Students and staff members at Pittston Consolidated School received $1,400 Thursday from Maine dairy farmers to promote healthful eating and physical exercise.

The finding of a previously undiscovered tardigrade – microscopic animals that can live in extreme conditions – brings worldwide attention to the Maine college.

Three local students worked with the University of Maine at Augusta on the project.

The donation of 13 acres and greenhouse space, formerly a commercial business called Half Moon Gardens, has taken on a new life as a farm and research center at the college over the last two years.

The project at the former Sandy River Recycling Association’s compost area is the first in Maine in which a town, a university and the public collaborate on sustainable composting, one organizer says.

A mass media communications class at Mid-Maine Technical Center in Waterville aims to tell city’s stories, set to music.