$2 Million Gift Honors Maqubela Legacy and Pushes Groton School Track and Fields Project Over Fundraising Goal

An anonymous $2 million gift in honor of Temba and Vuyelwa Maqubela has pushed fundraising for a new track and playing fields over its $8.7 million goal after just four months and added to Groton School’s ongoing work of inclusion and tuition containment through the GRAIN (GRoton Affordability and INclusion) initiative. 

 

Construction for the track—to be named after the Maqubelas—will break ground in May and is scheduled to be completed and ready for use by Spring 2024.

 

In September 2022, Groton received an anonymous challenge gift to honor the Maqubelas’ tenth year on the Circle and take on the school’s strategic goal of creating a more inclusive campus by kickstarting funding for construction of a new track. Trustee William Gray P’15, a lead supporter of both the track and fields project and GRAIN, said the outstanding response to the challenge was a testament to the Maqubelas’ legacy of leadership and inclusion.

 

“Vuyelwa and Temba have so beautifully embodied the potential for transformative impact through embracing difference, and demonstrating the power of addition rather than exclusion,” said Mr. Gray. “I hope the naming of the track will serve to enhance the rich history of Groton School, and the teaching that can come from it, by embedding their story within it.”

The Maqubela Track and Field will include an eight-lane track that can accommodate every event in high school competition, including shot put, discus, javelin, long jump, triple jump, high jump, and pole vault. A natural grass soccer/lacrosse field will sit in the infield. 

“I wonder how many know that track and field has the highest participation rate of all sports at the high school level in the United States,” said Mr. Gray. “Groton has always been about building character both in and outside the classroom. The addition of a track-and-field facility will help us attract and build an even better student body.”

Groton’s Strategic Framework 2030 focuses on inclusion, belonging, and student well-being. As a global sport that requires little prior experience, track and field represents an opportunity for students of all backgrounds to compete in rewarding physical activity that contributes to each of those three goals. And track and field is already one of the fastest-growing sports at Groton, with participation increasing 44 percent from 2014 to 2022—despite the fact that Groton runners, throwers, and jumpers cannot compete on campus and have to travel to a facility in a neighboring town just to practice. 

Adding a track-and-field facility to Groton’s sports landscape will allow talented student-athletes like javelin thrower Chris Kadiri ’22 and the boys 4x400-meter relay team—both New England champions in 2022—to practice and compete at home. And, by placing it in such a prominent location just east of the Athletic Center, it also goes a long way toward meeting the strategic framework objective of “An Inclusive Campus”: “To create a visual and experiential environment inside the Circle that offers everyone—students, faculty, and staff—the opportunity to feel belonging each day, across campus, and in every activity.”

“I think the most important part of Groton is its people, particularly the students,” said Mr. Gray. “Building the very best student body is core to achieving our mission as a school, and investing in that can pay huge dividends. I believe the track is a very cost-effective way of helping us build the best student body possible.”

In addition, a new artificial turf field for soccer and baseball will be constructed alongside the Field of Inclusion on lower campus, and lights will be installed at the track and the Field of Inclusion to allow nighttime competition.

 

Besides the track and fields project, fundraising efforts targeted completing the endowment of the GRACE (GRoton Accelerate Challenge Enrich) summer program and continuing to endow GRAIN. A goal of $10 million in major gifts—representing the Maqubelas’ decade at Groton—was set and surpassed, with more than $15 million donated and pledged for these initiatives. To date, $81 million has been raised for GRAIN and GRAIN 2.0.  

 

Half of the recent $2 million gift will go toward GRAIN 2.0, in honor of Mrs. Maqubela’s steadfast dedication to teaching, coaching, and advising, and the profound influence she has had on her students since arriving on the Circle. 

 

Adopted by the Board of Trustees in November 2014, GRAIN froze tuition for three years and allowed for moderate increases moving forward, expanded the number of students on financial aid, and guaranteed that Groton School would consider all applicants without regard to their ability to pay.

 

Mr. Gray said GRAIN’s impact has been felt throughout the Groton community. 

 

“The power of this idea is that it compounds over time. The essence of GRAIN is transforming young lives with potential by offering greater opportunity, and it has ended up doing exactly that for Groton itself.”