Throwback Thursday when I participated in President Ford’s Funeral. @geraldfordfoundation@potus@plsprogram@uscg@honorguardsofamerica@whitehouse
Funeral services for President Ford were held at St. Margaret’s Parish in Palm Desert, California; the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. and at Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Nearly 50,000 people signed the Condolence Books on the grounds of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids and Library in Ann Arbor beginning at 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday, December 27, 2006, through 5 p.m. Thursday, January 4, 2007.
An estimated 36,000 visited the U.S. Capitol Rotunda as President Ford lay in State. As President Ford lay in repose at the Museum, Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday morning, 62,000 people paid their respects, including the estimated 57,000 people who entered the queue through DeVos Place and waited patiently in line. In addition, an estimated 75,000 people lined the streets of Grand Rapids to welcome President Ford home on January 2, 2007 and during the funeral services on January 3, 2007.
The official period of mourning ended at sundown on Thursday, January 25, 2007. At this time flags were to be returned to full staff.
Following the services in Grand Rapids on January 3, 2007, President Ford was interred on the grounds of his Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
“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.” - President @georgewbush@plsprogram Module 3 recap from the @thebushcenter in comments below!
"Take care of the people you're privileged to lead."
Last June, Marine General Peter Pace, the 16th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, delivered this simple message to 57 Presidential Leadership Scholars during the 6th and final module of Cohort 10 in Washington DC.
It perfectly captures what Military Thriving culture is all about, and why service should be at the heart of every discussion regarding what America needs in its 250th year.
Decades of service in and out of uniform, captured in one sentence.
Take care of the people you're privileged to lead — in your company, your community, your family, your nonprofit, your school.
The mission might change. The obligation to take care of the people to your left and right does not.
1st Group Photo with General Pace and the 8 Veterans and 2 military spouses in #PLSClassX; 2nd photo with David Kramer, Executive Director of the Bush Institute; June 2025 at Georgetown University; 3rd photo with active duty Coast Guard Commander Beau Belanger.
#MilitaryThriving #America250 #ActionsSpeakLouder #Day45 250DaysOfService
Today, @NASA launches the first crewed mission to the Moon in over half a century. Artemis II will send four astronauts on a 10-day journey, traveling farther into deep space than any humans since Apollo 17 in 1972.
During my time as a Presidential Leadership Scholar, I had the privilege of learning from incredible leaders. As a space nerd, getting to learn from astronaut Victor Glover @astrovicglover during his leadership workshop was a highlight. Today, he’s at the controls as pilot of Artemis II.
Also pictured is Joca Marquez, a fellow scholar and Space Launch Electrical Integration Specialist supporting the Artemis II mission ..and @betterfutures_ board member! All the best, my friend.
Wishing the entire crew a successful mission and a safe return.
Last year, I joined 56 other leaders as a member of the Presidential Leadership Scholars Class of 2025 — a program built on one of the most bipartisan acts in recent American history.
Presidents Bush and Clinton stood together in 2014 to announce it. Two men from different parties and different world views, united by a shared belief that #service to country transcends politics.
The PLS program asks its scholars to engage across differences. To listen before speaking. To lead with purpose, not ego.
It was never just a leadership curriculum. It is a democracy curriculum.
In America’s 250th year, the spirit of PLS — the conviction that leaders across every divide can build something together — is exactly what the republic needs.
Photo: President Clinton and President Bush announce the @plsprogram in Washington DC on September 8, 2014.
#America250 #PLScholars #ActionsSpeakLouder
Day17 250DaysOfService
President William J. Clinton believed that our democracy must not only be the envy of the world but the engine of our own renewal. He said:
“There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.”
Service is what’s right with America..
And President Clinton invested more than just inspirational words in expressing what he thought was right, he created AmeriCorps and helped build the engine of renewal.
In America’s 250th year, the investment — in service, in people, in communities, in the next generation — is the most important thing we can do with our freedom.
The photos below demonstrate my shared belief and investment in #service, and how it has intersected 3 times in my life with President Clinton.
The first was in uniform when I served our country as a Marine under President Clinton and swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. I was a young Captain commanding Marine Corps Security Force Company in London at the time.
The second happened in Chicago at the Clinton Global Initiative when I founded Hiring Our Heroes and several military and veteran nonprofits came together pledging to collaborate and serve more closely together — lofty goal still today.
The third was last year with Presidential Leadership Scholars serving alongside 56 other community builders who were part of #ClassX and who have invested their lives serving, too.
#America250 #ActionsSpeakLouder
Day14 #250DaysOfService
Studying storytelling and communication in leadership in Little Rock with the Presidential Leadership Scholars, where the themes of focus, optimism and forward motion echoed each day.
It was my first visit to a presidential library (complete with a photo in the replica Oval Office) and a fitting lesson that ideas, words and relationships are what ultimately move people and communities forward.
And perhaps the greatest gift of all: 57 new friends - a simple reminder that leadership ultimately comes down to people and how we steward the seats we occupy and the causes we champion to move others forward.
Full reflection in the comments below!
Standing atop the Great Seal of the United States in the rotunda of the National Archives, the words E Pluribus Unum (out of many, one) held me in place. Toe to talon with the eagle, I paused, aware that I was standing at the edge of something far larger than myself.
Over four days in our nation’s capital, 58 of us gathered just steps from the Constitution, shared a meal in its presence, and later convened privately on the House floor of the U.S. Capitol. We also spent time on the campus of Georgetown University learning alongside brilliant classmates and speakers who challenged our assumptions, stretched our thinking, and sharpened our sense of responsibility.
It was impossible not to feel the weight of that access, knowing that hundreds of applicants could have filled that space, and that just one year earlier, I had hoped to be among them. Six months from now, our lives may be transformed - if we choose to let them be.
The Presidential Leadership Scholars program offers something rare: not simply access, but invitation. Not prestige, but responsibility. An invitation to take leadership seriously as a calling rooted in citizenship, humility, and care for others.
With a grateful heart as a member of Class XI, these are the eleven lessons I’m carrying forward from Module One (see comments): @plsprogram
🎉 Alumni spotlight!
Congratulations to City Tech alumnus Jean Paul Laurent ’15 who has been selected as a 2026 Presidential Leadership Scholar, joining a national cohort advancing purpose-driven leadership and community impact.
Laurent is founder and CEO of Unspoken Smiles, a global organization dedicated to prevention-focused oral health equity.
Read more via the link in bio!
#CityTech #CityTechAlumni #CityTechNews #Leadership
Leadership is shaped by moments that expand our sense of responsibility - to community, to country and to one another. I’m honored to be named to the 2026 class of Presidential Leadership Scholars, a program grounded in learning from the past to lead with greater purpose and impact today.🇺🇸
/presidential-leadership-scholars-program-announces-2026-class/
@plsprogram@thebushcenter@clintoncenter@bushfdn@lbjlibrary
#PLScholars
#PLScholar
We're so proud of Super Mom Misti Allison (@mistiallison ) for being selected to join the @plsprogram Class of 2026! The program brings together a diverse network of leaders to collaborate and make a difference in the world. Join us in congratulating Misti!
@thebushcenter@clintoncenter@bushfdn@lbjlibrary
#PLScholar
