Mount Vernon will continue to widen and deepen the public appreciation and knowledge of George Washington, his legacy and the world in which he lived.
Mount Vernon will enhance or launch a number of programs to achieve this far-reaching goal. Our plans include developing partnerships with established experts on traveling shows to create a circulating Mount Vernon exhibition.
Further, we will offer premium shows at our Kirby Changing Exhibition Gallery at the Donald W. Reynolds Museum & Education Center that reflect the content and quality of our programs, such as a 2008 show on presidential china.
To educate children at a time when the subject of history receives a plummeting level of emphasis in U.S. classrooms, we will increase the number of teachers participating in and acting as state ambassadors for our George Washington Teachers Institute.
The Institute brings teachers from across the country to Mount Vernon for intensive study on our First President. Organized by our Institute, a collection of state ambassadors establish and nurture networks for teaching about George Washington at state and regional levels.
In addition, we telecast programs to classrooms and other audiences from our Distance Learning Center. During the 2007-2008 school year, we reached a total of 32 million teachers and students through four live broadcasts.
We also will continue to present an annual Mount Vernon History Teacher of the Year Award to help promote excellence in history education.
We will bolster our existing, successful nationwide outreach programs to provide our George Washington Biography Lesson to fifth graders in every state and to place George Washington’s portrait in classrooms coast to coast.
Additionally, Mount Vernon will continue to offer a High School Leadership Program to bring lessons in character and integrity to student leaders in the Washington, DC area.
Finally, we plan to utilize popular culture vehicles to awaken interest in George Washington among the broad, general public. To do so, we are establishing partnerships with outside organizations to produce films and other media offerings, books, computer games, advertising, and various consumer products.
