Chris Asch

Interview with Chris Asch, founder, US Public Service Academy

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Chris Myers Asch has taught elementary and middle school for three years in Sunflower, Mississippi, as part of Teach for America/AmeriCorps and one year in Taejon, South Korea, with the William J. Fulbright program.

He co-founded the Sunflower County Freedom Project in 1998 and received an Echoing Green fellowship in 2007 to launch the US Public Service Academy.

The Academy doesn't exist yet - Chris is currently petitioning the US Congress to fund the launch of the Academy so it can matriculate its first class in 2011. 

The Academy will be a civilian counterpart to WestPoint and the US military academies --  a four-year college that provides a free education in return for students’ commitment to serve in the public sector for five years after graduation. Chris sees a need for the US to reinvest in civilian leadership. Shortages are developing in the public sector from the local to Federal levels as the current generation of leaders retires. And there is a huge desire on the part of the post 9/11 generation to serve their country but needs choices beyond the military.

The US Public service Academy will be different from other leadership programs in that the entire college will be focused on public service leadership. Its graduates will help change the image of America in the world and will send a message to young people that civilian public service is noble and honorable. 

Chris Asch's advice to other social entrepreneurs: “Have adaptive persistence – adapt as necessary to conditions, but stay determined and move ahead.”

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