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Dear John,
I hope you and your loved ones are having a wonderful Christmas Eve together.
We talk a lot about the work that's needed to restore the principles on which America was founded.
When you spend time with your family this Christmas, honoring a God who saved the world through a baby in a manger, you’re doing the most important thing you can do to preserve this country. America and the West has its roots in the most fundamental truths about God, justice, and truth.
ISI is dedicated to educating the next generation of leaders in this great tradition. The photos above are a few examples of students learning about this tradition during last year’s Honors Program. I cannot tell you how impressed I was with these young people.
These students represent the future of the conservative movement, and I was honored to see the positive impact ISI had on their education and community development. If you know any students who are good candidates for the ISI Honors program, they can learn more here.
The Honors Program is just one example of how ISI is impacting the future of the conservative movement. And 2021 was a historic year as we expanded our capacities to give young people the education and community they’ve been denied.
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ISI’s inaugural Homecoming Weekend brought more than 250 members of our community together to celebrate the tremendous work of ISI alums and the unique family ISI has supported for more than 60 years.
A personal highlight was the Weaver Fellow Reunion luncheon, where ISI graduate fellows past and present were able to enjoy each other's company and learn from one another. I saw 22-year-old graduate students speaking with seasoned statesmen like former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman and Heritage Foundation founder Ed Feulner.
I cannot think of another organization in our movement that boasts such a dynamic core of alumni. The 2022-2023 Weaver Fellowship deadline is January 15. If you know someone who would be a good candidate, they can learn more here.
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The Linda L. Bean Conference Center will play a vital role in ISI’s commitment to providing conservative students and all aspects of the conservative movement with the resources needed to foster the best ideas and strategies for restoring our nation. This center will be the “main campus'” for our academic programming for students.
The construction of this Camp David of Conservatism is well underway, and its inaugural event will be the American Politics and Government Summit.
This Summit will be a place where members of the academy who are eager to discuss ideas of liberty, virtue, and the tradition of the West can come together to present research that is often overlooked, ignored, or rejected at most professional conferences. Our conference center is a feature component of ISI's recently launched Roots of American Renewal Campaign.
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The Roots of the American Renewal Campaign is ISI’s opportunity to educate students with a different story of the American Founding and the Western tradition. For most students, the version of the Founding history they hear is boring and sterile at best and openly egregious at worst. Our young people deserve more.
Through this five year, 75 million dollar initiative, ISI will expand our programs, events, and infrastructure to teach students about the truth of America and the West in order to cultivate the next generation of leaders on the national and local level in business politics and education.
To learn more about this campaign, watch the video or click the button below.
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As you prepare for tomorrow, think about this: 2,000 years ago, God made way for the salvation of the world in the most unlikely of ways. He didn’t come in a chariot with armies. Instead, He came as a child dedicated to revealing the truth of heaven and salvation through selfless acts of humility.
This Christmas, God is calling each of us to reflect Christ with our own families and in our communities. Those actions are the ones that will make the most significant impact on the restoration of America.
That’s probably the thing I love most about being president of ISI. This isn’t an organization that just wants to create intelligent young people—ISI has always been about cultivating virtuous men and women who will be great leaders first and foremost because they are good people.
As we reflect on the truths that this Christmas represents, my wife Amanda and I wish you a blessed Christmas.
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Sincerely,
Johnny Burtka
ISI President and CEO
P.S. As you celebrate this Christmas with loved ones and kindly interact with your community, you’re playing a vital role in preserving the principles of the American Founding and the West. For more than 60 years, ISI has been dedicated to educating the next generation in an understanding of liberty grounded in those truths to cultivate great leaders who are first-and-foremost good men and women. To learn more about how ISI is expanding these efforts, click here.
From all of us at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Merry Christmas!
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