For Porcha Dodson, It All Began at Hill
Luvuyo Madasa, Porcha Dodson and rapper Big Sean, who helps support Project Knapsack.
Students in Johannesburg, South Africa were Project Knapsack beneficiaries.
By Leonard Shapiro
W
hen Porcha Dodson looks back at her early life and education, there’s no doubt in her mind about the one place that made all the difference in helping to form the confident, productive and philanthropic woman she’s become. That would be Middleburg’s Hill School, where Dodson was enrolled in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades, one of a handful of African American students in attendance 30 years ago and a smart, talented and beloved member of the Hill community back then and still now. “Of all the schools I’ve ever been to, Hill was the best,” she said recently. “It was rigorous educationally, something I really hadn’t been exposed to before I got there. And I made so many friends there, friends for life—teachers and students.” One of them was Tom Northrup, the long-time head of school while she was a student, and a great friend to this day. “As one of the few African-Americans, my mom was a little concerned about that,” she said. “And he handled me with such love and care. Everyone there was so good to me, made me feel like I’d been there since kindergarten. And he continues to be a mentor. I always consult with him first on any big decisions. It’s one of the reasons I came back to Middleburg. So many people had invested in me as a young adult, and it’s something you never forget.” Said Northrup, “I’ve known Porcha since the early 1990s when she enrolled as a middle school student at Hill. It’s been inspiring for me to observe her growth as a young woman who has become a
citizen of the world….Perhaps what I admire most about Porcha is her generous heart; she accepts, respects, and tries to understand everyone. She’s a bridge-builder. We need more people to learn from and follow her example.” Dodson graduated from Loudoun County High School in 1997, then earned a degree at the Shenandoah University Music Conservatory with a double major in vocal performance (she sang opera) and arts management. At age 23, she went west to Los Angeles to pursue what she thought might even be a career in acting or singing and stayed there for twenty years. While it did not work out on the performance front, that arts management major clearly paid off. Needing a job, Dodson initially started as a teaching assistant at LA’s Curtis School, a kindergarten through sixth grade independent school on Mulholland Drive that attracted an upscale clientele. She ended up as a fundraiser and head of diversity and inclusion there, then spent ten years doing more of the same for UCLA’s Department of Neurosurgery. While at Curtis, she implemented another principal she said first became ingrained at Hill— the importance of giving back. With the legal and financial help from several school families, she formed a nonprofit charity called “Project Knapsack” that sends knapsacks filled with school supplies to students in a half dozen African nations, along with a significant pen pal component. One of her friends at Shenandoah, Jamal Atkins, was also a good friend of Luvuyo Madasa, the great-grandson of iconic South African leader Nelson Mandela. Both young men were enamored
with basketball, and Jamal moved to Africa to help advance the sport. Luvuyo also became involved with Project Knapsack, and since its formation in 2008, more than 40,000 have been distributed in the United States and throughout the continent of Africa. The Mandela connection also has led to Dodson being a co-producer for Mandela, a musical based on Nelson Mandela’s life that is scheduled to debut on Broadway in 2025. The production debuted at the Young Vic in London in late December of 2022. She was a major fundraising force in helping finance the project, and these days she’s also doing the same line of work at Episcopal High School in Alexandria. A Hill School connection helped her get that job when she moved back to Middleburg in 2020. When Dodson applied for a job at Episcopal, she noticed the name DeButts on the staff directory. She asked her friend, Dorsey DeButts, a long-time Hill administrator, if she happened to know him. Turned out it was Dorsey’s uncle, and after a few kind words on her behalf, Dodson got the job. She’s now the school’s associate director of annual giving and parent programs. Porcha was raised by her grandparents, Roger and Frances Dodson. Her late and beloved grandfather, Roger Dodson, was a well-known horseman and widely-admired 40-year plus employee of the late Maggie Bryant. Dodson also has great regard for her, adding that, “I would not be where I am today without her.” And the future? “I’d love to win a Tony Award for Mandela,” she said. Why not? For this force of nature, the possibilities have always been endless.
Country ZEST & Style | Winter 2024
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