JAMESTOWN — After starring as the co-host of a nationwide webcast yesterday, Kaitlyn Adkins of Sandston realized she’s happy to be in the spotlight.

“I love it!“ she said moments after “Jamestown Live!“ finished airing its hourlong history lesson to about a million students. “I had so much fun today.“

Adkins, a 17-year-old senior at Henrico County’s J.R. Tucker High School, was one of six student reporters drafted to participate in the $900,000 webcast produced Thursday as a signature event in the ongoing commemoration of Jamestown’s 400th anniversary.

Like the other reporters, she recorded her segments interviewing experts a few weeks ago, and figured she would be in the live audience with the other reporters and about 150 students from across the country and from many parts of Virginia.

But in the final preparation for the live segments at the Jamestown Settlement history museum, the producers asked Adkins to serve as student co-host with public television personality Gwen Ifill.

Adkins, a member of the Chickahominy Indian tribe who is a gifted public speaker, gave a smiling, relaxed performance from the anchor desk and from spots in the audience where she fielded questions from fellow students.

She confessed afterward that she was unexpectedly nervous in the countdown to the webcast, but quickly relaxed as the program got rolling.

The webcast, aimed at fourth-through-eighth graders, was designed to be a fast-paced exploration of Jamestown history and its legacies of democracy, cultural diversity and the spirit of exploration. It contained interviews with historians, a tall-ship captain, an archaeologist, a Virginia Indian chief and even a former astronaut.

Students in the audience were able to participate by answering a series of questions. Ifill announced the percentage of right and wrong answers for the questions during the show.

Also included were cartoonlike graphics and shots of musical performances by Anniversary Voices, a troupe of singers and musicians who play songs composed to commemorate Jamestown.

Founded in 1607, Jamestown became the first permanent English settlement in America.

A state agency, Jamestown 2007, is coordinating an 18-month series of commemorative events that will climax with a three-day festival in May called America’s Anniversary Weekend.

At Linwood Holton Elementary in Richmond, technical problems interfered with the webcast’s sound and picture, and the students quickly lost interest.

Kevin Crossett, a spokesman for Jamestown 2007, said it was too soon yesterday to determine if there had been widespread problems. He said the webcast was viewed without problem on the Web and by satellite broadcasts at Jamestown Settlement and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

An archived edition of the webcast will remain available for viewing for the next three months at http://www.jamestownjourney.org, officials said.

Andrew Petkofsky is a staff writer at the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Staff writer Holly Prestidge contributed to this report.