Gilroy
– Lara Kilpatrick was the only student in her grade when she
graduated from Mount Madonna School 22 years ago. Now that she’s
back as assistant admission director, it’s not surprising
enrollment is a priority.
Gilroy – Lara Kilpatrick was the only student in her grade when she graduated from Mount Madonna School 22 years ago. Now that she’s back as assistant admission director, it’s not surprising enrollment is a priority.
“We have a lot more room for more students,” Kilpatrick said. “I would like to get us to 200 in … the fall.”
The school currently has 180 students enrolled in grades preschool through 12th. The MMS middle and high schools moved to a new 355-acre campus in 2004, opening up space for increased enrollment, and generating more responsibility for Kilpatrick.
While the school plans on graduating 14 students in June, Kilpatrick knows this was not always the case. When she was a student at MMS things were done a bit differently.
“We sort of started in my mom’s living room,” she said.
Her mother, Elizabeth Adams Kilpatrick, was one of the founding parents of MMS’s secondary level, and hosted a sixth-grade class in her home until the school built adequate facilities.
Even when she moved to a more permanent classroom in seventh grade, Kilpatrick did not have the typical educational experience.
“We always added the next grade as I got older,” she said.
While she went to some classes with friends from the grade below her, Kilpatrick was the only student in a majority of her subjects. She also attended classes at Cabrillo College in Aptos when staff was not available to teach certain courses.
Kilpatrick graduated from high school – alone – in 1985.
Now, her daughter, Vyvyanne Mackey, is in the sixth grade and has pulled the family back to its roots.
Kilpatrick spent her 22 years away from MMS working as a teacher in Gilroy and throughout area, as a marketer for technology corporations, and, most recently, at nonprofit educational organizations in Hawaii. She started at her current position in January.
“The first thing I feel strongly about is getting to know the neighbors more,” she said.
Kilpatrick hopes this will help the school attract students from a wider area and create deeper awareness of the school in the community.
The effort will also help her get reacquainted with the region and settle in, she said.
“Everything has grown so much,” Kilpatrick said. “I really have to get to know the area again.”
