INTERVIEW BY GILLIAN CAMPBELL
Photographed by Gillian Campbell
MAYOR JOYCE CRAIG OF MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
On her place of special meaning– I was born and raised in the city. In fact, I'm fourth-generation here, so the community means the world to me. We were photographed at Webster Elementary School because I have three children, currently, they are 24, 22, and 17. When my two oldest were young, they went to school at Webster Elementary School. At the time, I was volunteering a lot in the classroom and for activities. I was on the PTO and realized there were some issues facing our schools. There are a lot of kids per teacher in the classroom, the books that the teachers used with the kids were dated and sometimes falling apart. So, we raised money on the PTO to help; but it wasn't enough. What I decided to do was run for school board, and it's really as a result of the in-person interaction I had with students and with teachers at Webster that really pushed me to do it. It's not anything I ever would have thought I would have done. In fact, I wasn't involved in politics at all growing up or even at the time that I ran, and so that's why we were photographed there, and I really feel that it's a meaningful place because it got me started in my career of Public Service.
“For me as Mayor, I appreciate all of the work that goes into running the city, and I am grateful for the opportunity to work and collaborate with not only the community but also the city departments here.
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On the impact of Title Nine and athletics for women in leadership- I do think there is a correlation [between success at the ballot box and success in sports]. While I have not been running lately, I used to run marathons. I set a goal for myself to run ten consecutive Boston Marathons and did. I think I ran 13 total marathons and ten consecutive Boston's. We were talking about this during Girls and Boys State, in order to run Boston, you have to qualify, and so you have to run a certain time, and so you have to train, you to have to be ready for it. I followed the schedule and woke up early and ran what I needed to run. You can, you just have to keep that schedule and be disciplined. I think it's the same thing when you're running for office or when you hold an office– that discipline is really important. There are a lot of things that are going to come your way that you don't expect or that you don't agree with, but you've got to be disciplined and work through it and always keep the end goal in mind.
This is another thing though, if I can do it, anybody can. Seriously, because I wasn't an athlete. I tried to be an athlete in high school, and I was not, and I didn't start running until probably my mid-30s, to late 30s. I ran with girlfriends and in the community. Then I started by deciding I will run a 5k, I will run a 10K, half marathon, and I'm going to try to run a marathon, and we did it… Again if you set your sights on it and you believe you can, then you will.
“I believe a strong community has strong public schools. In order to be a strong community, we need strong public schools.”