An Unwavering Commitment
Dear Friends,
What does it mean to shape the future today? As supporters of Miss Porter’s School, it means being deeply committed to ensuring that each new generation of students from all backgrounds are able to access and enjoy the distinctive educational experience afforded by MPS. It means connecting with students by providing an internship opportunity or reinforcing team collaboration for the love of the game. It means faculty joining one another in cross-disciplinary, hands-on projects that help students explore new ideas as part of their academic journey. It means supporting and preserving the operating budget today, so that the school community can continue to thrive. It means gifts of all sizes and engaged volunteers that strengthen the school’s legacy of empowering diverse leaders.
In June, we celebrated a beautiful commencement for the Class of 2022 and welcomed them as the newest Ancients. They were reminded of the impact their Porter’s education will have on their future and therefore, the larger world around them, and that their ties to MPS will serve as its foundation. As Ancients, we feel a deep sense of pride in their accomplishments as they are exceptionally prepared and poised to take on the next part of their journey. Each new Ancient can engage and collaborate with others on issues of consequence, bringing creativity, imagination and resilience to the process – exactly as those who remain in Farmington are ready to welcome another year at MPS.
Your generosity and dedication allows Miss Porter’s to be a community that supports each student as they strive to shape our changing world. This report highlights just how your unwavering support for MPS students can lead to an enduring and purposeful engagement with the world.
Sharifah Holder ’06 Co-President, Alumnae Board
Cover photos by Stephen Wang (student life & academics) and Jon Olson (graduation)
Investing in Future Leaders
From the time they arrive on the Farmington campus, Miss Porter’s School students are expected to make a difference in shaping the world. Your gift is what makes the difference in theirs.
Because of your generous support, an MPS education develops the skills necessary for students to take the next steps – confidence, motivation, interpersonal skills, cross-cultural competencies, a growth mindset and curiosity. They will need all of these because the world needs all of them – and your committed support makes it possible!
This year, we welcomed 82 new Ancients from the Class of 2022 at a commencement celebration as unique as the students themselves. These amazing students have weathered many challenges due to COVID-19, and through it all, they demonstrated their resilience, devotion to each other, and love of school. As a foundation of their legacy and philanthropy, the senior class gift was designated to making the Barbara Lang Hacker ’29 Theater accessible to those with hearing impairments and to enhance the sound system in the Weyerhaeuser Amphitheater.
Ancient Shakira Ramos Crespo ’98 provided an engaging commencement address at this first “normal” (gratefully!) ceremony since COVID-19 arrived two years ago.
How Your Investment Fuels the Future Today
$2.5M in gifts to the Annual Fund went towards the school’s ongoing operations and highest priorities. These gifts help MPS remain focused on the innovation necessary to reimagine the student experience.
$46,496 Of this amount:
in gifts was designated by you for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, helping to support student activities like all community sit-down dinners planned by student alliances and affinities.
$571,142
$451,970 in current use scholarships made it possible for students to pursue their education and chart their own futures.
in gifts for our endowment, representing an investment in future generations of MPS students and the long-term financial health of the School.
Investing in our Campus: Donors supported the renovation of the enhanced student space, which was renamed the Dr. Glenda Newell-Harris ‘71 Student Center in October 2021 to honor the first Black student to enroll at Miss Porter’s School.
PhotobyJonOlson
Photo by Jon Olson
Empowering Life-Long Learning
Your advocacy every year enables Miss Porter’s School to continue as a trailblazer in girls’ education - partnering tradition with innovation. Our proven ability to develop strong leaders has been replicated decade after decade with unquestionable outcomes. That’s why families choose MPS.
Your contributions impact every aspect of the Porter’s experience –including supporting an innovative curriculum that bolsters the academic, arts, athletic and student life programs that make MPS so distinctive. Here is a small selection of the recent activities made possible by your generosity this year:
Innovation that Reimagines the Student Experience
Your gifts ensured that our teachers continue to transform the secondary school approach to learning and assess student growth through authentic tasks and projects.
“At MPS, we support a mastery approach to learning and we have enhanced our work in this approach in several ways this past year. With the use of clear and specific standards for each discipline, teachers and students have been able to better measure and track student growth over time. Our faculty devoted professional development time to learning how to apply metacognitive practices in their classrooms and they have been working to redesign courses and assessments to align with our mastery learning philosophy. This past June, over 25 teachers had the opportunity to collaboratively develop mastery-based approaches to curriculum design for new and current classes. We are excited to see how much students will enjoy these learning experiences when we are back in the fall!”
–NELLE ANDREWS P’22, DEAN OF CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION
Many Gifts, One Mission
BY THE NUMBERS
335
total enrollment from 24 U.S. states and 26 countries 153 faculty & staff
Excelling in Sports
Gifts to MPS help our student athletes excel on the field of competition as well as in the classroom. This past year, Varsity Soccer won their third Founder’s League Championship in a row and Swimming and Diving won their third DII New England Championship in a row.
Honing their Craft
With your support, our faculty sought out many professional development opportunities last year bringing their love of learning back to the classroom.
Building Global Changemakers.
Your unrestricted gifts to the Annual Fund ensured that Interdisciplinary Institutes such as TIE (Technology, Innovation & Entrepreneurship) and the Institute for Global Education continue to offer opportunities to students to expand their horizons. In 2022, 11th graders traveled to Puerto Rico to learn about the world outside of Farmington.
PhotobyStephenWang
A POWERFUL NETWORK
At Farmington, engaged alumnae are a given – and we are so very grateful for you. Our global network of Ancients shares their time, insight and resources – making it one powerful alumnae network: 5,689 Ancients strong!
Trying Things Out in Real Time with Real Work.
Providing the gift of a highimpact experience, Ancients and parents hosted student interns this year, in a range of fields, fueling their personal growth.
Total # of volunteers encompassing the following categories:
Students interned virtually at Quittner, a design practice, restoration studio and retail store in Germantown, NY,
And at Pasito, which saves companies and employees money on health premiums and payroll.
Together, We Are Shaping the Future
“Working with the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Committee and facilitating sessions for Ancients has been both rewarding and illuminating. I’ve learned so much more about this community that I’m grateful to be a part of, and have connected with Ancients from many different generations of MPS who all bring different life experiences and their own wisdoms.”
–MAIRI POISSON ’12
“ Miss Porter’s has made admirable headway in addressing the systemic issues that have long divided persons of different backgrounds in this modern age and so has remained true to the school motto of ‘shaping a changing world.’ My experience hosting one session of the successful What’s In a Name Series showed that Ancients are ready and willing to do the work needed to positively shape not only the MPS environment but, in so doing, society at large. I look forward to what is to come.”
–DANIELLE BENJAMIN ’00
“One of the things we love most about Porter’s is the rich sense of tradition. It was important to us as new parents to make a gift to embrace the tradition of philanthropy, show our gratitude for our daughter’s experience, and ensure that Miss Porter’s School is able to innovate for the future.”
–LORI AND PHILIP GORDILLO, P’25
“ I give every year out of gratitude for the emboldening international opportunities the school provides. Porter’s opened the world to me, and I want every student to benefit from that global education.”
–MAURA MCQUADE CLINE ’11
Over time, the long-term growth of the endowment can be attributed to strong market returns coupled with gifts from donors. Philanthropic gifts have been a significant contributor to the total value of the endowment. We are grateful to all for supporting the students, faculty, staff and the Farmington campus ensuring that generations of curious learners will be prepared to respond to the changing world.
Academics & Faculty/ Staff Salaries
Scholarships
Student Activities & Campus Operations
Campus Buildings & Grounds
Endowment market value as of June 30, 2022: $142,282,000
Total cash giving to all priorities
$7,274,094 1,951 Total # of donors 25% % participation from Ancients
115 # of donors to the Dr. Glenda Newell-Harris ‘71 Student Center