AMERICUS — It takes Sumter County High School students no time at all to think of their impressions of Jimmy Carter, the words tumbling out of their mouths to laud the former president who was also their down-the-way neighbor.
Humble, inspirational, kind, some said.
A family man, down to earth, very honest, a country boy, others added.
In the week and a half since Carter took his last breath about 15 miles from where the high school sits, remembrances have poured in from world leaders, people who worked with him during his White House years and beyond, and those who stood in the voting booth as kids while their parents picked him for president.
Carter’s political career started at Sumter County Schools. The first election he ever won was in 1955 for chairman of the school board, where he served for about seven years before becoming a state senator.
But the students now at Sumter County High School — where kids from Americus, Plains and other towns in the county go — were born more than 25 years after Carter had left the White House.
Still, he is a man they admire and respect, one who was not just the 39th president of the United States, but “our president,” Re’Niya Harris, a 17-year-old junior, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday. Carter wasn’t some faraway historical figure; he came back post-White House to his home in this rural corner of Georgia, easily becoming its most famous resident and an active part of the community.
Harris is from Plains, her family home five minutes down the road from the Carters. Though she never met the Carters, she would see Jimmy and Rosalynn in their backyard when she was younger and her family would tell her about Carter, how he was once president and all the work he did with Habitat for Humanity.
Carter was also very influential for Tracey Campbell, a 15 year old from Americus. She said Carter showed her how people from “all the way down there” in her community can reach the highest office in the land.
Credit: Mirtha Donastorg
Credit: Mirtha Donastorg
For Victoria Aguirre, 17, from Americus, Carter was an example of how even small things you do for other people can have an outsize impact. Her parents always talk about the Carters because they would sometimes see them at a Hispanic Heritage Festival he and Rosalynn hosted in Plains.
“A lot of people don’t notice that even though he was very big, he would also do little things to give back to the community,” Aguirre said.
Painted on one of the walls in the main office of Sumter County High School is a phrase the school’s principal Marnie Dutcher hopes to impress on her students: “Remember, being kind doesn’t cost you anything.”
“So many of our teenagers now really only look at … what they see on television and social media and try to model their behaviors after that,” Dutcher said.
But kindness is a lesson she said the Carters modeled well for the students.
“That was their lifestyle, you know, they focused on doing for others,” she explained.
Jimmy Carter passed away during the school’s winter break, but instructors quickly figured out a way to incorporate a special activity during history classes for the students to reflect on Carter and his legacy. Some started it on Wednesday, the students’ first day back from winter break, but they’re out of school again Thursday for the National Day of Mourning in honor of Carter. Once they’re back Friday, they’ll continue to reflect on his legacy.
Credit: Mirtha Donastorg
Credit: Mirtha Donastorg
Melvon McCluster, 18, met the former president multiple times, most recently performing on his saxophone for Carter’s 100th birthday in the fall. McCluster said Carter “left a lot behind, a great legacy for Plains.”
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