By: Sarah Wright | Troy Times | Published July 8, 2025
TROY — Ryan Werenka, a teacher at Troy High, was among 43 candidates chosen by the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation for its annual fellowship competition.
The James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation is an independent agency created in 1986. Fellowships are funded by income generated through a trust fund in the Treasury of the United States and additional private gifts, grants and endowments.
The Foundation awards James Madison Fellowships to graduate and undergraduate students who are committed to a career teaching about the development and history of the U.S. Constitution.
The Fellows were selected by an independent academic committee in a competition with applicants from each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the nation’s island and trust territories.
Fellows were chosen for their scholarly achievements and their demonstrated interest in pursuing a course of graduate study leading to a master’s degree emphasizing the U.S. Constitution.
A James Madison Fellowship funds up to $24,000 of each recipient’s course of study towards a master’s degree. Their graduate program must include a concentration of courses on the history and principles of the U.S. Constitution. Recipients are required to teach American history, government, or civics full-time in a secondary school for at least one year for each year of Fellowship support.
Werenka is currently pursuing a master’s degree in American history through a program at Gettysburg College titled, “Fate of the American Constitution, 1787-1937.”
“I will be attending a one-month intensive at Georgetown University next summer; I’ve been calling it a Constitutional Conclave,” Werenka said via email. “During the James Madison Fellowship Summer Institute … I will be working with James Madison Fellows from around the country, learning from some of America’s best Constitutional scholars, and visiting important historical sites such as Independence Hall and the National Constitution Center.”
He and other Fellows will be involved in events for the America250 celebration throughout the next year.
“I am very excited that I will be in Washington, D.C. next summer to celebrate our country’s 250th birthday,” he said.
For more information, visit jamesmadison.gov.