The Madeira School
Encyclopedia
The Madeira School is a private
, non-denominational preparatory
boarding school
for girls located in McLean, Virginia
, United States
. Originally located on 19th Street near Dupont Circle
in Washington, D.C.
, it was founded by Lucy Madeira Wing (1873-1959) in 1906 and moved to the Northern Virginia
suburb of McLean
in 1931. Famous graduates include Stockard Channing
, Penny Chenery
, Katharine Graham
, Frances Sternhagen
, and Alice Rivlin
. It is also the location of Camp Greenway during the summer and portions of the campus are used by the outdoor adventure company Inner Quest.
Annual tuition
is $46,160 for boarding students and $35,050 for day students. Tuition does not include additional fees charged by the school for athletics, books, and other expenses. Madeira's endowment
is approximately $55 million.
gave a lecture and held informal discussion with the students. This initiated the Skallerup lecture series. In 1973 a Madeira student was murdered on campus and Stephen Gilreath was convicted of the murder. In 1975 the new science building was completed and Nobel Prize winner James D. Watson
spoke at the dedication. In 1980 the then Head Mistress Jean Harris
was arrested for the murder of Dr. Herman Tarnower
.
("make haste slowly," attributed originally to Augustus Caesar).
(McLean, Virginia) and consists of 34 separate buildings.
In addition to being one of the school's most popular meeting places on campus, the library is also home to one of the school's computer labs, classrooms, and seminar rooms. There are PCs for student access, as well as a wireless network in the building allowing students with laptops to use the School's network from tables and study carrels throughout the facility.
Madeira's equestrian facilities include Gaines Hall, a 100' by 200' indoor ring, two outdoor rings with sand footing, bridle trails, and a variety of cross-country obstacles. The stable can house 47 horses. Students may bring and board their own horses or ride one of Madeira's horses.
government attempted to obtain from Madeira an easement
near the Potomac River to permit the completion of a 100 miles (160.9 km) loop of walking trails as a condition of approval for the school's proposed expansion plans. This one-mile (1.6 km)-long trail section through Madeira's property would connect the county's Scott's Run Park to Great Falls National Park
. The Madeira School declined this easement, citing concerns about safety and environmental impacts.
There are approximately 170 members of Madeira's administration, faculty, and staff. The student-to-teacher ratio is approximately 6:1.
Private school
Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...
, non-denominational preparatory
University-preparatory school
A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education...
boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
for girls located in McLean, Virginia
McLean, Virginia
McLean is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. The community had a total population of 48,115 as of the 2010 census....
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Originally located on 19th Street near Dupont Circle
Dupont Circle
Dupont Circle is a traffic circle, park, neighborhood, and historic district in Northwest Washington, D.C. The traffic circle is located at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue NW, Connecticut Avenue NW, New Hampshire Avenue NW, P Street NW, and 19th Street NW...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, it was founded by Lucy Madeira Wing (1873-1959) in 1906 and moved to the Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia consists of several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in a widespread region generally radiating southerly and westward from Washington, D.C...
suburb of McLean
McLean, Virginia
McLean is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. The community had a total population of 48,115 as of the 2010 census....
in 1931. Famous graduates include Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing is an American stage, film and television actress. She is known for her portrayal of First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series The West Wing; for playing Betty Rizzo in the film Grease; and for her role as Ouisa Kittredge in the play Six Degrees of Separation and its...
, Penny Chenery
Penny Chenery
Helen Bates "Penny" Chenery Tweedy is an American sportswoman who bred and raced Secretariat, the 1973 winner of the Triple Crown...
, Katharine Graham
Katharine Graham
Katharine Meyer Graham was an American publisher. She led her family's newspaper, The Washington Post, for more than two decades, overseeing its most famous period, the Watergate coverage that eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon...
, Frances Sternhagen
Frances Sternhagen
Frances Hussey Sternhagen is an American actress. Sternhagen has appeared on and off Broadway, in movies, and on TV since the 1950s.-Personal life:...
, and Alice Rivlin
Alice Rivlin
Alice Mitchell Rivlin is an economist, a former U.S. Cabinet official, and an expert on the budget. She has served as the Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, and the first Director of the Congressional Budget Office...
. It is also the location of Camp Greenway during the summer and portions of the campus are used by the outdoor adventure company Inner Quest.
Annual tuition
Tuition
Tuition payments, known primarily as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in British English, Canadian English, Australian English, New Zealand English and Indian English, refers to a fee charged for educational instruction during higher education.Tuition payments are charged by...
is $46,160 for boarding students and $35,050 for day students. Tuition does not include additional fees charged by the school for athletics, books, and other expenses. Madeira's endowment
Financial endowment
A financial endowment is a transfer of money or property donated to an institution. The total value of an institution's investments is often referred to as the institution's endowment and is typically organized as a public charity, private foundation, or trust....
is approximately $55 million.
About Madeira
Brief History
The Madeira School has had a proud though sometimes troubled history. In 1918 Madeira was quarantined during the Spanish Flu and, like many schools, closed for a month. The students raised money for hospitals and the Armenian Fund. In 1929 the school was incorporated and plans for the Greenway campus began and in 1931 the new campus opened. In 1966 the first two African American women students were admitted to the school and the same year the co-curriculum program began. In 1967 Langston HughesLangston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...
gave a lecture and held informal discussion with the students. This initiated the Skallerup lecture series. In 1973 a Madeira student was murdered on campus and Stephen Gilreath was convicted of the murder. In 1975 the new science building was completed and Nobel Prize winner James D. Watson
James D. Watson
James Dewey Watson is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist, best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA in 1953 with Francis Crick...
spoke at the dedication. In 1980 the then Head Mistress Jean Harris
Jean Harris
Jean Harris was the headmistress of The Madeira School for girls in McLean, Virginia who made national news in 1980 as the defendant in a high-profile murder case of her lover Dr...
was arrested for the murder of Dr. Herman Tarnower
Herman Tarnower
Herman Tarnower was a cardiologist and the author of the bestselling diet book The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet...
.
Student body
The Madeira School teaches grades 9–12. Each grade has approximately 75 students. The average class size is approximately 12 students. 54% of the students board on campus. International students are also represented on campus and make up 13% of the campus population. Financial aid is offered to students who meet the guidelines and 21% of student receive Madeira financial assistance.Co-curriculum program
The Madeira School requires students to participate in a unique internship program, called the Co-Curriculum Program. Instead of attending regular classes on Wednesdays, the students do the following: Freshmen attend classes on study skills and participate in Outdoor Adventure programs like canoeing, kayaking, and rappelling. Sophomores choose a community service placement, often at a soup kitchen, childcare facility, or hospital. Juniors work as aides to Congressmen and Senators on Capitol Hill. Seniors pursue an internship in the field of their choice.Motto, colors, and mascot
The Madeira School's motto is festina lenteFestina lente
Festina lente or σπεῦδε βραδέως is a classical adage and oxymoron meaning "make haste slowly" or "more haste, less speed"...
("make haste slowly," attributed originally to Augustus Caesar).
- Madeira's colors are redRedRed is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...
and whiteWhiteWhite is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be...
.
- Madeira's mascotMascotThe term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
is the SnailSnailSnail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
.
Notable Alumnae
- Katherine Graham
- Francis Sternhagen
- Alice RivlinAlice RivlinAlice Mitchell Rivlin is an economist, a former U.S. Cabinet official, and an expert on the budget. She has served as the Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, and the first Director of the Congressional Budget Office...
- Stockard ChanningStockard ChanningStockard Channing is an American stage, film and television actress. She is known for her portrayal of First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series The West Wing; for playing Betty Rizzo in the film Grease; and for her role as Ouisa Kittredge in the play Six Degrees of Separation and its...
- Brooke AstorBrooke AstorRoberta Brooke Astor was an American philanthropist and socialite who was the chairwoman of the Vincent Astor Foundation, which had been established by her third husband, Vincent Astor, son of John Jacob Astor IV and great-great grandson of America's first multi-millionaire, John Jacob...
- Penny CheneryPenny CheneryHelen Bates "Penny" Chenery Tweedy is an American sportswoman who bred and raced Secretariat, the 1973 winner of the Triple Crown...
Campus and facilities
The Madeira School's campus is on 376 acres (1.5 km²) overlooking the Potomac RiverPotomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
(McLean, Virginia) and consists of 34 separate buildings.
Huffington Library
Madeira's Huffington Library collection consists of approximately 23,500 items that includes videos, DVDs, CDs, audiocassettes, microforms, vertical file material and circulating audio-visual equipment.In addition to being one of the school's most popular meeting places on campus, the library is also home to one of the school's computer labs, classrooms, and seminar rooms. There are PCs for student access, as well as a wireless network in the building allowing students with laptops to use the School's network from tables and study carrels throughout the facility.
Hurd Sports Center and Gaines Hall
The Hurd Sports Center was opened in September 1992. This facility includes a gym (side-by-side volleyball courts and a basketball court), weight room, pilates gym, competitive swimming pool, dance studio, locker rooms, athletic training room, and offices for the teaching and coaching staff. Outdoor facilities include three full-size playing fields, eight tennis courts, and cross country trails.Madeira's equestrian facilities include Gaines Hall, a 100' by 200' indoor ring, two outdoor rings with sand footing, bridle trails, and a variety of cross-country obstacles. The stable can house 47 horses. Students may bring and board their own horses or ride one of Madeira's horses.
Chapel/Auditorium
Madeira's performance facilities are housed in a complex called the Chapel/Auditorium. Working spaces include a 590-seat proscenium arch theater with a covered orchestra pit, an art gallery, a scene shop, a prop shop, a costume loft, a dance studio with a wooden sprung floor, choral and chamber orchestra rehearsal spaces, two classrooms, and three piano practice rooms.Academic facilities
Academic facilities include the Science Building, Main, Schoolhouse, the new Schoolhouse II, and the new Student Center (including dining hall, school store, offices, and meeting rooms). Attached to the Student Center is the art building.Dormitories and faculty housing
Madeira has six dormitories (named North, South, East, West, Main, and New) and an infirmary. There are several facilities for faculty housing including "The Land" and "The Beeches."Public access
The Madeira school has had a many disputes over the use of its land. In 1966 Fairfax County proposed the turning of 208 of Madeira's privately owned 376 acres (1.5 km²) into public park land. In 1991 Madeira gave a trail easement along Georgetown Pike, as well as $89,000 for that trail construction to complete the Potomac Heritage Route without visitors entering the main area of the campus. However, this trail was never completed by the park officials. In 2008, the Fairfax CountyFairfax County, Virginia
Fairfax County is a county in Virginia, in the United States. Per the 2010 Census, the population of the county is 1,081,726, making it the most populous jurisdiction in the Commonwealth of Virginia, with 13.5% of Virginia's population...
government attempted to obtain from Madeira an easement
Easement
An easement is a certain right to use the real property of another without possessing it.Easements are helpful for providing pathways across two or more pieces of property or allowing an individual to fish in a privately owned pond...
near the Potomac River to permit the completion of a 100 miles (160.9 km) loop of walking trails as a condition of approval for the school's proposed expansion plans. This one-mile (1.6 km)-long trail section through Madeira's property would connect the county's Scott's Run Park to Great Falls National Park
Great Falls Park
Great Falls Park is a small National Park Service site in Virginia, United States. Situated on 800 acres along the banks of the Potomac River in northern Fairfax County, the park is a disconnected but integral part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway...
. The Madeira School declined this easement, citing concerns about safety and environmental impacts.
Administration, faculty, and staff
The Madeira School is controlled by a board of directors, and the school is administered by a Head of School. The school celebrated the installation of new Head of School, Pilar Cabeza de Vaca, on Saturday, September 25, 2010. Ms. Cabeza de Vaca has previously led schools in Paris, France and Quito, Equador.There are approximately 170 members of Madeira's administration, faculty, and staff. The student-to-teacher ratio is approximately 6:1.
Former heads of school
- (1906-1957) Lucy Madeira Wing
- (1957-1962) Allegra Maynard
- (1962-1964) Marian W. Smith
- (1964-1965) Allegra Maynard
- (1965-1977) M. Barbara Keyser
- (1977-1980) Jean Struven HarrisJean HarrisJean Harris was the headmistress of The Madeira School for girls in McLean, Virginia who made national news in 1980 as the defendant in a high-profile murder case of her lover Dr...
- (1980-1981) Kathleen Galvin Johnson '53
- (1981-1988) Charles McKinley Saltzman II
- (1988-2010) Elisabeth Griffith, Ph.D.