July 4: Independence Day Celebration and Naturalization Ceremony

Nazanin Ash is the founding CEO of Welcome.US, a national initiative that is unleashing the commitment and capacity of everyday Americans to welcome newcomers and help them thrive. She brings to this role decades of experience in the areas of refugee and migration challenges, humanitarian response, coalition building, and innovative policy development, having served as the VP of Global Policy and Advocacy at the International Rescue Committee, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the Department of State, during the Obama Administration, and as a member of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning staff. 

She served as principal advisor to the first Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources and Administrator of USAID, designing strategies for U.S. foreign assistance reform in support of inclusive political and economic development. One of Washingtonian Magazine’s “Most Influential People,” she’s described as “a crucial liaison among corporations, service organizations, and government … to resettle those escaping crises in countries around the world.”

John Bridgeland is Executive Chairman of the Office of American Possibilities, a civic moonshot factory to tap the entrepreneurial talent of Americans to solve public challenges together across divides. In that capacity, he is Co-Founder and CEO of the COVID Collaborative, a national platform to combat COVID-19; Co-Chairman of Welcome.US to engage Americans to welcome and support newcomers; Co-Founder of ACT NOW, a ground-up effort to re-envision community safety and policing; Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of More Perfect, a national initiative to align efforts in democratic renewal around 5 “Sustainable Democracy Goals;” and Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of Dignity.us: A Citizens’ Initiative to Address Hate-Fueled Violence in America launched at the White House United We Stand Summit.

He is also Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of the Service Year Alliance, an initiative to create a civilian national service counterpart to military service in the United States; Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of Malaria No More to end malaria deaths in Africa; and Co-Convener of the Grad Nation campaign to address the high school dropout crisis.  

Previously, Bridgeland was appointed by President Obama to serve on the White House Council for Community Solutions. He also served as Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, Assistant to the President, and first Director of the USA Freedom Corps after 9/11 under President George W. Bush. He is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Virginia School of Law and has given commencement addresses at the College of William & Mary, Johns Hopkins University, Saint Anselm College, Averett University, Hamline University, Ripon College, Westwood College, and Artist Corps. In addition, he played tennis on the Harvard Varsity Team and founded Tennis for America in 2020 with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, which awarded him their “Lifetime Achievement Award,” presented by Wimbledon Champion Stan Smith.  He is the author of the book, Heart of the Nation: Volunteering and America’s Civic Spirit.

Walter Kim has been the president of the National Association of Evangelicals since January 2020. He previously served as a pastor at Boston’s historic Park Street Church and at churches in Vancouver, Canada and Charlottesville, Virginia, as well as a campus chaplain at Yale University. He preaches, writes and engages in collaborative leadership to connect the Bible to the intellectual and cultural issues of the day. He regularly teaches in conferences and classrooms; addresses faith concerns with elected officials and public institutions; and provides theological and cultural commentary to leading news outlets. 

He serves on the boards of Christianity Today and World Relief and consults with a wide range of organizations. Kim received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, his M.Div. from Regent College in Vancouver, and his B.A. from Northwestern University.

Guests attending the ceremony will park at Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC) or Monticello High School and then ride a shuttle bus to Monticello. Carefully read your confirmation letter for your parking location. Guests with earliest reservation times will park at Monticello High School, while later times will park at PVCC.

Each reservation has a shuttle time. Please arrive early to your parking location to ensure time for parking, security screening, and boarding your shuttle on time.

The last shuttle reservation time is 8:15 a.m. The ceremony begins at 9 a.m. 

Buses will run between PVCC, Monticello High School, and the Monticello mountaintop throughout the morning. Return shuttles will run until 3:00 PM. 

Those with government-issued disabled parking permits will be allowed to park at the David M. Rubenstein Visitor Center at Monticello.

All guests will go through a security screening, including magnetometers. 

For your safety, we require CLEAR bags to attend the Naturalization Ceremony with exceptions for medical bags. All bags will be inspected.

Prohibited items include:

• All weapons, including firearms, knives, or sharp objects
• Placards, signs, or banners, including flags on poles, that cannot be stowed in a small bag
• Bags and containers larger than 11” X 15” X 6” (28 X 38 X 15 CM)
• Drones, artificial noisemakers, coolers, lawn furniture, animals, and fireworks or firecrackers
• Clothing that contains offensive or abusive language or symbols as determined by Monticello staff 

Please leave all prohibited items at home or in your vehicle. Those arriving at the Monticello visitor center with prohibited items will be required to shuttle back to their vehicle before being admitted to the event. Monticello, Albermarle County Schools, and Piedmont Community College are not responsible for lost or stolen items left in vehicles.

Please see our guest policies for more information.

House tours will be offered starting at 12 p.m. Separate tickets are required, and are available for purchase online or at the Monticello Ticket Office at the visitor center.

Explore our tour options and purchase your tickets in advance on our Tickets Page here »

A limited number of day-of tickets will be available at the Monticello Ticket Office on a first-come, first-served basis. Please purchase tickets in advance to guarantee your spot on a tour.

Drinks, snacks, and light meals will be available from a concession stand on the West Lawn and the Farm Shop under the North Terrace. Complimentary soda floats will be available after the ceremony while supplies last.

Only certified service animals are allowed on the property on July 4.

The ceremony will take place under a large tent, but guests are encouraged to bring ponchos or raincoats if rain is in the forecast. 

Should there be a thunderstorm, guests will be asked to seek shelter off of the West Lawn, at the direction of Monticello staff and security.

Please dress for the weather, wear comfortable shoes, and please stay hydrated. Water bottles and sunscreen are welcome and encouraged.

Shirts, bottoms, and shoes must be worn at all times. Swimsuits are not considered appropriate.

Greg Adams is an archivist and musician based in Maryland, and a scholar of banjo history whose work traces the instrument's deep roots across cultures. He holds master's degrees in Ethnomusicology and Library Science from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a B.A. in Music History from Youngstown State University. 

Across both his archival and musical work, he is committed to fostering collaboration between institutions and the communities they serve, ensuring that cultural heritage is preserved, shared, and celebrated.

Dr. Dom Flemons, “The American Songster," received an Honorary Doctorate from Northern Arizona University and he's a GRAMMY Award Winner with four GRAMMY nominations, Two-Time EMMY Nominee, International Acoustic Music Award Grand Prize Winner, and was a United States Artists Fellow. He is a musician based in the Chicago area and he is famously known as "The American Songster®" since his repertoire covers over one hundred years of American roots music; including country, folk, bluegrass, Americana, and the blues. 

Flemons is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music scholar, historian, actor, narrator, host, slam poet, record collector, podcaster, and the creator, host, and producer of the American Songster Radio Show on WSM in Nashville, TN. He is considered an expert player on the banjo, guitar, harmonica, jug, percussion, quills, fife and rhythm bones. He is the Co-Founder of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and the Founder of American Songster Productions. He is currently serving on  the Board of Directors at the Steve Martin Banjo Prize, Folk Alliance International, Music Maker Relief Foundation, and was elected as a Governor on the Board of Directors for the Washington, D.C. Chapter of the Recording Academy.

Carly Fiorina is the National Honorary Chair of the Virginia American Revolution 250 Commission (VA250), Former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, and Chair of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Board of Trustees.

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Molly Hardie is the Chair of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello Board of Trustees, a successful businesswoman and entrepreneur. She is co-chairman of H7 Holdings, LLC, a private family investment company that takes significant positions in various asset classes with her husband, Robert. She is actively involved in a variety of investments, most notably H7’s ownership of Keswick Hall and Golf Club in Keswick, Virginia, and The Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. Molly and Robert Hardie's work restoring those properties was recently recognized with a Historic Hotels of America® Lifetime Achievement Award. Ms. Hardie also oversees H7’s ownership of Clover Hill, LLC, a working cattle farm in Keswick, Virginia. 

Since 2001, Ms. Hardie has served on several boards, including the University of Virginia Health Foundation Board and the Virginia Discovery Museum Board. She was an active member of the Young Families Committee for the Children’s Medical Center and the Children’s Medical Center/Children’s Hospital Committee at the University of Virginia and participated in the long effort to plan and build the Battle Building at UVA Children’s Hospital. In addition to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Board of Trustees, she also serves on the boards of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture and Peabody School. 

A graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia Medical School, Ms. Hardie focuses on her partnership responsibilities, civic life, and her family. She lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with her husband and five sons.

Dr. Jane Kamensky is President and CEO of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and a leading historian of early America and the United States.

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Nazanin Ash is the founding CEO of Welcome.US, a national initiative that is unleashing the commitment and capacity of everyday Americans to welcome newcomers and help them thrive. She brings to this role decades of experience in the areas of refugee and migration challenges, humanitarian response, coalition building, and innovative policy development, having served as the VP of Global Policy and Advocacy at the International Rescue Committee, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the Department of State, during the Obama Administration, and as a member of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning staff. 

She served as principal advisor to the first Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources and Administrator of USAID, designing strategies for U.S. foreign assistance reform in support of inclusive political and economic development. One of Washingtonian Magazine’s “Most Influential People,” she’s described as “a crucial liaison among corporations, service organizations, and government … to resettle those escaping crises in countries around the world.”

John Bridgeland is Executive Chairman of the Office of American Possibilities, a civic moonshot factory to tap the entrepreneurial talent of Americans to solve public challenges together across divides. In that capacity, he is Co-Founder and CEO of the COVID Collaborative, a national platform to combat COVID-19; Co-Chairman of Welcome.US to engage Americans to welcome and support newcomers; Co-Founder of ACT NOW, a ground-up effort to re-envision community safety and policing; Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of More Perfect, a national initiative to align efforts in democratic renewal around 5 “Sustainable Democracy Goals;” and Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of Dignity.us: A Citizens’ Initiative to Address Hate-Fueled Violence in America launched at the White House United We Stand Summit.

He is also Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of the Service Year Alliance, an initiative to create a civilian national service counterpart to military service in the United States; Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of Malaria No More to end malaria deaths in Africa; and Co-Convener of the Grad Nation campaign to address the high school dropout crisis.  

Previously, Bridgeland was appointed by President Obama to serve on the White House Council for Community Solutions. He also served as Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, Assistant to the President, and first Director of the USA Freedom Corps after 9/11 under President George W. Bush. He is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Virginia School of Law and has given commencement addresses at the College of William & Mary, Johns Hopkins University, Saint Anselm College, Averett University, Hamline University, Ripon College, Westwood College, and Artist Corps. In addition, he played tennis on the Harvard Varsity Team and founded Tennis for America in 2020 with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, which awarded him their “Lifetime Achievement Award,” presented by Wimbledon Champion Stan Smith.  He is the author of the book, Heart of the Nation: Volunteering and America’s Civic Spirit.

Walter Kim has been the president of the National Association of Evangelicals since January 2020. He previously served as a pastor at Boston’s historic Park Street Church and at churches in Vancouver, Canada and Charlottesville, Virginia, as well as a campus chaplain at Yale University. He preaches, writes and engages in collaborative leadership to connect the Bible to the intellectual and cultural issues of the day. He regularly teaches in conferences and classrooms; addresses faith concerns with elected officials and public institutions; and provides theological and cultural commentary to leading news outlets. 

He serves on the boards of Christianity Today and World Relief and consults with a wide range of organizations. Kim received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, his M.Div. from Regent College in Vancouver, and his B.A. from Northwestern University.