The Laird Youth Leadership Foundation- Honoring a Legacy Through Education
By Kim Westerman
For nearly six decades, the Laird family has invested in a simple but powerful idea: that education changes lives, strengthens communities, and creates opportunities that extend far beyond the classroom.
That belief, championed by former Congressman and Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird, continues today through the work of his children, sons John and David Laird and daughter Ali Laird-Large, and the Laird Youth Leadership Foundation (LYLF). In 2026, as the LYLF sunsets its work, its board chose to honor that legacy with a generous $1.25 million gift to the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point Foundation, strengthening scholarships and awards already established by the LYLF that have benefited students for generations.
A Vision Rooted in Central Wisconsin
For David Laird, the gift represents more than philanthropy. It is the culmination of a relationship that began long before he joined the LYLF board.
“My father always had Central Wisconsin in his heart,” Laird says. “He loved the people there, and he believed deeply in education and what it could do for individuals and communities.”
That conviction inspired Melvin Laird to establish what became the Laird Youth Leadership Foundation in the 1960s. Around the same time, he launched a partnership with UWSP centered on what became known as Laird Youth Leadership Day, a biennial leadership conference that brought high school juniors and seniors from all the high schools across his former congressional district to the UWSP campus.
The concept was ambitious. Students selected by their schools spent a day at UWSP, meeting national leaders, educators, public servants, business executives, writers, and athletes. The goal was not simply exposure to accomplished people, but exposure to possibility.
The first keynote speaker was John Gardner, then Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in the Johnson administration. Over the decades, the event attracted an impressive roster of leaders, including President Gerald Ford, cabinet members, and prominent figures from Wisconsin and beyond.
“It was a chance for students from dozens of communities to come together, hear different perspectives, and think about what their own futures might look like,” Laird says.
Investing in Students
The conference continued until 2008, touching thousands of students over more than 40 years. Alongside the leadership program, the LYLF helped establish two enduring endowments at UWSP: the Melvin R. Laird Scholarship Endowment and the Melvin R. Laird Exceptional Artist Award Endowment.
Those programs have supported generations of students. Scholarship recipients receive financial assistance to pursue their education, while graduating artists have been recognized with monetary awards that can be used in any way they choose to further their creative development.
As the LYLF board began discussing its future in recent years, members returned repeatedly to the organization’s original purpose.
“My father passed away in 2016, and many of the people who helped build the LYLF have passed away as well,” Laird says. “We felt it was time to honor what they started in a way that would have a lasting impact.”
The result was the LYLF’s largest gift ever: $1 million to the Melvin R. Laird Scholarship Endowment, $200,000 to the Exceptional Artist Award Endowment, and additional support for the Robert J. Engelhard Forestry Endowment Fund and Karen Engelhard Alumni Scholarship funds.
William Broussard, Ph.D., Vice Chancellor for University Advancement and CEO of the UWSP Foundation shared, “We appreciate the Laird Youth Leadership Foundation and Karen Engelhard for all that they have done and continue to do to support UWSP. The value of these scholarships and awards ($5,000 for the leadership scholarships and $7500+ for the exceptional artist awards) makes these among the most prestigious awards available for UWSP students, befitting the namesake of the family whose name the award bears.”
The gift will significantly increase the resources available to future UWSP students while giving the university flexibility to determine how those funds can best serve changing student needs.
Karen Engelhard, ’59, a Laird Youth Leadership Foundation board member and Alumni Director Emerita of UWSP, sees the gift as the continuation of a legacy that has been decades in the making. “The Laird Legacy lives on!” she says. “This extraordinary gift is a continuation of many gifts over many years, all adding significantly to the education of Central Wisconsin’s high school and college students through scholarships and programs such as Laird Leadership Day.” Having worked alongside Secretary Laird, his family, the Foundation board, and UWSP for many years, Engelhard believes the impact of the Foundation’s final act will extend far beyond the present moment. “His final gift isn’t final at all,” she says. “It will be spoken about, awarded, and appreciated far into the future at UWSP. It has been an honor to be involved in this fine man’s legacy at UWSP!”
A Partnership Built on Trust
“We’ve had a relationship with the university for nearly 60 years,” Laird says. “We trust them, and we want to give them the ability to decide how these resources will have the greatest impact.”
That trust has been built through decades of collaboration with university leaders, faculty, and staff. From former Chancellor Lee Dreyfus to today’s administration, the relationship has remained remarkably consistent.
For Laird, that continuity reflects something larger about Point itself. “I think the university has always understood the value of connecting education to community,” he says.
For Ali Laird-Large, LYLF represents the love her father had for Wisconsin and his great desire to help young people afford an education. ”It was an honor for me to meet all the young people who came to Laird Youth Leadership Day until 2008. Those young people were exposed to wonderful workshops of all kinds. Our board has decided that the best way to continue with my father’s wish to educate the young people of Wisconsin is to significantly increase the endowments with this gift. We are very proud of his legacy.”
Alongside his siblings and all the current and former board members, Laird has been proud of all the tremendous work the Foundation has accomplished. Together, they have helped oversee the endowments and support the LYLF’s broader charitable efforts, which have included initiatives focused on food insecurity, youth mental health, the arts, and education.
Yet, throughout the years, the connection to UWSP remained central. The university’s nationally respected programs in natural resources, agriculture, geography, and the arts align closely with values the LYLF has championed since its inception: leadership, service, creativity, and civic engagement.
A Legacy That Continues
Now, even as the LYLF sunsets its formal work, those values will continue through the students who benefit from its support. Laird sees that continuation as the LYLF’s greatest accomplishment. “We wanted to go back to our roots,” he says. “Education was always the reason we were here. This felt like the right way to honor my father’s vision and ensure that it continues helping students long into the future.”
In that sense, the Laird Youth Leadership Foundation’s final chapter is also a beginning. Long after the organization itself has closed its doors, future scholarship recipients and emerging artists at Stevens Point will continue to benefit from a commitment first made nearly 60 years ago by Melvin Laird — a commitment grounded in leadership, opportunity, and faith in the power of education to shape lives.
Please meet the 2026 Laird Scholarship recipients:
Not Pictured: Molly B., Kamryn H., Alyssa H., Josie L., Emmalee S., Carlee S., Tessa W.
