McLean Connection

An alumna’s desire to support the mission of her McLean, Va. school without seeking personal recognition is the key motivator behind her $60 million donation. “This is the largest gift given to an independent girls' school ever. So historical,” said Christina Kyong, head of The Madeira School, on Jan. 14 in an interview with The Connection.

Kyong, eleventh head of The Madeira School, said the donation's impact will empower future student generations. The all-girls independent school received the anonymous and landmark gift in earlier in January. 

Kyong said that the donor wished for the gift to garner more attention than the donor’s identity. The alumna’s gift was made to give back to the school that shaped her. Madeira "impacted her life" through "great education" and "great experiences."

Kyong said the donation is structured with a five-year restriction on spending the funds, thereby giving Madeira's leadership time to "thoughtfully determine" how to maximize the impact of "the transformative gift" in alignment with its strategic priorities. She added that Madeira will place the funds in an endowment.

Kyong emphasized that Madeira adheres to the principle of "Festina lente," which in Latin translates to "make haste slowly.” The donor "definitely modeled that in her gift," said Kyong.

The donor wants the school “to take time and space to be able to name what we want to do in the future." Kyong said they would take the time to name their strategic priorities and see what to do next.

At the school’s community meeting on Jan. 14, where students and faculty staff routinely gather, Kyong said she told them about the historic donation. "It was welcomed with lots of cheering and lots of congratulations from students, faculty, and staff," Kyong said.

"The reaction really brought many of us to tears, because, moments like this, we just don't know what to expect in terms of how much the students might understand the impact of such a great gift. But they really understood it, and they celebrated in the right ways. It was amazing. It was a great community moment," Kyong said.

Kyong emphasized the donor had similar experiences and felt strongly about her connection to the school. They tried “very hard to remind students that the alum stood in their shoes at some point.” It made sense for the students to hear previous people in the school — parents, alum, and others — contribute to the student's experience now. Kyong told the students that the donor "felt very strongly about her experience and the love she had for the school" and "the connections she's maintained throughout her life."

"None of us in the room were here when this wonderful person was at the school," Kyong told the students and staff. 

"She walked in the library, she walked in the hall,  she walked over the grounds they are walking on now.” 

Kyong said that helped the student understand that the donor was someone who “had such a love for Madeira that she really wanted to make sure and guarantee that that experience that she had would be guaranteed for generations to come."

Established in 1906 and originally located on 19th Street near Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., the school moved to McLean in 1931. The Madeira School is a day and boarding college-preparatory school for girls, grades 9 through 12 located on a 376-acre campus.