Georgetown—Sweep off the red carpet, a former U.S. president is headed to the Georgetown College campus.

President George H.W. Bush will be the guest of honor Sept. 19, as the Kentucky Baptist institution hosts a ceremony to rename the school’s fitness center for the former commander in chief. The building will be rechristened the “George H.W. Bush Center for Fitness.”

The event also is intended to raise $1.5 million for Georgetown’s First Tee Scholars Program, a nationwide scholarship program that began at the school in 2001. The initiative is an offshoot of the First Tee program, which gives economically disadvantaged children the opportunity to learn the game of golf. President Bush serves as honorary chairman of the project.

In 2001, Georgetown became the first college in the nation to offer scholarships to First Tee participants, as a way to “allow young people who went through the program in high school to be able to get scholarships to go to college,” according to Georgetown President William Crouch.

The school now has at least seven First Tee scholars in its student body. Georgetown graduated its first two participants last year.

Crouch also is on First Tee’s national board of trustees and has worked with Bush on a number of committees.

“We’ve been able to develop a close relationship over these past six years,” Crouch said.

He explained that the former U.S. president has made a priority of encouraging physical fitness among America’s children.

“One of the things I’ve heard (Bush) talk about over and over again is fitness (and) efforts to fight obesity,” Crouch noted.

In return for lending his name to Georgetown’s fitness and recreation center, Bush asked that the school emphasize student wellness efforts and promote the First Tee Scholars Program.

Crouch pointed out that even though the First Tee Scholars Program is focused on the game of golf, “it is not a golf scholarship,” adding that not all of the students play on Georgetown’s golf team.

“It’s a leadership program,” he emphasized. “We expect (First Tee scholars) to be leaders on campus.”

At the Sept. 19 ceremony, the First Tee students will be the only members of Georgetown’s student body to meet President Bush, according to Crouch. Three of the students also will participate in the renaming ceremony.

Crouch acknowledged that hosting a former U.S. president on campus is a huge event for Georgetown College, adding that the ceremony is an opportunity to pay tribute to Bush’s legacy “and the work that he’s done.”

“To have a building on your campus named after a president of the United States is a significant thing,” Crouch continued. “We think the students will feel a sense of pride about it.”

And during a time when the hotly-contested presidential election is center stage, Crouch insisted that honoring a former U.S. president extends beyond politics.

“It’s not about parties, Republican or Democrat; (President Bush) is an example of what a leader is, and we want to hold that up as a model for our students,” Crouch said.

The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m., and is open to the public. A private reception for President Bush and First Tee Scholars Program donors will be held afterward.