Student Spotlight
Sadie Faucher-Eldert, passion for politics
When Mercedes “Sadie” Faucher-Eldert graduated high school, she planned to become a doctor. Instead, she’s pursuing her passion: politics.
Rather than enter a pre-med college program after graduating from high school in Atlanta, she delayed her college career and worked on a number of campaigns on environmental issues on the local, regional and national levels.
A Maine native, she returned to her home state in 2013 to work on a campaign in South Portland. Last fall, five years after high school, she came to SMCC (she’s in our Path to Graduation program) to earn a Liberal Studies degree with a focus in Political Science. She plans to graduate next spring and then earn a bachelor’s degree (she has her sights set on Smith College in Massachusetts or Agnes Scott College in Georgia). Eventually, she hopes for a career in politics — as a political candidate, a campaign manager and/or a consultant.
“Coming to SMCC was the right decision for me. I had an instant connection with my professors and I know they’re here for me, no matter what. The support system here is incredible.”
Alumni Spotlight 
Jim Wilson, reaching the top
With his appointment as chief of the South Portland Fire Department, Jim Wilson is the third generation in his family to reach the top rank.
Wilson grew up in Cape Elizabeth and earned a Fire Science degree at SMCC after high school. He follows in the footsteps of his father (a one-time chief in Cape Elizabeth) and his grandfather (a one-time chief in Massachusetts).
Through the years, he worked for the Cape Elizabeth, South Portland and Scarborough fire departments before joining the South Portland department full-time in 1996.
He was sworn in as the new chief on July 11 and now oversees a department with 69 full-time employees and another 30 on-call firefighters.
He’s come a long way since he was a youngster, playing on the Cape Elizabeth fire trucks on Saturday mornings while his father completed paperwork as chief.
“SMCC was a good focus on a lot of the things I was going to need for my career. The Fire Science program taught me how to think and communicate and write.”