Name: The Making of POTUS 1, 2, & 3
Start: 2025-12-04T09:00:00-0500
End: 2025-12-04T19:00:00-0500
Location: George Washington's Mount Vernon

The Making of POTUS 1, 2, & 3

Join us at George Washington's Mount Vernon for a full day of investigation into the early lives of George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson as engaged citizens. How did their beliefs and actions influence their respective roles and viewpoints before and throughout the American Revolution, and beyond into their first three presidencies?

By exploring these three Founders as community members who were shaped by their different surroundings, teachers will be more prepared to engage students in reflection using essential questions such as:

How can history inform our civic participation/actions today?

How does where I'm from influence the person I am?

Registration Requirements

Who can register?

Teachers MUST teach in a formal K-12 classroom or school setting.
The program is limited to 35 teachers.
A waitlist will be available if registration meets full capacity.

Questions? Please contact gwti250@mountvernon.org

Schedule of Events

Here for NCSS? See info below for our Complementary Shuttle from Washington, D.C.

9 a.m.	Breakfast
9:30 a.m.	Welcome Alissa Oginsky
9:45 a.m.	George Washington: Case Study Dr. Denver Brunsman Bringing it Back to the Classroom Alissa Oginsky
11:15 a.m.	John Adams: Case Study Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky Bringing it Back to the Classroom Sadie Troy
12:30 p.m.	Lunch
1:30 p.m.	Thomas Jefferson: Case Study Steve Light Bringing it Back to the Classroom Melanie Holland
3 p.m.	Transitions of Power Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky
4:15 p.m.	Private Mansion Tour
4:45 p.m.	Self-Exploration: Historic Area Encampment Shops
5:45 p.m.	Dinner at the Mount Vernon Inn

Shuttle departs from The Marriot Marquis Washington, D.C. to Mount Vernon at 8:00 a.m.

Shuttle departs from Mount Vernon to The Marriot Marquis Washington, D.C. at 7:00 p.m.

*All meals, breakfast, lunch, and dinner are included. Vegetarian and gluten-free options will be provided.

Meet the Scholars

Dr. Denver Brunsman

Denver Brunsman writes on the politics and social history of the American Revolution, early American republic, and British Atlantic world. His courses include “George Washington and His World,” taught annually at Washington’s Mount Vernon estate. His honors include the Oscar and Shoshana Trachtenberg Prize for Teaching Excellence and induction into the George Washington University Academy of Distinguished Teachers, as well as selection to the College Board AP U.S. History Development Committee (2018-23; Higher Ed Chair, 2021-23). He is co-director of the Albert H. Small Normandy Institute at GW and frequently leads K-12 professional development programs for organizations such as Humanities Texas, the George Washington Teacher Institute at Mount Vernon, and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, with whom he has twice partnered to lead the NEH Summer Institute “The Making of America: Colonial Era to Reconstruction.”

Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky

Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky is a historian of the presidency, political culture, and the government. She is the Executive Director of the George Washington Presidential Library. Her research can be found in publications from op-eds to books, speaking on podcasts and other media, and teaching for every kind of audience. Dr. Chervinsky’s book, The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, was published on April 7, 2020 (paperback February 2022). She also co-edited Mourning the Presidents: Loss and Legacy in American Culture (February 20, 2023). She is a regular guest on podcasts and appears frequently on the Listening to America podcast. She is the creator of the Audible course: The Best and Worst Presidential Cabinets in U.S. History. Her newest book, Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents that Forged the Republic, was published on September 5, 2024.

Steve Light

Steve Light began his tenure at the Foundation as Manager of House Tours in 2013. After more than 7 years in that role, he became the Foundation’s Hunter J. Smith Director of Education and Visitor Programs in 2021, and in 2023 was appointed the interim Vice President of Guest Experiences, and in 2024, he was appointed the Associate Vice President of Guest Experiences. Light reports to the president and oversees the Education and Visitor Programs, Guest Relations, Reservations & Ticketing, and Transportation departments. Earlier in his career, he worked as the Manager of Museum Programs at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Light graduated from Gettysburg College with a major in history and a minor in Civil War Era studies. He earned his M.A. in history museum studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program, and currently serves as the Vice President of its Alumni Association. In 2016, he completed the History Leadership Institute (formerly Seminar for Historical Administration), an annual program organized by the American Association for State and Local History.

Meet the Educators

Melanie Holland

Melanie Holland (she/her) joined Monticello in 2001 in the Information Technology department. She worked in the President’s office, the Digital Department, and the Education and Visitor Programs department before assuming her current position as Administrator of Teacher Learning. Melanie received a bachelor’s degree in history and psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Education in Instructional Technology from the University of Virginia.

Alissa Oginsky

Alissa Oginsky is the Director of K-12 Education at George Washington’s Mount Vernon. She is responsible for managing a team of amazing museum educators in supporting teachers and students nationwide. This important work happens through the facilitation of professional development programming for teachers, signature student programs, and the development of K-12 classroom resources. Prior to joining Mount Vernon in 2018, Alissa spent over a decade in various museum education roles while serving as an elementary and middle school teacher, and an educational leader in Social Studies curriculum across her district. She holds an M.A. in Art Museum and Gallery Education from Newcastle University and a B.S. in Elementary Education from York College of Pennsylvania.

Sadie Troy

Sadie Troy joined the Adams Presidential Center as its Director of Education and Public Programming in 2025 and has over a decade of museum education experience at numerous presidential history sites. She served as the Director of Education at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri, after beginning a career in the Founding Era, leading educational programming at both Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and George Washington’s Mount Vernon. She has an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Virginia and a B.A. in Video Production from Webster University.