook helps him research and prepare in-depth reports. 

Other students said the laptops help them organize their work and not lose papers. If they’re sick they can keep up, since assignments are posted on their teachers’ websites.

A few students complained that the devices block too much. They can’t watch YouTube and Netflix.

Garrett Mack said he’s happy with his Chromebook. “Instead of having papers and binders, I have this. There’s less paper.”

Students were a bit starstruck that representatives of tech giant Google were visiting their school.

“It’s crazy!” Cortes said with a smile. “It’s kind of cool.”

“To see they’re willing to go to states far away just to see if their format is working right is good,” Morin said. “It’s nice.”

In Pam Perry’s astronomy class, students used “Google Cardboard,” a $15 device to look at the night sky via virtual reality. Students wore the “glasses.”

Student Kyle Ogden showed Abby Manaham, a technology educator from Boothbay, how Cardboard turned a smartphone into a virtual reality viewer that was like taking a field trip. When he looked into his Cardboard he saw the night sky with a telescope.

That helped him answer his teacher’s questions about the location of the North Star. The technology “takes something that might not be that interesting on a piece of paper and makes it interesting,” Ogden said.

The Google group also visited social study classes taught by Donna Olsen and Michelle Crowley.

On tour was Joseph Deliava, who works for Google in New York City. Deliava said he’s seen videos of students in class using Google technology, but Tuesday was the first time he saw it live.

Compared to 1999 when he was in high school, “and seeing all this going on, I’m impressed with how much technology has advanced. Kids are able to collaborate. … there’s a lot of excitement.”

And, he said, Lewiston students and teachers “were using these devices in the classroom the way they’re designed to,” he said. “Again, I’ve seen it in videos, but seeing it in person is much more worthwhile.”

On meeting him and the other Google representative, Kaitlyn Gasque, students seemed pleased but a bit shy. “I was hoping they’d ask questions, like what’s it like to work for Google,” Deliava said.

Mahado Abdullahi, a senior, said she wished she had that chance. She was surprised to learn Google came to Lewiston High School on Tuesday. “That’s a big thing, a good thing,” she said. “I wish they had come to my class.”

It is possible that could happen.

The Google seminar for educators at The Green Ladle, and another tour of classrooms, are scheduled for Wednesday.

bwashuk@sunjournal.com