Dear Kinkaid Community,
The dramatic transformation of our campus continues at a breathtaking pace! It is with great excitement that we share a construction update in this issue of our ALL IN newsletter. The new Upper School is clearly taking shape and is on budget and on schedule to open for classes on the first day of the 2025-2026 school year. The Kinkaid community’s strong response to our historic ALL IN Campaign has resulted in remarkable support, which now totals more than $150 million. With our goal for our ambitious ALL IN Campaign at $180 million, we need everyone in our community to join us as we build a best-in-class campus and launch our innovative, impactful new programming.
I am immeasurably grateful for the continued support of our community. Through this campaign, I have learned first-hand that our community is indeed “all in” for the future of Kinkaid, and every family has its own deeply personal and meaningful “Kinkaid story.” One reason our campaign is resonating with our community is because of the depth and breadth of its impact. Every division and every department at Kinkaid will be positively impacted by ALL IN. In addition to a new Upper School and STEM Center, we will realize all new indoor athletic facilities, including new athletic locker rooms, coaches offices, a fitness center, a yoga room, a wrestling room, and more. In the building that is currently serving as the Upper School, our Lower School will take over the first floor with expanded teaching and learning space for science, Spanish, music, and art. This building, on the second floor, will also ultimately house a consolidation of administration (Admission and Enrollment Management, Advancement, Business Office, Strategic Communication, Facilities, and Human Resources) and Parents’ Association spaces. Our Middle School will gain additional classroom space upstairs in the Dining & Learning Center, and Visual and Performing Arts will receive new spaces for creative writing, ceramics, video production, dance, and enhanced performance venues in the Student Life Building.
The ALL IN Campaign has also made an important difference in our programming. In 2024-2025, the Gordy Family Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Finance is initiating two new courses structured around entrepreneurship. In the Middle School, every eighth-grade student now gets to experience a new trimester course, Entrepreneurship. In this class, students will develop empathic communication, marketing, budgeting, teamwork, management, and leadership skills. They will work hands-on as they develop and pitch their new business ideas. The Center is also piloting a new year-long Entrepreneurship Incubator: Take Your Ideas to Market course in the Upper School. In this course, students will develop skills similar to those of the eighth-grade class; however, substantial instruction on ideation, marketing, accounting, and the law is included in this expanded curriculum. The class is divided into teams, each with a business professional as a coach and mentor. Currently, this course uses available maker spaces at Kinkaid and off-campus,
such as the ION district. Beginning in 2025-2026, after the opening of the new Upper School facilities, it also will use the new Design Lab, Entrepreneurship Suite, and Maker Space. Both courses’ syllabi are based on the successful INCubatoredu model developed by Uncharted Learning.
We have come this far only through the partnership and generosity of our Kinkaid community; thank you to all those who have made Kinkaid, our students, and our faculty a philanthropic priority. Over the coming year, we will continue to seek support, and I will be proud to extend an invitation to all members of the Kinkaid family to participate in this historic campaign, which is transforming the lives of our students. The legacy of ALL IN will prove to be immense and enduring. I hope everyone will join us!
ALL IN , Jonathan Eades Head of School
Upper School construction continues to progress on schedule and on budget. The exterior brick work will be completed soon, and most of the work will now be happening inside the building. The expected completion date is July 1, 2025. We look forward to starting the 2025-2026 school year in this new space. It will be an exciting, historic first day of school!
Scan the QR code to watch a drone fly-through video of the construction site.
What are the campaign priorities?
This is a comprehensive campaign, which includes: new facilities; three new curricular programs (the Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Finance; the Center for Wellbeing and Success; and the Center for STEM); additional endowment to support students and faculty; and sustained annual support such as the Kinkaid Fund and fundraising event revenue.
To date, how much money has been raised?
Kinkaid’s generous donors have committed over $150 million toward the $180 million working goal.
What will be in the new buildings?
The new Upper School will more than double the size of the former space. There will be more and larger classrooms, athletic and physical education space will increase by more than two-thirds, and there will be numerous new spaces, such as a design lab, entrepreneurship suite, STEM labs, wellness classroom, senior student center, two-story student center, alumni center, resource center, and two-acre lawn.
The Lower School and Administrative Building will double the space for Lower School co-curriculars and student support programs on the first floor. The second floor will bring together several administrative departments, including Admission and Enrollment Management, Advancement, Business Office, Strategic Communication, Facilities, and Human Resources, as well as Parents’ Association spaces for greater operational alignment and efficiency.
The existing Student Life Building will be reconfigured with more arts spaces, such as a second dance studio, video suite, multimedia space, art studios, and orchestra practice room, as well as an expanded Head of School suite.
Renovations to the original Lower School Building include six new classrooms and additional space for the health center.
Will the new buildings change class size? If so, when and where?
Enrollment will increase slightly in the Lower School, where one section will be added gradually, one grade at a time. Adding a section will allow us to decrease class size (from 16 to 14 in PreK and from 18 to 16 in K-5), thereby allowing for more individual attention for each student. Middle School class size will remain the same. Enrollment in the Upper School will increase by 10-15 students per grade. The graduating class is currently around 150 students and will grow to around 165 students.
When will construction be completed?
The temporary Upper School, which is the future Lower School and Administrative Building along San Felipe, was completed in August 2023. The Doggett Family Fieldhouse and Gymnasium was completed in January 2024. The new Upper School is scheduled to be completed by July 2025. The final repurposing of the building along San Felipe and the renovations to the Student Life Building and Lower School are scheduled to be completed by August 2026.
What is the difference between a campaign pledge and Kinkaid Fund pledge?
Campaign pledges support a specific campaign priority, such as construction of the new buildings, support for the new programs, or support for endowed financial aid and faculty salaries. Because they are typically larger commitments, the School offers donors the opportunity to fulfill them over up to four years.
The Kinkaid Fund is an annual fundraising effort that happens every school year. Kinkaid Fund pledges are made and must be fulfilled in one fiscal year (which is the same as the academic year).
Do Kinkaid Fund pledges count towards an overall ALL IN Campaign pledge?
The ALL IN Campaign is a comprehensive campaign; it started during the 2021-2022 school year and will end after the 2027-2028 school year. Both Kinkaid Fund gifts during that period and campaign pledges made during that period count towards a donor’s total ALL IN Campaign contribution and recognition, but they support different priorities. Net proceeds from events such as the Auction, Kinkaid Open, and Sporting Clays Benefit will be counted towards the campaign goal, but individual donors’ support of those events will not be counted as part of an individual’s campaign giving.
How do people make campaign gifts?
There are various ways to make campaign gifts, which typically come from a donor’s assets or savings, rather than their income. In addition to cash gifts, donors may choose to give through a donor advised fund or foundation, make gifts of appreciated stock, or make planned gift intentions through adding Kinkaid to their estate plans.
Donors may choose to fulfill their campaign pledge on a schedule ranging from a one-time payment to installments over up to four years (ending in 2028).
When will I be asked to support the ALL IN Campaign?
Over the next two years, all members of the community will be asked to make an ALL IN Campaign gift to Kinkaid. If you are eager to discuss a campaign pledge now, please contact Director of Advancement Tom Moore at 713-243-5045 or tom.moore@kinkaid.org.
