Note from the Head

October 15, 2021

 

Dear Friends,

Today we formally and publicly launch The Campaign for Landon, a $50 million capital campaign that has been moving along in the background and that already includes from Katie and Todd Boehly '91, the largest gift in the school’s history.  This campaign will support what I regard as transformative and necessary investments in our campus, in our program, in the work of our faculty and our boys, and ultimately in our school’s future. 

By way of background, our Board launched a strategic planning effort in 2016, yielding a plan that has served as the road map for many big picture initiatives over recent years.  One of those initiatives has been the goal to, “Renovate, revitalize, and preserve our exceptional buildings and grounds to support current and future program needs.”  In support of that goal, we developed a few years back, in conjunction with input from the community, a comprehensive campus master plan, led by the school architectural firm cox graae + spack.  That has, in turn, required zoning approval before it could move forward, an effort which has taken the last two and half years. I am very happy to announce that Montgomery County formally approved the plan, concluding that extensive zoning process.  Which means, we now can begin in earnest. 

This project will bring together all the boys and faculty around a central academic courtyard in the northeastern portion of campus, in the process actually realizing the vision of the original campus planner and architect, Horace Peaslee, who drafted plans for the campus back in the 1930’s.  In this we further promote the connections and relationships for and among our students and full faculty, while still preserving separate spaces to serve our different Divisions.

These are bold plans and we have an aggressive schedule for them, hoping to have all or most of this done in time for the 23-24 school year. But for all this to happen -- for all of this to be successful -- we need your help.  We need the support of and investment from everyone at Landon to make this a reality.  Now is our time and our turn to steward this beautiful campus, where we benefit daily from facilities and spaces made possible by the creativity and support of previous Landon generations.  We hope you will say yes to our request to invest in both the today and tomorrow of our school, whether through generous support of these transformational building plans, through ongoing donations to our annual fund, or through gifts to grow our endowment.

Landon is a unique place.  There are very few schools in the country that can boast of a similar combination of traits, with our focus on the development of boys and appreciation for the gifts they bring to the table; our demanding academic program; our promotion of character, ethics, and community; our offering of a multidimensional and rich co-curricular athletics and arts programs; or our proud network of committed alumni and families.  Our boys are so fortunate to be a part of this place with all that it offers; let us answer the call to ensure that Bears in the near and not so near future might benefit that much more from a campus environment improved by our efforts today, as we work to continue to develop men of character who will make a positive difference in the world around them. 

Go Bears,

Jim Neill P'24
Head of School