News and Insights

2025 class of Presidential Leadership Scholars announced as program celebrates 10th anniversary

January 15, 2025

Tenth annual class comprised of 57 accomplished leaders including educators, physicians, public servants, and corporate professionals; program begins on Jan. 29 in Philadelphia Jan. 15, 2025 – Today, the Presidential Leadership Scholars (PLS) program announced the 57 Scholars who will form the program’s 10th annual class. For the past decade, PLS has brought together more […]

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Telling the Story of Slavery and the White House

February 20, 2020 | Tynesia Boyea-Robinson (‘18)

By: Tynesia Boyea-Robinson History is complicated because it reflects the thoughts, beliefs and perspectives of the storyteller. American History is particularly fraught because it has far too often erased the narratives of the people most central to the country’s founding; indigenous Native American people and enslaved Africans and their descendants. Black History month is a […]

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I asked two former presidents how they accomplished big things. Their answers surprised me.

February 20, 2020 | Jay Bhatt (‘16)

What makes a great leader? I used to think I knew. And then I met Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. On the face of it, the former presidents appear quite dissimilar: they’re from different parties and their administrations often espoused contradictory policies. Yet, both were able to institute bold initiatives to help those […]

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PLS Spotlight: Hunter Taylor

February 18, 2020 | Hunter Taylor (‘18)

Class of 2018’s Hunter Taylor tells us about his experience with PLS, life after the program, and shares advice for the Class of 2020.

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2020 Module One Recap

February 10, 2020

Scholars learned lessons from presidential history in Washington, D.C.

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2020 Class of Presidential Leadership Scholars Announced

January 27, 2020

Sixth annual class comprised of 60 Scholars including veterans, educators, physicians, public servants, and corporate professionals; program begins on January 28 in Washington, D.C.

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Featured

PLS Spotlight: Thear Suzuki

January 14, 2020 | Thear Suzuki (‘19) and | Alfia Ilicheva (‘19)

Alfia Ilicheva, Co-Founder of WIN: Women in Innovation, talks with fellow Scholar Thear Suzuki, Americas Advisory Talent Leader at Ernst and Young, about her life and experience during the PLS program in 2019. Alfia Illicheva: Who are you and what do you do? Thear Suzuki: I inspire courageous actions in others so they can lead […]

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Updates from the 2019 Annual Meeting

Last week, Presidential Leadership Scholars from the past five years gathered in Washington D.C. to attend the 2019 PLS annual meeting. During the meeting, Scholars shared how PLS helped them become more effective leaders and why they think the program is unique. What makes PLS different from other leadership programs? How did PLS impact you […]

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Lessons in Civility

August 23, 2019 | Scott Eisner (‘19)

Scholar Scott Eisner reflects on his experience in the PLS program With the culmination of the 2019 class of the Presidential Leadership Scholars (PLS) program, we now turn of the page to the next chapter of our lives. Lives that were inspired by presidents who gave this country their all in an effort to shape […]

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Dinner For Six

How a dinner during the PLS program inspired six strangers to discover a shared American identity The Presidential Leadership Scholars (PLS) program enables a deep, one-of-a-kind leadership experience that equips changemakers across the nation with leadership lessons and insights from the presidential experiences of Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Lyndon […]

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Presidents Bush and Clinton Visit Big Thought

June 28, 2019

Today, President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton visited Byron Sanders, CEO of Big Thought and Presidential Leadership Scholar (PLS) Class of 2017, at one of Big Thought’s youth programs that uses visual, performing, and digital arts to help young people improve job skills, gain a positive self-image, and increase social and emotional development.

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