It’s a typical afternoon at the Oakes Room in Fogler. Study groups are pouring over material for upcoming tests while others work away on their laptops with their favorite tunes blasting through headphones. Margaret Howson walks into the room for her next scheduled dose of caffeine.
She is dressed for business today, with a gray and white checkered skirt, fashionable sleeveless teal shirt and her sister’s four inch Italian pumps completing the look. Her long brown hair flows over her shoulders, parting to reveal a tan, youthful face. Her brown eyes dart around the room, analyzing her surroundings before turning to face the woman at the counter.
She’s been awake since 6 a.m. and will soon be preparing the UMaine College Republicans for the arrival of congressional candidate Bruce Poliquin for a roundtable discussion. As chairman of the organization, she needs to have her ducks in a row and be at her best. She needs caffeine.
“Can I help you?” asks the women behind the counter.
“Yes I’ll have a tea with two espresso shots, please,” Howson replies. Yes, two espresso shots.
Margaret Howson is a second-year student attending the University of Maine and is currently majoring in English and Psychology with minors in Political Science and Journalism. This is likely to change though, as Howson has recently found a home in the world of politics. Since entering the political arena at the beginning of this semester she has risen quite rapidly to prominence, her most recent triumph being the Feb. 5 Republican caucus in Hampden where she was elected chairman of the Hampden Republican Committee at the tender age of 20.
As a female college student with conservative values, Howson admits that she is a rare personality. According to a survey put out by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program at UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute in 2012, college students are becoming more and more liberal. This hardly comes as a surprise, as every generation has historically been more liberal than the last. Howson bucks this trend.
While most women her age are involved in sororities or going out and partying, Howson is constantly expanding her potential and hopes to one day represent Maine on the national stage.
“If I’m not married and don’t have children I’d love to be a representative for Maine in Congress,” Howson said. “I’d love to champion Maine’s people and speak for them and be their voice in Washington. If that doesn’t happen I’d be very happy being a local politician … white picket fence the whole way.”
A rare personality indeed among this generation.
“I’m an anomaly.”
Howson was born in Cleveland, Ohio and moved to Maine with her mother and two sisters at the age of 13. She attended and graduated from John Bapst High School, where her mother Joan teaches Latin. Her older sister, Charlotte is a UMaine graduate who has applied to law school, while her younger sister Maria may soon be joining Margaret at the university.
“[Maria] is going to be in [UMaine College Republicans] whether or not she bloody well wants to,” Howson said jokingly.
Howson and her mother have a very tight-knit relationship. She attributes many of her values as well as her drive for success to the way she was raised. To this day her mother has supported every decision Howson has made as well as the path that she is currently going down.
“My mom and I, we were middle children in our families, we’re the weird ones. We’re way too social it’s just something that happens in our family … I think I’m genetically predisposed to be social,” Howson said.
Howson loves talking to people, a trait that has been evident throughout her life. As a child, she would leave her mother’s side at the grocery store and talk to strangers. This social curiosity, coupled with a prodigious amount of energy, has led Howson to pursue a number of different activities ranging from student senate and jazz band to Taekwondo and horseback riding.
Her first year at the University of Maine was one of discovery. Having initially enrolled with undeclared status, Howson decided to pursue English and Psychology in the hopes of one day becoming a specialized psychologist, analyzing the effects of political speeches on audiences.
Howson couldn’t sit still. Whether it was her massive inner drive to explore and remain active, or simply a lot of caffeine, one can only speculate. The fact was, Howson wanted something she could really pour her time into.
Howson initially got involved as a way of educating herself. She feels that the current generation of students doesn’t pay enough attention to what is going on and that in order for them to understand they need to hear it from someone their own age. It is this realization that is pushing her forward.
She began her involvement by attending GOP meetings in her town of Hampden. She also got involved with the UMaine College Republicans, a group of like-minded conservative students who are actively trying to educate their peers about political issues. Howson started out as a secretary and quickly rose up to the rank of chairman thanks to her determination and ability to motivate others. Members of the Hampden Republican Committee soon took notice and wanted to expand Howson’s political activities beyond campus walls.
On Feb. 5, Howson was elected Chairman of the Hampden Republican Committee. It was her first time attending a Republican caucus and she did not know that she was in the running. She attended with several members of the College Republicans to show them how a Republican caucus operates when she found out that she was voted town chair.
One of her responsibilities as Chairman will be to head Hampden’s 23-member delegation at the GOP’s state convention at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. The convention takes place April 25-27 and will be a huge step for Howson toward her goals. Not many 20-year-olds could stand this kind of pressure or attention. However, Howson’s remarkable drive and ability to juggle a seemingly endless amount of tasks may just see her through the challenges ahead.
“If I want to achieve my goals and actually hold an office that isn’t in a township, I have to prove myself. I prove myself by holding this office at a ridiculously young age,” Howson said.
In the end, one of the biggest supporters of her campaigns has been something we all take for granted: coffee.
“I’m not sure I have so much a circulatory system as a circulatory system dependent on coffee.”
“I’m not going to lie, I don’t have a social life. Getting coffee and talking to people about meetings is my social life,” Howson said.
Having a conversation with her is a form of acrobatics. As she bounces from one subject to the next, it becomes difficult to remember where the conversation began. One can only imagine the number of thoughts nagging at the back of her mind. Everyone has felt it. The feeling that one’s mind is being torn in too many directions.
Multiply this by five and that is what Margaret has to deal with, which is probably the most remarkable aspect about her.