Talent has been described as a special natural ability, or an aptitude or a capacity for achievement or success. Societies throughout history have sought to develop the talent of their citizens in an attempt to maintain dominance or advance the status quo. Since its inception, the United States has tried to do the same. Whether it was Thomas Jefferson's Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge to identify and groom the next leaders for the still-fledgling democracy (Johnson, 2002) or the establishment of institutions such as West Point to develop its military leaders (Jolly, 2009), America has a long tradition of identifying and grooming talented individuals. During the mid-20th century, several new talent development initiatives emerged--the National Merit Scholarship Program, expansion of the College Board's Advanced Placement (AP) Program, and Project TALENT (Passow, 1960). This article focuses on Project TALENT, which sought to capture a group of students and study their progress both academically and personally over a 10-year period.