Change Agents of Tomorrow

Mount Vernon’s education programs encourage students to think critically about history and explore the relevance of these lessons to the present. Last month, we hosted 27 high school students and 8 teachers from regional high schools for the Ammerman Youth Leadership Program at the Washington Library, titled George Washington as Change Agent: Empowering Students for Civic Engagement. With our partner, Youth Empowered Solutions (YES!), along with Denver Brunsman, Associate Professor of History at George Washington University and graduate student Mary Kate Robbet, the program enabled students to integrate lessons in leadership from Washington’s life with practical skills in order to become change makers in their own communities.

“I learned about how to communicate ideas to a group in order to persuade them to see and respect my viewpoint,” one student commented.

"By following the Rules of Civility, I would hope to influence those ideals to those around me, thus creating a well civilized environment," said another participant.