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National Recognition WeekJune 27-July 2, 2000 Washington, DCNational Recognition Week is Sponsored by the General Motors Corporation andThe Merck Company Foundation
2000 PRESIDENTAL SCHOLARS
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The United States Presidential Scholars Program was established in 1964, by Executive Order of thePresident, to recognize and honor some of our Nation’s most distinguished graduating high schoolseniors. Each year, up to 141 students are named as Presidential Scholars, one of the Nation’s high-est honors for high school students. The Scholars are chosen on the basis of broad academicachievement, leadership, service, and artistic scholarship. In honoring the Presidential Scholars,the President of the United States symbolically honors all graduating high school seniors of highpotential.From President Lyndon Baines Johnson to William Jefferson Clinton, the Presidential Scholars Pro-gram has honored more than 5,000 of our nation’s most distinguished graduating high schoolseniors. Initiated by President Johnson, the Presidential Scholars Program annually selects one maleand one female student from each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Americans livingabroad, and 15 at-large students through a rigorous selection and review process administered bythe U.S. Department of Education.President Johnson opened the first meeting of the White House Commission on Presidential Schol-ars by stating that the Program was not just a reward for excellence, but a means of nourishingexcellence. The Program was intended to stimulate achievement in a way that could be "revolu-tionary."During the first National Recognition Week in 1964 — the Scholars participated in seminars withSecretary of State Dan Rusk, Astronaut Alan B. Sheppard, and Chief Justice Earl Warren. PresidentJohnson challenged the Scholars to give their talents and time "in our land and in all lands tocleaning away the blight, to sweeping away the shoddiness, to wiping away the injustices andinequities of the past so that all men may live together in a great world community of decency andexcellence."During President Nixon’s tenure, several changes occurred in the Presidential Scholars Program. In1969, the medallion design became the Great Seal of the Nation. In 1972, the National Teacher ofthe Year was invited to become a commissioner. The nation was embroiled in policy debates, andthe Scholars reflected that mood in forums with key government officials.Under President Ford, alumni Scholars were invited to serve as Advisors to the program. And abooklet of Scholars’ essays on issues facing the nation was issued by the Joint Commission onArrangements for the Bicentennial in 1976.In 1979, President Carter expanded the program to honor up to 20 students selected by the Com-mission through an artistic competition. In 1980, a compendium of Scholars’ essays, poems, andmusical compositions was published, following a performance by the Scholars in the NationalAcademy of Sciences’ auditorium.During President Reagan’s tenure, the selection process was refined to emphasize the key elementsof leadership and community service and the Horace Mann Learning Center produced a collectionof Scholars’ essays on ways to improve the nation’s education system.
The Presidential Scholars Program Through Thirty-Seven Years...
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In 1981, the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts was created and its Arts Recogni-tion and Talent Search program began to conduct the annual artistic competition. In 1983, the Dis-tinguished Teacher awards were created, and the twentieth year celebration of the programincluded an Alumni reunion and a performance by the Scholars at the John F. Kennedy Center forthe Performing Arts.President Bush continued the Program as an opportunity to recognize the outstanding talents ofAmerican youth.In 1994, The American Association for Gifted Children published its second working paper, "ThePresidential Scholars: A portrait of Talent and its Development" in July of 1994. The theme thatemerged from the study suggested that the talents of these Presidential Scholars came forth inpart because of the encouragement of teachers and parents and in part because their experiencebuilt upon, rather than impeded, their abilities.In 1998, the Distinguished Teacher award was renamed as the Presidential Scholars ProgramTeacher Recognition Award to serve as a means for rewarding teachers that have made a signifi-cant impact in the lives of their students. The award symbolizes the steps that schools, communi-ties, parents, students, teachers, and the U.S. Department of Education are taking to improveteaching and learning inschools across America.As part of the U.S. Depart-ment of Education’s continu-ing effort to honor excellencein education, the role thatteachers play in NationalRecognition Week activities isconstantly changing andexpanding. It is our hope thatwe are providing an arenawhere prospective and experi-enced educators can seewhere they are now andwhere they will need to be inthe future in order to meet the new challenges of guiding all students in achieving to higher stan-dards of learning and development.President Clinton has reaffirmed the importance of the program by charging the Commission withincreasing the public awareness of the program, expanding service opportunities for Alumni Schol-ars, making National Recognition Week the chance of a lifetime for Scholars to exchange ideas onissues of importance, establish lifelong friendships, and to be inspired to a lifetime of leadershipand creativity.
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