Mount Vernon, Va – Mount Vernon is currently accepting applications through May 21 for its History Teacher of the Year award from Washington, D.C., metropolitan area history teachers. This award, supported through an endowment by the Robertson Foundation, gives the winner a $5,000 cash award and an all-expenses-paid field trip to Mount Vernon for his or her students.  Any teacher in the Washington, D.C., area who teaches American History in grades 3-12, and who has at least two years of teaching experience, is eligible to apply for this annual award.  For more information and to download an application, visit georgewashingtonwired.org. The History Teacher of the Year will be presented with an award on July 22 at Mount Vernon’s George Washington Teachers’ Institute.

 “This award celebrates educators who bring creativity and passion to their teaching and who deepen their students’ understanding and appreciation of history,” said James C. Rees, executive director for Mount Vernon.  “We encourage school principals, teaching colleagues, and even students, to nominate teachers who inspire a love of learning.”

In his first annual address to Congress in 1790, George Washington stated: “Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.”  In his will, he left money for a number of schools and outlined his hopes for a national university.  Through this award, Mount Vernon strives to continue Washington’s educational mission.  

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About the Robertson Foundation

The Robertson Foundation is a private foundation established in 1996 by Tiger Management founder Julian H. Robertson, Jr., his wife Josie, and their family.

The Robertson Foundation believes that all Americans should receive a quality education. Accordingly, a substantial majority of its grant-making in this area is directed towards public school reform. In addition, the Robertson Foundation has sponsored the Robertson Scholars Program in an effort to develop a new generation of leaders who will be thoughtful and engaged contributors to society.

About Mount Vernon

Since 1860, over 80 million visitors have made George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate & Gardens the most popular historic home in America.  Through thought-provoking tours, entertaining events, and stimulating educational programs on the Estate and in classrooms across the nation, Mount Vernon strives to preserve George Washington’s place in history as “First in War, First in Peace, and First in the Hearts of His Countrymen.”  Mount Vernon is owned and operated by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, America’s oldest national preservation organization, founded in 1853.  A picturesque drive to the southern end of the scenic George Washington Memorial Parkway, Mount Vernon is located just 16 miles from the nation’s capital.