"One of my favorite opportunities as a United States Senator is visiting elementary schools to read to the children and to encourage them to strive toward their goals," said Senator Collins. "I tell them that if I can go from the halls of Caribou High School to the chambers of the United States Senate, anything is possible if you set your sights high, work hard, and get a good education. I cannot think of a more appropriate school to visit on this occasion than my own elementary school, where my teachers and friends inspired my lifelong love of learning."
Senator Collins, a longtime education advocate, reads books by Maine authors to elementary school classes on each of her school visits. Tomorrow she will read Miss Rumphius by the late Barbara Cooney of Damariscotta. Because of her passion for encouraging early literacy, she wrote the law that triples funding for early reading programs.