Volunteer Spotlight:
Staff Member Margo Kennington P'15
Providing a Warm HM Welcome to Prospective Families
Born in Barbados and raised in Harlem and the Bronx, Margo Kennington came to Horace Mann School after working as a school aide at M.S. 141in Riverdale and serving in a variety of office support positions. For the past 17 years, she has been the Admissions Office Manager. Margo’s duties include scheduling prospective Upper and Middle Division student tours and interviews, meeting and greeting families applying to HM, answering applicants’ questions about the admissions process, helping to schedule Student Ambassador tour guides, and keeping the office well organized and running smoothly. Kennington appreciates working with pleasant and dedicated co-workers who “treat you like family.” She values being able to aid prospective families in the application process and is “honored to be a part of this community.”
Margo credits her mother for teaching her how to be spiritual, care for her family, and understand the importance of education. “Growing up, I always wanted to be a pediatrician or a teacher,” she recalled. She graduated from John F. Kennedy High School at 16 and attended Lehman College. After taking a hiatus from her education to care for her ailing grandmother and raise her children, Kennington looks forward to returning to college to receive a degree in Mathematics. She is a devoted wife and mother to daughter Jennifer and son Michael, a graduate of the Class of 2015. She is especially grateful that Michael had the opportunity to have an outstanding educational experience at HM. "He's now in his third year at Becker College, and thanks to HM, he was very well prepared. He has made the Dean's List each year and I'm so proud of him," Margo said with a big smile.
During her years at HM, Margo also has been pleased to see alumni at Homecoming or return to Spence Cottage to visit. “It shows that they really enjoyed their time when they were here, enough to return and visit their teachers,” she added. In addition to Homecoming, Kennington relishes other School events like the Parents’ Association Benefit, student assemblies (when time allows) and this winter’s temporary ice-skating rink set up as part of the pre-Buzzell tournament spirit activities. “I love ice- skating. I used to take lessons as a teenager.”
In addition to her role in the Admissions Office, Margo also has been a member of the Faculty, Staff, and Administration Annual Fund Committee for the past eight years. She has been a donor to HM since 2002 and is happy to encourage fellow employees to join her in supporting our School. Among her inspirations for giving back and volunteering, she commented that it makes her feel good “to be able to share in the responsibility of providing an excellent education for other students.”
Thank you, Margo, for your loyal support of the Annual Fund, good cheer in welcoming many prospective students to HM, and overall commitment to our School!
(Article appeared in the spring 2018 Donor Newsletter)