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 Margaret Chase Smith visits with students in 1987.
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Margaret Chase Smith created the library in part to provide herself a forum for meeting with students. Through her
own example, she hoped to inspire young people to aspire and to serve. To continue this important
legacy, the Margaret Chase Smith Library maintains a field trip fund to ensure that Maine school children continue to learn
the virtues of achievement and good citizenship. While at the facility, students watch a twenty-minute video on Senator
Smith's life and tour her house, the museum, and the archives. Teachers interested in bringing classes may request funds by
contacting the library.
"What a delightful visit our students had with you. I have participated in many enrichment opportunities over the years, and none has been better planned and run than yours. The messages you so clearly gave the children of higher aspirations, anticipating the hurdles, and considering community service were wonderful. All of this is in addition to the wonderful biography and government lesson. What a fine field trip." Lesley Fowler, Fifth Grade Teacher, Albert Hall School, Waterville, ME "I am really glad I had the chance to go to the Margaret Chase Smith Library. She was a very caring person and gave a lot more than she received. I hope more kids my age get the opportunity to visit her library and get the same opportunity I got." Anthony, Sixth Grader, Lincoln Elementary School, Augusta, ME FIELD TRIPS During the 2009-2010 school year, the Margaret Chase Smith Library hosted over fifty groups and more than twelve hundred young people. The majority of these visitors were invited to tell about their service projects and were rewarded with donations to support their charitable causes. Since 1997, over five hundred groups from throughout the state of Maine and covering preschool to high school have benefited from this program, receiving over $100,000 to make a difference in their schools, communities, state, nation, and world. Over the past dozen years, the library staff has been repeatedly amazed by the breadth and depth of students' commitment to helping those in need because of poverty, sickness, and disaster. It has affirmed for us that the vast majority of young people are good kids willing to do good works. They organize food, clothing, toy, and blood drives. They mentor the young and visit the old. They are concerned about the environment and all creatures great and small. They care about orphans in Romania, provide relief for refugees in Kosovo, collect textbooks for students in Kenya, explore female empowerment in South Africa, donate health and school supplies to the poor of Ecuador, bring the skills of peer mediation and community building to Guatemala, and send aid to tsunami victims in South Asia and earthquake survivors in Haiti. They also join student leadership, peer mediation, and alcohol awareness groups; service clubs; and Civil Rights Teams. In short, they serve! GROUPS 09/29/2009 People to People-Skowhegan HS
10/08/2009 Kennebec Valley Community College
11/05/2009 KVCC, Fairfield
01/15/2010 Cascade Brook School
02/24/2010 Highview Christian School (Charleston)
03/03/2010 Winslow Elementary School
04/01/2010 Clinton Elementary School
05/05/2010 Albion Elementary School
06/01/2010 Maine Central Institute (Pittsfield)
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Copyright ©1999 Margaret Chase Smith Library. | |
