Sen. Susan Collins visits young entrepreneurs in Farmington
FARMINGTON, Maine — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins spent Tuesday afternoon at the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies on Main Street, touring the nonprofit’s makerspace and retail shop before leaving as a customer.
The senator stopped to examine handmade products and speak with the young people behind them. Fifteen-year-old Elucia Seaberg, a high school junior, showed Collins her jewelry collection, explaining each piece as the senator looked them over. Collins ultimately purchased one of Seaberg’s creations. Seaberg, who hopes to join the U.S. Senate Page Program, was among several students who met with the senator.
Gracie Guay, 16, assisted Collins behind the counter. Guay, who has participated in the program for about two years, said she has been developing retail, customer service, and business skills through the center. Other young entrepreneurs — Ian House, Aero Keim, and Kaylynn Greenman — gathered around a table with Collins to discuss their projects and their time at CES.
Collins offered the group encouragement drawn from her own life, telling the students not to give up on their dreams and pointing to her path from Caribou High School to the U.S. Senate as an example of what determination and perseverance can accomplish.
The Center for Entrepreneurial Studies was founded in 2018 by Bonita Tompkins, a former business teacher at Mt. Blue High School. The organization provides free entrepreneurship and workforce training to young people ages 10 to 24 and has served 193 participants since opening. Its Main Street site includes both a retail shop, where students sell their creations, and a makerspace where they design products and develop practical skills.
The makerspace received a $25,000 grant from the Maine Community Foundation. Collins also helped secure $250,000 in federal funding in fiscal year 2023 to support a year of planning for a proposed six-acre youth entrepreneurship campus on Whittier Road in Farmington. That planning wrapped up in spring 2025. The envisioned campus would feature a marketplace, teaching kitchen, community and coworking center, and outdoor learning space.
For the students and volunteers who welcomed her, the visit was a chance to showcase their work and ambitions. For Collins, it was a firsthand look at how Maine’s next generation of entrepreneurs is getting started.
