BANGOR – For counselor Jane Plummer, changing the image of students at Penobscot Job Corps Center became a priority.

“Some people may have thought these kids weren’t going to make it, that they weren’t going to be worth anything,” said Plummer, who knew better.

One time she suggested that a young man send to his mother the stellar evaluation that Plummer had written for him. The ecstatic parent sent the good news on to the school where her son previously had been unsuccessful.

In short order the boy received an invitation from his former guidance counselor. Would he visit the school to talk to students about the Job Corps program?

“This kid was just beaming,” Plummer recalled Monday during her retirement luncheon at a local restaurant.

“That did a lot for him, it built his self-esteem. People began to see him as someone who could get up and do something.”

Plummer has been privy to many similar stories during her more than 20 years with Job Corps and the Joint Action In Community Service, a program that provides support services to students after they leave the center.

“That was my job. I did little things like that to change the way their families and their communities began to see these young guys and gals,” said Plummer, who also has taught elementary and high school.

Working with youths is energizing, according to Plummer, 72, a petite, blonde woman with a perpetual smile and a no-nonsense attitude.

“I find young people very, very interesting,” said Plummer, known as “Little Grandma.”

“They’re just wonderful, they keep me young. I’m not into rap and hip-hop, but I know what it is because I’m around them. I’m fascinated by the way they dress even when it’s inappropriate.”

Dealing with discipline problems may have been routine for Plummer, but she wouldn’t become disillusioned. “I never looked at one kid who was a bad kid,” she said. “They may do some bad things, but it isn’t human nature to be born bad.”

Her successor, Fred Jones, admitted that he has some big shoes to fill.

“She’s a giant,” said Jones, a former United States Marine gunnery sergeant. “But I don’t stand nearly as tall as that little grandmother,” said Jones.

Also lauded Monday for his 20 years as a JACS volunteer was Charles Zafonte, 50, of Fort Kent.

“I enjoy helping [young people] find direction in life,” he said. “It makes me feel younger.”