Fifth Annual Founders Day Celebrates Kent Place’s Legacy and Ongoing Impact

It was a car line like no other early Wednesday morning. Banners, balloons, music, and boisterous greetings from students, teachers, and administrators brightened the dreary March air. Chumley the Dragon doled out generous high fives, while her smaller counterpart — a first grader dressed as “mini Chumley” — jived for Primary Students. Custom KPS sticker sheets were distributed to students; white and green color-changing stadium cups were passed to parents in their cars. 

Why all the enthusiasm and pageantry? 

Kent Place reached a milestone, celebrating its fifth Founders Day, the school’s annual day of giving. 
Thanks to the conviction of a group of six visionary families, who felt their daughters should have access to the same educational opportunities as boys, what began as a schoolhouse for 60 in 1894 has blossomed today into a vibrant campus of more than 650 girls and over 180 faculty and staff.  

To be sure, the revelry and outpouring of support from across the school community did not merely mark Kent Place’s achievements over the last century and a third. They reinforced a collective commitment to all the exciting work and accomplishments that lie ahead. As Director of Annual Giving Anna Fisher explains, it is this very act of collective giving that makes Founders Day so special. 

“Because on Founders Day the entire community unites to honor the school’s past and contribute to its future, participation — not size — is what matters most,” she says. “Every gift is valued.” 

All Founders Day gifts directly support the Kent Place Fund, the school’s annual unrestricted fund that supports immediate student and faculty needs as well as its signature programs, like the Ethics Institute and the Girls’ Leadership Institute.

While the day is rooted in Kent Place history, commemorating the founding of an institution that has made it possible for generations of women to achieve and thrive, it is also an opportunity for current students to observe their place in the life and legacy of the school. 

Now in its second year, the Upper School Founders Day Student Committee planned, starred in, and helped to produce a Founders Day video, which launched on the school’s social media channels on Wednesday. The committee also oversaw a friendly poster contest, in which each Upper School advisory created a unique Founders Day sign. Paraded about during the morning car line, the posters were then brought to the Primary School, where Kindergartners voted on their favorite. The winning advisory — Upper School science teacher Luis Largo’s advisory — earned a Dunkin’ Donuts breakfast. 

Below, a few other highlights from the day:

In just 24 hours . . . 

• More than $625,000 was raised in one day
• $125,000 was unlocked through two challenge gifts
• Over 1,100 donations were received
• 100 percent Board of Trustees participation

Other fun facts . . .

• Reaching the highest participation level in their division, Grades 8, 9, and Kindergarten won an ice cream social. 
• Encouraging participation among young alumnae, donors in classes 2008–2023 were automatically entered into a special raffle. Morgan Hoit Pager ’12 nabbed the prize: a cozy sherpa blanket and hat set. 
• Another effort spearheaded by the Founders Day Student Committee: Upper Schoolers penned hand-written thank-you cards for the day’s gift-givers. 

The support of our community ensures that Kent Place remains as vibrant and vital today as it was at its founding — thank you!