This week, a number of high school students from the Freire Charter School in Philadelphia came south to the nation’s capital to engage in some old-fashioned democratic action. They were in town to tell their representative, Rep. Chaka Fattah, that they wanted him to support the Public Service Academy bill. Neatly dressed and eager to get started, they arrived at Union Station on a beautiful spring morning with their arguments ready for the Hill. After a successful meeting in Rep. Fattah’s office — his staffer said that the representative likely will endorse the bill soon — they spent a few hours dropping in on members of the Congressional Black Caucus. They made a great impression wherever they went — one staff member in Rep. Edolphus Towns’ office wrote the Academy to say she was particularly impressed with their “lovely presentations.” Too often, Americans take our democracy for granted and assume that “someone else” will do the hard work that democracy demands of its citizens. Not the kids from Freire Charter School. They are learning firsthand about how democracy works and how they can influence policy.

According to this week’s Chronicle of Higher Education, graduate schools of public policy and public affairs are reporting record numbers of applicants — up to 52% higher than last year. The combination of the economic downturn and President Obama’s call to service has lured thousands of young people into the public service orbit. Given this interest, some critics say, there no longer is any need for a Public Service Academy to raise the visibility and prestige of public service. Obama’s already made public service “cool” again, so why build the Academy?

Actually, this is the best time to build the Academy precisely because of the renewed interest in public service. We now have an historic opportunity to build a permanent institution that can capture the excitement and idealism of this age. The surge in interest is wonderful, but let’s not pretend for one minute that it will last forever. What will we have left after the honeymoon is over, after the economy recovers, and after Obama retires? Will we allow history to repeat itself, as when the idealism of the 1960s morphed into the cynicism and belittlement of the 1980s and 1990s? Or will we build a long-lasting institution that can produce top-quality young leaders for the public sector in good economic times as well as bad? We can’t waste this historic moment by patting ourselves on the back.

Republican Rep. Ander Crenshaw of Florida joined the Academy’s growing coalition of co-sponsors. A native of Jacksonville, Rep. Crenshaw first heard of the Academy last summer when a group of his constituents met with him in his DC office. They were part of the Academy’s Florida Youth Advisory Council, and they made a strong case for why the University of Florida Law School graduate should become a supporter of the Academy bill. We are excited to have him as the Republican co-lead of the bill, and we look forward to working with his staff to win more GOP support.