Like she did growing up, Cindy Collamore has worked her way through Wiscasset’s schools. She is transferring from her longtime job as administrative assistant at Wiscasset Elementary School – including when it was Wiscasset Middle – to the same job at Wiscasset Middle High.

The 1981 Wiscasset High graduate is working at WMHS Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons and at WES the rest of the school week, until WES’s next administrative assistant is hired and trained; then she will be at WMHS full-time. Taking the job was a tough decision, because she really likes everyone at WES, especially the children, she said. “They’re so cute. Oh, I just adore them.” But she felt it was time, professionally.

And since she plans to retire from WMHS, Collamore, 58, noted she will work with today’s WES students again, when they attend WMHS. “I’ve done all the grade levels now.” She knew members of the Class of 2022 when they were in kindergarten. Already at WMHS, it has been fun getting to see past WES students as the young adults they have become, she said.

“When I ask these guys if they recognize me, they say, ‘Of course we remember you, Mrs. Collamore.’ I love hearing that.”

One of the things she will miss most about WES is stopping into Trae Stover’s class to read, or to play her part when the class role plays as a kingdom. “They call me Queen Collamore.” And then when they come by the school’s office, they curtsey or bow. “It’s the sweetest thing.”

Does she have a crown? No, but she needs to get one before she leaves, she said.

Working amid the changes schools underwent in the pandemic, Collamore never thought about changing careers. Everyone everywhere has had to adjust and “learn to live with it,” she said. “You can’t quit life. We’re resilient, and we go with the flow.” She looks forward to post-pandemic when the public is back in schools more and is walking into WMHS and seeing the trophy cases she said reflect local history and hometown pride.

Except for tasks specific to graduation, she expects her work at WMHS will be about the same as it was at WES.

All the high school’s faces have changed from when she went there. But walking the halls, especially when they are empty, has brought up memories such as what used to be where, including her locker.

As a Wiscasset High student, she thought strongly about joining either the Peace Corps or the Air Force, and was in drama and track and field. Now she has worked nearly three decades in Wiscasset schools and has grandchildren at WES and WMHS.

Four decades after graduating, what would WMHS’s new administrative assistant tell her Wiscasset High self? Believe in yourself, tell the people you care about how you feel about them, don't change to please someone else, know most worries are temporary, be a gracious listener and “read, read, read.”