Leadership

Two Visionaries and the Phone Call That Would Change Education

The date was the late 1970’s, the place, Ridgefield, Connecticut, where an outstanding high school social studies teacher named Barbara Harris was once again pushing the boundaries of curriculum in search of new and better ways to inspire her highest achieving students.

At the same time, in Washington, D.C., a young man with a penchant for thinking big named Richard Rossi, immersed himself in a career in government, serving as the Executive Assistant to Connecticut Senator Lowell Weicker.

And then it happened. Barbara, preparing and planning her annual field trip to D.C., picked up the phone and called her U.S. Senator. The call was transferred to Richard. And, in a chance moment, a synergy occurred.

Of course, at first there wasn’t much to it ... a teacher trying to inspire her students by bringing her social studies curriculum to life ... and a Congressional staffer eagerly organizing "a meet and greet" for a constituent. But over the ensuing months and then years, and through many rounds of field trips and excursions, phone calls and faxes, a friendship formed, and an idea began to take shape.

An idea that finally took wings at the official inauguration of President Ronald Reagan in 1980, as Barbara traveled with 24 students to DC. Richard managed to secure tickets for them to attend not only the official swearing-in, but also the first-ever Youth Inaugural Ball. It was a huge success. And, before it was over, Barbara, Richard and the students realized that they had discovered something that would set new standards for how best to educate, motivate and inspire the nation’s highest-achieving young people.

At this point, Richard would say that Barbara came down with Potomac Fever, and Barbara would say that Richard fell in love with teaching. Perhaps both occurred simultaneously. Whatever happened that day, the die was cast. A partnership was formed. And by the time President Reagan stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol four years later, to take his second inaugural oath, Barbara Harris and Richard Rossi had developed a program from which all others would evolve: the Youth Inaugural Conference.

The initial plan was to invite 200 high-achieving students from around the country to participate in the first Youth Inaugural Conference. That number quickly doubled. On a cold January day in 1985, Barbara and Richard walked into the ballroom of a local hotel to the energetic greeting of four hundred professionally-attired students eagerly anticipating the adventure of a lifetime.

And the rest, as they say, is history. Envision EMI (Educate, Motivate and Inspire) is the largest creator of life success and leadership programs for high-achieving students in the world – with over 600,000 alumni and programs held across the U.S. and around the world.

It’s an amazing story that is still being written today ... especially when you think that it all started with a high school social studies teacher, a young policy aide and a single phone call.