E P IS C OPA L HIG H S C HOOL
Philanthropy allows us to take full advantage of our proximity to Washington, D.C. In my four years here, I’ve been to the Supreme Court, nearly every Smithsonian museum, open mics to share poetry, and restaurants from every culture.” CHARLES FISCHER ’26
Annual Report | 2025-26
To the Episcopal High School Family: As we look back this fall on all that was accomplished by our students, faculty, and staff last year, I cannot help but feel a tremendous sense of gratitude and appreciation for all in our School family whose generosity and dedication to Episcopal made that very special year possible. In his start-of-the-year remarks, this year’s Head Monitor, Sawyer Locke ’27, reminded our community that all of us on The Holy Hill stand on the shoulders of giants and now take our place carrying the torch to uphold our nearly two-hundred-year-old core values of honor, trust, respect, rigor in pursuit of excellence, and service. While listening, I was thinking about how we, too, benefited greatly from the support and guidance of our alumni, parents, and many friends this past year. The very special nature of our 2025-26 school year began with the remarkable leadership of our senior class as they focused on school spirit, supporting younger students, and strengthening community. The fabulous resources from our Courage Campaign continued to bolster strength of community in critical ways. Enhanced financial aid endowments supported a larger-thannormal alumni legacy admissions cohort as well as terrific families new to Episcopal. New faculty and staff endowment resources strengthened compensation and professional development opportunities. New capital gifts to the School also transformed the beauty of our campus with Julian’s Garden, renovated spaces in several dorms, enhanced the interior of Hoxton House and Laird Dining Hall, and fueled a host of essential improvements. Throughout the year, the loyalty and dedication of our school family was inspiring to witness. Please know that we are forever grateful for all that you do to make the magic on The Holy Hill possible. Sincerely,
Charles M. Stillwell P’18
Head of School
OPER ATING RE VENUE AND E XPENSES 2025-26 REVENUE
EXPENSES
TUITION $33,133,863 (60%)
SALARY AND BENEFITS $23,759,565 (43%)
CONTRACT SERVICES $3,831,835 (7%)
ENDOWMENT DRAW $7,786,000 (14%)
FINANCIAL AID $8,863,342 (16%)
DEBT SERVICE $2,486,125 (5%)
FOUNDATION SUPPORT $6,966,976 (13%)
GENERAL INSTITUTIONAL $7,316,249 (13%)
INSTRUCTIONAL $2,463,878 (5%)
ROLL CALL GIFTS $4,007,617 (7%)
PLANT AND UTILITIES $4,091,793 (7%)
CAPITAL EXPENDITURES $1,992,216 (4%)
AUXILIARY & OTHER INCOME $3,283,875 (6%)
TOTAL REVENUE
$55,178,331
TOTAL EXPENSES
$54,805,003 1
From the Assistant Head for Advancement This spring, Valedictorian Nathaniel Familua ’26 reflected on the contradiction of commencement — a word we use to mark an ending, even though, as he pointed out, it derives from a Latin word meaning “to begin together.” For our students, togetherness is at the heart of the experience. The same is true of the larger Episcopal family. Alumni, parents, grandparents, and friends bring their own experiences and connections to the School and are united by a deep belief in its students, its mission, and its future. This year, more than 2,300 gifts to the Roll Call exceeded $4 million — an incredible milestone for Episcopal and 5% above our goal. An additional $4.4 million supported capital and endowment priorities, bringing total new philanthropic commitments for the year to more than $8.4 million. While these numbers are worth celebrating, what they make possible matters far more: extraordinary opportunities for our students to learn, explore, discover, compete, perform, and grow in a community that knows, supports, and challenges them. Nathaniel told his classmates: “We did not simply begin together, we became together.” I love that distinction. Episcopal, too, is always becoming, strengthened by each generation that calls The Holy Hill home. To all of you whose generosity and devotion make the Episcopal experience possible, thank you. It is a joy and a privilege to share your commitment to this remarkable school. GO HIGH SCHOOL!
Christina Maher Holt P’12 ’15 ’17
Assistant Head of School for Advancement
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SUMMARY OF GIF TS AND COMMITMENTS TO EHS 2025-26 CONTRIBUTIONS BY CONSTITUENT
CONTRIBUTIONS BY DESIGNATION
ALUMNI $8,552,206 (55%)
RESTRICTED ENDOWMENT $6,297,303 (40%)
CURRENT PARENTS $2,295,226 (15%)
UNRESTRICTED ENDOWMENT/CAPITAL $4,189,935 (27%)
FRIENDS, FACULTY, GRANDPARENTS, PARENTS OF ALUMNI $1,902,373 (12%)
ROLL CALL $4,007,617 (26%)
CORPORATIONS AND FOUNDATIONS $2,757,522 (18%)
RESTRICTED CAPITAL $1,012,472 (7%)
TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS
$15,507,327 3
Inspiring Excellence, Curiosity, and Academic Ambition:
The Impact of Leadership Giving in 2025-26 Episcopal’s future depends on those who believe in its mission and invest in the people, programs, and places that will carry it forward. During the 2025-26 school year, leadership gifts were directed to endowment funds supporting scholarships and faculty excellence, as well as capital projects supporting the vital stewardship, maintenance, and enhancement of our campus and facilities. We are deeply grateful to leadership donors. Their impact is immeasurable.
ENDOWMENT GIVING HIGHLIGHTS
CAPITAL GIVING HIGHLIGHTS
Leadership gifts to the endowment in the 2026 fiscal year will provide lasting support for timeless priorities, including:
Throughout the year, leadership donors also helped renew and enhance the spaces where Episcopal students live, learn, and gather, including:
Faculty Excellence. Contributions to faculty excellence funds will help Episcopal attract and retain exceptional educators by providing competitive compensation that recognizes their vital role in students’ academic growth and character development as teachers, advisors, coaches, and dorm parents.
Laird Dining Hall. New carpeting, paint, and lighting refreshed one of the most important and central gathering places on campus. Hoxton House. New hardwood floors and refurbished offices enhanced the functionality and preserved the historic character of the School’s most iconic building.
Centennial Hall. A new HVAC system, a massive Financial Aid. Gifts to endowed scholarship undertaking, significantly improved the comfort and funds enable us to welcome academically longstanding sustainability of this storied athletics facility. talented, passionately engaged students who Residential Life. might otherwise be Improvements to dormitories, TO OUR LEADERSHIP DONORS: unable to attend EHS, the Student Center in Stewart advancing our mission Gym, and faculty homes and enriching our strengthened the residential FOR INVESTING IN EPISCOPAL’S FUTURE. community. experience across the Hill.
THANK YOU
Your generosity strengthens the School today while creating an enduring legacy for generations to come.
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CAPITAL & ENDOWMENT DONORS:
177 GAVE:
$4,417,078
After serving on the Evans dorm duty team for many years, I saw firsthand how the newly renovated secondfloor kitchen deepened the sense of community on dorm. Preparing my signature French toast for 45 residents during a weekend duty may seem like a small gesture, but sharing a homemade meal — and having students join in the preparation — created an easy, natural way for everyone to gather, pitch in, and get to know one another. Those moments helped make Evans feel not simply like a dorm, but truly like home. ELLEN ALBERS ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF COLLEGE COUNSELING
My favorite quote of all time is: “There is a seat waiting for you at tables you’ve never even seen before.” Sincerely, because of you, and the Robert S. Cathcart III ’57 Scholarship Fund, I’ve grown to understand and believe in this statement. I’ve found my seat; whether in the dining hall with my friends, in the Chapel with the choir, in the classroom of my advisor, in the office chairs of the yearbook lab, or in the rigid wood ones of English office hours. I can never thank you enough for how much you and this opportunity have changed my life already.” EHS STUDENT ’28
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Roll Call It takes a village to raise a child, but how many teenagers are lucky enough to have a village so large, so deep, and so diverse as the students of Episcopal High School? When families choose EHS, they invite teachers, coaches, staff members, new friends, and even the families of new friends to join in shaping their children’s lives. They gain support from and connections to thousands of alumni, young and old, near and far, representing a mighty array of talents and experiences. This vast new village pours into each student with guidance, mentorship, friendship, encouragement, perspective, and shared responsibility. One way in which our community shares responsibility for current students is through our annual fund, the Roll Call. During the 2025-26 school year, 2,310 donors gave over $4 million in current-use donations, providing $8,781 per student. To our donors: thank you for answering the call and for continuing to be present in the life of the School. Every Roll Call gift is more than an investment; it is a way of telling both students and teachers, “we are here.”
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DURING THE 2025-26 SCHOOL YEAR ROLL CALL DONORS:
2,310 GAVE:
$4,007,617
A couple of years ago, an alum and board member generously supported the Fab Lab with a gift that allowed us to secure new equipment. With this funding, we purchased the latest 3D printers, enabling students to print with two types of plastic simultaneously — a key capability for prototyping new designs. We also added a resin printer, allowing students to produce designs with extremely tight tolerances, and a benchtop computer numerical control (CNC) machine, empowering students to explore subtractive modeling and Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM). DAVE COLLINS MATHEMATICS DEPARTMENT CHAIR
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THANK YOU, EHS FAMILIES! Sending your child to Episcopal is the ultimate gift, investment, and sacrifice. Year after year, we are so grateful for the trust and partnership of family members who give up precious time at home with their teenagers in order to let their students find new opportunities, challenges, and experiences at EHS. In the true spirit of Episcopal and service to others, families do not stop at investing in their own child. We are humbled to share that, together, 74% of current families gave over $1.161 million to the Roll Call during the 2025-26 school year. Every dollar helped enhance students’ experiences with academics, off-campus opportunities, athletics, arts, community, residential life, spiritual life, and more.
PARENTS OF CURRENT STUDENTS ROLL CALL GIVING AND PARTICIPATION
2026
2027
2028
2029
CLASS OF 2026 $420,158 (71%)
CLASS OF 2027 $274,889 (73%)
CLASS OF 2028 $382,813 (74%)
CLASS OF 2029 $407,813 (84%)
ALL CLASSES
$1,161,089 (74%) 8
Because of the support provided by the Farrell Scholarship, I am able to fully immerse myself in the opportunities Episcopal offers. Your generosity has eased the financial burden on my family and allowed me to challenge myself academically, pursue leadership roles, and grow into a more confident and reflective student. I am incredibly thankful for your support and for the lasting impact it has had on my education and future goals.” EHS STUDENT ’27
I am so grateful for the flex block support. Last year, we were able to take the entire 9th grade class to the Folger Shakespeare Theater to watch the performance of Julius X. Live theater before studying Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar? Yes, please! What a difference seeing the show makes, especially to those encountering the bard for the first time. In my American Protest class, students researched, planned, and pitched flex blocks to their peers, who voted on which one they wanted to attend. The support for flex blocks allowed the winning group to take the rest of the class on a guided walking tour in D.C., specifically tailored to our class topics and interests. Thank you for your gift to the Roll Call: you are directly supporting meaningful, enriching academic programming.” MOLLY PUGH ENGLISH DEPARTMENT CHAIR
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AN ALUMNI TR ADITION Every great institution is built on the strength of its collective community, and the Roll Call is proof that the true measure of our alumni network lies in our solidarity rather than individual wealth. With gifts ranging from just a few dollars to many thousands of dollars, alumni contributed $2,088,175 to the Roll Call during the 2025-26 school year. These contributions reflect the shared values of EHS alumni, who know that tuition alone does not cover the full cost of an Episcopal education. Every living alumnus and alumna has benefitted from the philanthropy of those who came before them, and it is a point of pride to pass this tradition forward.
As I experience different seasons of life, grow in my career, and become a dad, I continually recognize and rely on the foundational impact that Episcopal made in my life almost two decades ago. Through the generosity of Episcopal’s community, I was incredibly fortunate to attend The High School and thrive in its tight-knit, formative culture. I give to Episcopal each year to pay it forward, with the goal of assisting the next generation of students and aiding Episcopal’s leaders in delivering a high-quality experience. PEN AGNEW ’11
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DURING THE 2025-26 ROLL CALL, ALUMNI GAVE:
$2,088,175
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Callaway Loyalty Society CALLAWAY LOYALTY SOCIETY
THANK YOU CL ASS OF 2026!
honoring years of consecutive giving
A special shoutout goes to the Class of 2026: 123 brand new alumni who achieved 100% Roll Call participation during their senior gift effort.
ALL ALUMNI DONORS
1,712
My gift to Episcopal each year is how I recognize the tremendous impact the School had on my life. I don’t give much by many standards, but it is important to me that I give each year, as an annual homage to all that the School gave to me. The teachers opened my mind in ways I didn’t know were possible, the culture and values of the place helped me crystallize my personal beliefs, and the friends I made there remain my dearest friends in the world.”
CALLAWAY MEMBERS 1,075 (63%)
389
230
214
196
ALYSON BEHA ’98
5-9 YEARS
10-14 YEARS
15-19 YEARS
20 YEARS OR MORE
ADDITIONALLY, 46 OF OUR COLLEGE-AGED ALUMNI HAVE GIVEN EACH YEAR SINCE GRADUATION.
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Bell Society Planned gifts are an important source of future funding for teaching and learning. The Bell Society recognizes members of the EHS community who have chosen to provide a legacy to the School through wills, trusts, charitable gift annuities, life insurance policies, retirement account and donor-advised fund beneficiary designations, and other planned gifts.
6 NEW PLANNED GIFTS SECURED THIS YEAR WILL PROVIDE OVER
$1,000,000 IN CRITICAL FUTURE SUPPORT FOR EHS.
If you would like to learn more about including EHS in your estate plans, or have already done so, please contact Juliana Bush Gannon ’96, jgannon@episcopalhighschool.org.
Episcopal is a place whose default approach is empathy. My daughter came to EHS as a new sophomore after a disappointing freshman year at a different boarding school, and it was all she had hoped for. The DMV location provides a myriad of opportunities, the campus is beautiful, the faculty is outstanding, and the spiritual life is rich and welcoming. At this moment in time, students are navigating a polarized nation, the advent of AI as the defining technology of their lifetimes, and messaging all around them that achievement is the definition of success. At Episcopal, students, faculty, and staff from across the political spectrum live and learn together. The school’s approach to AI is rooted in the Honor Code and intellectual honesty, and — in Chapel, on dorm, on playing fields, and in classrooms — all students are seen and loved for who they are. I support Episcopal’s Roll Call and have included Episcopal in my estate plan to ensure that the magic of an EHS education remains accessible to all types of students.” LEONORA WILLIAMSON P’26
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2025-26 EHS Board of Trustees Sarah Akridge Knutson ’96 P’26 ’29, Chair of the Board Steven Lilly ’88 P’23 ’21, Vice-Chair of the Board
MEMBERS Lynn Alexander P’16 ’20 Zack H. Bacon III P’23 ’23 Dr. Cedric M. Bright ’81 Gretchen C. Byrd ’95 Max C. Chapman Jr. ’62 P’91 Guoqing Chen P’19 ’27 Jeffrey B. Clarke ’89 Amanda Weisiger Cornelson ’08 Elizabeth W. Davis P’23 ’23 Craig A.A. Dixon ’93 P’23 ’26 David R. Dougherty ’64 P’86 ’88 Edmund N. Durden ’88 P’20 ’22
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TRUSTEES EMERITI William S. Farish Jr. P’14 ’24 ’27 Dr. Lenora Gant P’96 Barbara Kennedy Harty ’96 P’26 ’29 David T. Hatcher ’84 Hyun Soo Kim ’93 Lauren M. Marshall ’09 Whitney Phillips Schwartz ’96 Marguerite Kleinheinz Stoner ’08 Helen Grassi Vest ’03 Wray Barber Whitticom ’98 John R. Wickham P’15 ’16 ’16 ’25
John W. Burress III ’54 P’79 ’85 H. Gordon Leggett, Jr. ’50* George W. Logan ’63 P’96 Hugh J. Morgan Jr. ’46 P’83 John L. Townsend III ’73
*Deceased
DEPARTING TRUSTEE REMARKS SARAH AKRIDGE KNUTSON ’96 P’26 ’29 Being asked to lead the Episcopal High School Board of Trustees has been one of the deepest honors of my life. As trustees, we are given a narrow window of time to lend our voices to something far more enduring than any one of us: the stewardship of a 187-year-old mission entrusted to us by those who came before and owed in full to those who are yet to come. Looking back on the past six years, what stays with me is not any single milestone, though there have been many great accomplishments. What stays with me most is the feeling of hope. I left nearly every board meeting more hopeful than when I arrived — stemming from the extraordinary dedication of our educators, the energy and promise of our students, and the commitment of my fellow trustees, who bring diverse perspectives to every discussion while always listening to one another with deep care and respect. At the center of it all is Episcopal’s true spirit: a community whose generosity makes so much possible. It is the generosity of time: trustees setting aside evenings and weekends to serve and our teachers and administrators who give of themselves each day well beyond the classroom. It is the generosity of resources: families and alumni who give not out of obligation, but from a genuine belief in what this school builds in young people. And it is the generosity of spirit: a shared conviction that developing strong, ethical leaders is some of the most important work we can do, work that our world so urgently needs. To every trustee, faculty and staff member, parent, alumnus, and friend who has contributed to this extraordinary community: thank you. It has been a privilege to serve alongside you. I leave this role with immense gratitude for what we have accomplished together, deep confidence in those who will carry the work forward, and, above all, the same feeling I have carried out of so many board meetings over these past six years: hope for all that is still to come.
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Julian’s Garden in Full Bloom Honoring the Legacy of Julian Hart Robertson, Jr. ’51 The Episcopal community gathered on a beautiful April morning to celebrate the opening of Julian’s Garden, a transformation of the grounds surrounding Anderson Pond made possible by the family of Julian Hart Robertson, Jr. ’51 and the Robertson Foundation. With Robertson’s family, the Board of Trustees, and the entire student body in attendance, the event honored the alumnus who embodied honor, humility, service, and courage. Incoming Head Monitor Sawyer Locke ’27 spoke of Robertson’s legacy, which he studied while writing a research paper on how educational institutions develop leadership and character. “Julian Robertson himself identified three things that shaped him most as a person: his parents, his service in the U.S. Navy, and Episcopal High School, referring to it as, except for his family, the best thing that happened to him,” Locke said. Robertson’s son Spencer remembered his father’s deep love of nature and preservation, which inspired the memorial garden. He recalled visiting Episcopal with his father as a child, seeing firsthand the impact the School made on him. “Episcopal was one of the great loves of his life,” Robertson said. “He is smiling down on us today, no doubt.” The event culminated in ceremonial first casts by Robertson’s grandson Julian IV and avid fisherman Locke. In a moving and fitting tribute, Julian caught a fish almost instantly. As Locke reflected on Robertson, he told his fellow students more about his philanthropic legacy than his legendary career as an investor. “What stands out to me most about Mr. Robertson isn’t his success,” Locke said, “it’s what he did with it. He used his success to make a positive and lasting difference in this world.” This world, and this institution, are certainly far better thanks to Robertson and his family — evident in the lasting beauty of this memorial garden.
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1200 North Quaker Lane | Alexandria, VA 22302
PLEASE VISIT
ehsannualreport.org FOR THE FULL REPORT, including the names of all our generous donors.