Meeting President Carter

Feb. 26th, 2001
" Rebecca, I have been looking forward to meeting you for a long time." The gentleman gave her a hug and then continued, "I loved your letter; I know you must be a special person." The ten year old girl was Rocky Hill Grade Four student, Rebecca Miller, the gentleman was President Jimmy Carter. This encounter was a culmination of a four month wait for a scheduled meeting with the former president at The Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia. In
October, Rebecca researched Jimmy Carter as part of an oval office election year school assignment. Each Grade Four and Five student in my Rocky Hill School class in East Greenwich, Rhode Island had pulled the name of a president "out of a hat" and had been asked to write a speech as if this president was running for The Executive Office in the year 2000. Originally Rebecca had received President Bill Clinton to research, but as children were allowed to trade names, knowing a little about both presidents, Rebecca declared later on, "I
traded Bill for Jimmy. I had heard my parents talk about Jimmy Carter in the past and I knew I wanted to learn more about this guy."

A few days later Rebecca came to school and announced to me that she needed to stay in from recess to call The Carter Center. She'd asked her parents how to get in touch with someone who might know President Carter better so she could write a more detailed speech. She'd reached the center the previous afternoon but had been told to call back the next day if she wanted to schedule an appointment. "It's so funny, Mrs. Wright, the lady thought that I lived in Atlanta and that Jimmy Carter might want to meet with me. Anyway I would like to
call back to get more information on Jimmy Carter." Rebecca stayed in from recess that day and by the end of her call to Mrs. Betty Buckley, an administrative secretary at The Carter Center, Rebecca had the address to fax a letter to the appointment office in order to "apply" to meet the former president! I told her to go for it because she had nothing to lose; she agreed and so did her parents!

Rebecca wrote a letter and I accompanied it with a short note from me, her teacher, simply to inform the appointment desk secretary that this was a request with adult cognizance. I also wanted them to know that this was a genuine request for a meeting and had Rebecca's
parents' support. Rebecca wrote about her respect for President Carter and also what an
important role model he is for children. She told of her impending speech and of her R.H.S.Grade Four program called "Go Fourth", an on-line communication between schools all over the world trying to promote respect for all kinds of people; "For One United Respect Throughout Humanity" endeavors to stop teasing among children. Rebecca wrote that she thought that President Carter would like to know that there are children trying to teach about peace the way he does.

Two weeks later, a telephone call came from The Carter Center, Jimmy Carter wanted to meet this "special Rebecca". How happy she was and how delighted I was for her as well as for me because he wanted to meet her teacher too!

On Feb. 23rd at 11:45a.m., Rebecca and her family and I met President Carter. We had thirty minutes with this great former president, or as Rebecca later called him, "this gentle man". There was no one else there, just us, and, as he asked Rebecca to address him, there was also "Jimmy." With his smile, his genuine interest in this ten year old, and with his quiet but strong words, Jimmy Earl Carter endeared himself to this entranced audience."Jimmy" asked Rebecca about herself as he interviewed her as much as she interviewed him. She asked him about his poetry and handed him a book of poems written by her class which had been inspired by his verses. A Rocky Hill sweatshirt and a tee-shirt with a photograph of her class with the words "Go Fourth" also were presented to this "gentle man." Before we left, we received some of his peanut shaped erasers, a recent gift to him from Oprah Winfrey!