I already “belong” to the Presidential Scholars Foundation and Alumni Association; how is the Academy different?

“Once a Presidential Scholar, always a Presidential Scholar.”

Or in other words, if you “belong” to the Presidential Scholars Foundation and Alumni Association, then you also “belong” to the Academy. 

The Academy differs in a few ways, born out of extensive talks about additional work and service Presidential Scholars wanted to offer. There are some differences, yet our shared constituency of U.S. Presidential Scholars integrates them almost seamlessly. The Academy’s mission of public service for the common good, “Serving through Synergy for our Communities, our Country, and Humanity,” aligns closely with the Foundation and Alumni Association’s work to “Cultivate, Connect, and Celebrate Presidential Scholars—past and present.”

The Presidential Scholars Foundation (PSF) was established in 1988 to raise corporate contributions to help support the National Recognition Program (NRP) for United States Presidential Scholars. Around 2004, the PSF Board created a Presidential Scholars Society/Alumni Association (PSAA) to promote social and career networking among Presidential Scholars and as a prospective source of donors to the Foundation. Scholars who experienced longer National Recognition Programs found NRP abundantly rewarding, so raising funds to continue to convene Scholars and their families and teachers for NRP in Washington, DC is a valuable mission that the Academy wholeheartedly supports.

The Academy started as an idea in 2014, as a possible way to fulfill some of President Johnson’s “Great Society” hopes in starting the Presidential Scholars program. In 2015, the PSAA created a Task Force for the Academy idea. After a couple of years of exploring how to make it work, it became clear that spinning the Academy off as its own organization would expand the range of activities that Presidential Scholars could support together. 

The purposes of the Academy complement and extend the purposes of the National Recognition Program and the Foundation. While Presidential Scholars—and the Distinguished Teachers they name—are the core constituency of the Academy, the Academy’s founding documents also provide for nominated and affiliate members.

We’ve found that when Presidential Scholars are working together, creative ideas and improvements flow. In recent years, the Presidential Scholars Foundation and Alumni Association have taken suggestions from Academy Board members (service awards, seed grants, organizational transparency, and board diversity to name a few) and made them happen.

Now its own entity, the Academy is ready to start implementing new research and service projects itself, to honor President Johnson’s sense that Presidential Scholars would have a lot to offer our country and our communities. Creating relationships and working together, with the backing of the Academy’s organization and infrastructure for Scholars’ and members’ projects, can only magnify our efforts and effects. Serving both the common good and its members, our Academy will be, to a very large extent, what members make of it.