OXFORD — U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud may have a gubernatorial race in 2014 to think of but he isn’t the only one mindful of upcoming elections.

Addressing students at the Oxford Hills Middle School on Dec. 19, the congressman and candidate for governor spent the majority of his time answering pressing questions on the economy, the environment, and the daily life of a politician.

Just in time: Though Michaud faces a Nov. 4 election, this week middle school students are considering their own political futures, albeit on a smaller, class-room size scale.

Busy drafting images for a model-town flag, students will be asking for the votes of their peers as they run for roles – be it the police chief or the fire chief, in their very own town government.

Addressing the crowd

Michaud, speaking extensively of his own personal experiences, impressed upon students his own unlikely narrative: a mill worker turned local politician, now U.S. representative and candidate for governor.

Michaud said his story showed aspirations are attainable with perserverance.

“A lot of people said I couldn’t do it because I lived in the wrong part of the state, I wasn’t a millionaire, I wasn’t an attorney, there’s no way that a mill worker was going to get elected to the U.S. Congress,” Michaud said.

Michaud, who said he returns to tour Maine’s second district when he’s on break from duties in Washington, D.C., argued that the biggest thing missing politics on the national level – and a lesson students can take as they embark on their careers – is “friendship and trust.”

In anticipation of his visit, students questioned Michaud on a variety of topics, from work he undertook to the similarities between working at a paper mill and in the House of Representatives, to whether he believed in making personal monetary contributions a cause.

One student asked how much progress had been made on improving water quality on the Pennobscot River, and how such quality could be measured. Pausing, Michaud said, “that’s a great question,” and explained efforts underway to modernize dams so that they run more efficiently and with less waste. For instance salmon, he said, can again be safetly eaten from the river.

Students also quized him on a subject making national headlines: How can government function better?

“We can bring some certainty [to government],” Michaud said. “Unfortunetly, there’s too much politics being played at both levels.”

Michaud hoped recent passage of a two-year federal budget would bring stability to the economy, as it sent a confident message to businesses forecasting whether to hire.

Foreshadowing questions journalists will surely put to gubernatorial candidates in the future, students asked him to identify and solve Maine’s most pressing concerns.

At the top of Michaud’s list was healthcare, which he believed needed to be extended to an additonal 70,000 Mainers.

Also cropping up on his to-do list was re-branding Maine as a competitive, business-friendly state.

Back to class

Michaud’s visit aligns with teacher changing on the middle school level. Over the summer, the middle school revamped its curriculum and divided the school year into themed trimesters. A third of the student body delves into one of three topics, either the humanities, visual and performing arts, and STEM, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

As the south campus gears toward lessons on civic involvement, teachers hope Michaud’s expertise will inspire student’s work as they create a town, government, and the necessary municipal services to tackle the issues of the day.

One particular emphasis of the change is to incorporate local professionals into a teacher’s lessons and hopefully put a face to concepts that can, at times, seem to bear little resemblance to life outside of the classroom.

Joe Cummings, a Social Studies teacher at the middle school’s south campus, organized the visit. In August, Cummings reached out to the politician. Cummings hopes Michaud’s visit will reiterate lessons teachers strive to create in the classroom.

“I was pretty impressed with the questions these guys asked, despite only be at it [humanities focus] for two-to-three weeks,” Cummings said.

The school will play virtual host to Sen. Angus King, who will talk with student through video-conferencing program Skype on Jan. 8, he announced.

Student reaction

Focusing on the humanities and civic involvement, the south campus’ students weighed how they could put Michaud’s words into action.

For seventh-grade student Casey Barton of South Paris, that’s about collaboration results in better solutions.

“He [Michaud] had good ideas on how to solve problems. If we, with eight towns, could work together instead of being separated, I thought we could make a greater impact,” Barton said.

Still other students took to heart Michaud’s words of encouragement. Shueab Noh, of Harrison, says he plans on running for the Chief of the Fire Department – in the classroom.

“If you have an interest and someone doubts you can do it, it doens’t mean you have to stop. You can overcome anything,” Noh said.

Michaud’s speech, which lasted an hour, led to some fidgeting and uncertainty about phrases such as “economic development” and “municipal revenue sharing”.

Colby Fox, of Harrison, however, was rapt with attention.

“I thought it was interesting how his paper mill was polluting the Pennobscot River and he decided to do something about it. It’s cool, and surprising someone can go from being a mill worker to a congressman,” Fox said, adding he intends to run for Police Chief.