Founded in 1999 by a small group of professors of Montgomery College, Rockville Campus, the Montgomery Scholars Program was intended not only to provide an honors education for students but also to be nurturing and intellectually stimulating, a program that would bring together disciplines normally kept separate, particularly within the humanities. With a freshman core curriculum and a sophomore Capstone research project, the objective of the experience is to encourage students to think critically and to be able to examine cultures and worldly concepts intellectually while still allowing them to work on their on majors of study.
The program continues to grow and change with the aim of improving the academic experience for the students; further, some adjustments have been necessary owing to lack of support. While the program kept its Capstone topic on "Globalization and Migration" for the classes of 2003 and 2004, it later changed to "Technology and the Face of the Future", subsequently reverting to the original theme. Since 2005, the addition of International Relations within the sophomore year of the program has expanded and further assisted the Scholars in their understanding of globalization. In the same year, Art History was substituted with World Music in the freshman core curriculum. Whether or not these change to the core curriculum are permanent is currently unknown.
Beginning with the Class of 2008, an honor code was instituted that scholars pledged to with their signature. It reads:
"I, (Scholar's Name), hereby acknowledge that I am a Montgomery Scholar, Class of (Year) and as such am part of the Montgomery Scholars learning community and the Montgomery College student body. I fully realize the expectations of attendance, academic integrity and honesty inherent in my position as a Montgomery Scholar and as a Montgomery College student. I agree to adhere to those expectations, always to complete my college assignments with honesty and integrity, to be considerate of my fellow scholars and students, and to abide by the College regulations, as stated in the Student Code of Conduct."
Seeing the almost fully funded study abroad of the Montgomery Scholars Program, other campuses have followed in seeking such an opportunity for their own students. Shortly after the establishment of the Montgomery Scholars, for instance, Germantown campus founded the Millennium Scholars Program.