By Kelley Jiou
On a beautiful spring day in Dallas, Texas, the 2026 class of Presidential Leadership Scholars gathered in the Laura W. Bush Native Texas Park at the George W. Bush Presidential Center to start their third module.
Gathering from across the country, the 58 action-oriented leaders in this year’s class are halfway through their journey in PLS and learning about influence, trust, and service. They came into the program from all walks of life with the common goal – to make a positive impact in their communities. As President Bush told the group during the module, “The idea of the Presidential Leadership Scholars is to encourage people to serve and recognize that there is a responsibility as American citizens to make their communities a better place, as part of citizenship.”
During the Dallas module, the Scholars heard from Margaret Spellings, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education and current CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center, and Holly Kuzmich, Managing Director of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, about the importance of working with unlikely collaborators. “It has gotten harder for groups that are unaligned on 95% of their issues to work together on the 5% they might agree on because there’s a perception that you just can’t even talk to each other,” said Holly Kuzmich. “But I think you need to try to overcome that as much as possible and show people that it’s okay…we are not asking for agreement on everything.”
Trust and relationship building was emphasized to the cohort, both central to President Bush’s leadership. While working to pass important education and immigration legislation, President Bush invited the late Senator Ted Kennedy, a national leader of the democratic party, and his family to join a family movie night at the White House, and there they got to know each other on a personal level. This comfortable environment, surrounded by loved ones, allowed for the building of trust in their working relationship. Despite being on different sides of the aisle on many policy issues, they both agreed that creating opportunity for all in our country was essential to sustain our democracy. This trust laid the groundwork for bipartisan education reform and what soon would be No Child Left Behind.
As one Scholar put it – “Leadership isn’t about having the answer. It’s staying in the work with people who see the world differently and building trust over time.”
Another Scholar said “[the experience] deepened my appreciation for clarity, courage, and the weight of choices that shape history, and it inspired me to approach my own decisions with greater intention and humility.” The group left Dallas with a deeper commitment to each other and the communities they serve; understanding that great impact can be achieved when you are willing to take a risk and connect with those who may not agree.
View photos from Module Three.
Kelley Jiou is Co-Director of the Presidential Leadership Scholars and Director of Leadership Programs at the George W. Bush Institute.