CUMBERLAND — When the Cumberland-North Yarmouth school district put out a call for name proposals for the new pre-K through first-grade school, Carolyn Small first thought of honoring history.

An advocate of local history and town pride, she submitted the name “Broadmoor School,” after a farm that once occupied the land where the Maine School Administrative District 51 buildings stand now.

Others in town had a different idea.

On April 2, after a community vote on the final four name contenders, the MSAD 51 board of directors named the new school “Carolyn F. Small School,” honoring the Greely graduate who worked in the district for 35 years and led numerous initiatives to connect the children of the community with the towns’ story.

“History is important,” said board member Sean Thurston of the naming.

In Maine, where closing schools is the trend, the opportunity to name a new school is rare. For many Cumberland and North Yarmouth residents, the chance through the One Campus Project to recognize a citizen while they were still alive was worth jumping on.

“Here’s a chance to honor somebody, to name it after somebody. And nobody compares to Carolyn,” said Peter Wilson, a Cumberland resident.

Wilson and his daughter submitted Small’s name for consideration (another community member also entered Small’s name). Collecting the 10 required signatures needed for the submission was easy, said Wilson, as so many people know and respect Small.

“I’m thrilled and honored. I can’t believe that so many people have been so kind,” said Small.

Small, 82, moved with her family to North Yarmouth when she was in high school and graduated from Greely High School in 1961. She was the “class clown,” she said, though she had less competition for the superlative than there is these days, as her graduating class was just 38 students.

A year later, she married George Small, another Greely graduate, and the couple soon built a home in Cumberland and had three children. In 1975, an opening as a teacher’s aide piqued Small’s interest.

“I thought, ‘You know, I need to get out in the world.’ And so I applied,” said Small.

She worked as a teacher’s aide, today called an education technician, in the district for 35 years in grades 2-6. Her favorite students to work with were always third-graders.

“They’ve developed a sense of humor by then. And I can’t do anything without having fun with it,” said Small.

Small became an expert in adding fun to the classroom, creating supplemental hands-on educational programs for students, including whipping their own butter, reading books to them and teaching them how maple tree sap becomes syrup, taste-testing included.

“I think you learn better if you can see, if you can touch, if you can taste and smell and hear things,” said Small. “Not every student learns the same way.”

“If you mention Mrs. Small to previous students while she worked here, they all reference her with such fondness and appreciation,” said Tricia Small, an MSAD 51 employee and daughter-in-law of Small.

Carolyn Small has been involved for decades in the Cumberland Historical Society, serving as its president at one point and co-authoring a book on Cumberland’s history. In the basement of the historical society, surrounded by the catalog of historic books, teacups and a foot warmer from the 1790s that she’s cataloged herself, she spouts historic facts about the town’s residents, roads, buildings and artifacts.

Small uses these artifacts to teach hands-on history to visiting students. For many years, she ran a historic walking tour of the town for children.

A tireless volunteer, Small is also the superintendent of the Cumberland County Fair exhibition hall, and loves helping children understand local farming history. In 1994, she started Maine Agricultural Day at the fair, with educational events for thousands of students including scavenger hunts, agricultural demonstrations and talks with farmers.

“Carolyn is as close to sainthood as you can find. She’ll help anyone who asks for help, and she won’t expect anything in return,” said Wilson.

The honor is still overwhelming, Small said. With The Small School opening in 2027, she’ll have some time to let the building’s name sink in.

As an educator who always liked to make things fun, a streak of being the class clown remains. For the first time, Small says, she has to consider herself as a historical figure in Cumberland, one with a reputation to uphold.

“I haven’t been sleeping very well, because I wake up and think, ‘Oh, my God, now I’ve got to behave myself,’” she joked.