Can school be structured so that all students are held to high expectations? Can curriculum be designed to find and nurture students with gifted potential from underrepresented populations? Can basic skills be strengthened so that such students can interact, compete, and work with other gifted learners? Young Scholars (YS) is a K-8 model that addresses these issues for low economic and minority learners(www.fcps.edu/DIS/gt/school.htm#anchor-ysi). The initial goal of the YS model is two pronged: (1) to identify giftedness in children with diverse cultural, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds as early as possible; and (2) to nurture, guide, and support exceptional potential so that students are prepared for increasingly higher levels of challenge. The long-term goal for Young Scholars is that they participate and succeed in Honors, Advanced Placement, and International Baccalaureate programs in middle and high school. The authors talk about the Young Scholars Program in Fairfax County Public Schools and how the program was successfully developed to address the needs of diverse learners. Comments from students, teachers and principals regarding the YS program are presented.