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'I remember it as sure as I remember waking up this morning," says New Jersey high school history teacher Robbin Sweeney of the day she learned she would be flown to Cornell to be honored by a former student.

'I thought it was spam. The subject line was 'You have received an award.' I guess I was bored. I clicked on it. Then I realized it was from Joshua, and I gasped at what I was reading, at what he was saying."

That same week, 31 other middle school and high school teachers and coaches around the world were getting similar emails, letters and calls from former students who were top Cornell undergraduate students.

In the quarter century since its founding in 1988 by the late Philip Merrill '55, the Merrill Presidential Scholars Program has been gathering Cornell's crème de la crème of graduating seniors, along with their favorite secondary school teachers and Cornell professors, under one roof. Two days of events culminate in a luncheon and convocation with Cornell's president and deans of the seven undergraduate colleges.

In recent years, the Merrill convocation luncheon has featured each Merrill scholar standing and delivering brief remarks about his or her teacher and professor.

Nancy Merrill, one of Philip Merrill's two daughters, says: 'In two hours, you get to understand where Cornell's going. You get to hear what the top one percent is doing. They're writing stuff for Google, changing genes in tomatoes, working at NASA. Every year, I'm impressed."

From left, Cornell President David Skorton, high school history teacher Robbin Sweeney, Joshua Mbanusi '12 and Rosemary Avery, Cornell professor and chair of policy analysis, at the 2012 Merrill convocation luncheon. Mbanusi honored Sweeney and Avery as his favorite teachers. See larger image

Charles Williamson, the Willis H. Carrier Professor of Engineering in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering - a world-class competitive sailboat racer, six-time winner of the Gallery of Fluid Motion competition, and a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow (Cornell's highest teaching honor)  agrees that Merrill scholars tend to be incredibly impressive. He should know - he's been honored by more Merrill scholars (15) than any other Cornell professor, and has attended more than his share of the luncheons.

"One is humbled by the quality of the students," Williamson says.

Nearly every scholar has above a 4.0 GPA. And they are nominated by professors and selected by deans, not just for academic achievement, but also for leadership, intellectual drive and accomplishments outside the classroom.

Scholars have been Olympic athletes, Marshall scholars, Rhodes scholars, serious musicians or published authors, and nearly every Merrill scholar has also conducted research or scholarship alongside a Cornell professor. The College of Engineering selects its flag bearers at commencement from among the Merrill scholars.

Nancy Merrill recalls the story of how her father, a Cornell Presidential Councillor, decided to fund the program: 'Dad was sitting on the Cornell Council and he asked President [Frank H.T.] Rhodes, who Dad found very impressive, what he felt he needed: How could my father help? This was the height of the '80s and there was a research explosion at Cornell - nanotechnology, et cetera - and I think President Rhodes felt there was something of an imbalance between teaching and research."

Professor Charles Williamson (center) has been honored by 15 Merrill scholars. See larger image

'My concern," explains Rhodes, 'was that there were many ways in which research was being honored, but that the top one percent of students really owed their success and futures to teachers, even back to high school and elementary school. I suggested to Philip Merrill - who was an exemplary, enthusiastic Cornellian - what a wonderful thing it would be to honor high school teachers, not to diminish research, but to honor how teachers before and during college are shaping these young lives, giving them a lifelong connection to learning, including learning about the unknown, which is research."

Philip Merrill was not himself a top student, but he credited great teachers with his considerable success as a businessman and diplomat.

'I actually wasn't the best student in high school either," admits Joshua Mbanusi '12, whose email almost got ignored as spam by Sweeney. 'I focused on athletics. Consequently, there were several teachers who had written me off, but somehow, Mrs. Sweeney saw past that."

Asked if being honored at Cornell for the part she played in Mbanusi's success (he's teaching U.S. history in a charter school with Teach for America and plans to go into educational policy) has made an impact on her teaching, Sweeney says: 'To be honest, it has. I tell my students about Joshua all the time. And I have this huge sign hanging in my classroom. It reads: 'Inspire.' I see it every day and I try to remember: This is what I'm here for. Not to teach to the state test. To inspire, tha'Õs what this is about."

The Merrill program continues at Cornell thanks to the generosity of Ellie Merrill, Doug Merrill '89, MBA '91, Catherine Merrill Williams '91 and Nancy Merrill '96. The program is further strengthened by STAR (Special Teachers Are Recognized) scholarships provided through gifts from the late Donald Berens '47, his widow, Margi Berens '47, and the William Knox Holt Foundation. These scholarships are awarded to Cornell students who attended the same high schools as previous Merrill scholars.

'The Merrill program and the STAR scholarships have created a platform to celebrate excellence in teaching and mentoring at Cornell, as well as at the K-12 level," says President David Skorton. 'I am deeply grateful to the Berenses, the Holt Foundation and the Merrill family for their continued financial support and abiding faith in this unique program."

Visit: www.alumni.cornell.edu/merrill/.

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