JMG students visit MCS library

China Middle School Jobs for Maine Graduates students stand with David Richards, director of the Margaret Chase Smith Library, and a life-like portrait of Margaret Chase Smith as a young lady. (Contributed photo)

The Jobs for Maine Graduates program at China Middle School recently visited the Margaret Chase Smith Library, in Skowhegan, as the JMG program was being recognized for a community service project that they had done earlier in the school year. They did a Spare Change Drive to help with Hurricane Harvey relief in China, Texas. They were invited to attend by Director David Richards, who spotted the article months earlier in The Town Line, newspaper. As they got the tour, they were expecting the building to be more like a library, but it was actually more like a museum. It was really interesting that the museum was added on to her house.

A few interesting facts they learned were Margaret was the first woman in congress to break the sound barrier. She earned 94 Honorary Doctorate degrees from colleges around the country. Family meant a great deal as she had many pictures of her family in the house, especially in the entry area of the house. And her mother seemed very important as she had a picture of her above her bed. She didn’t have any children of her own so she was very close with her nieces and nephews. Some of her family came from Canada and changed their surname because people that were French were discriminated against. One of her missions was to make sure all people were treated with equality and respect.

Margaret wanted all students, especially Maine students, to serve their community and aspire to be a leader. In the entryway was the book The Little Engine That Could because her feeling was if you tried as hard as you can you can succeed and that when someone needs help, you help. You don’t sit by the sidelines and watch. It was a great visit.