After an 11-year career at Madison, Head of Department of Student Activities (DSA) John Kenny is retiring. I’m sure everybody at Madison has seen him at least once. Whether he is standing on the sideline and supporting every athlete who wears Madison across their chest or hyping the students up during pep rallies, John Kenny has been a pivotal figure in Madison’s success and support in sports and activities.
As a young, graduating high school student, Kenny decided not to continue down the traditional college route; rather, he joined the workforce. After some time, he attended George Mason to get a degree in education. Guided by his passion for helping others, as well as coaching, Kenny started his career as a teacher.
“I as always interested in helping people,” Kenny said. “I was always helping and interested in coaching. I liked sports, and so I kind of pieced it all together, and I went back to school to get my teaching degree. I started teaching and coaching and I did that for many years.”
Over time, Kenny’s career evolved into bigger positions, becoming part of administration.
“As you evolve through a career, you’re certainly trying to make your situation better,” Kenny said. “So that’s when you flip over to administration. I did that about halfway through my career and then I worked at a couple different schools, ultimately landing at Madison in the fall of 2014.”
Upon his arrival, Kenny was not originally the head of DSA for Madison.
“I came over to Madison as an assistant principal for three years,” Kenny said. “Then my true love and my true passion for sports led me to student activities and athletics, and so I applied for the DSA position in 2017.”
Not only did Kenny enjoy the DSA position, but he said he learned from it as well.
“I’ll tell you this, that it’s an interesting process and evolution based on your life experiences,” Kenny said. “A lot of what I think students hear today as we talk about failure, perseverance and work ethic is what I find important. Those are the biggest pieces I picked up along the way because, you know, those qualities or those characteristics about people still hold true.”
Being the head of DSA starting in 2017, Kenny has been a part of some memorable moments at Madison such as the Boys Basketball Region Championship in 2017, the Girls Swim and Dive State Championship in 2017 and the Baseball State Championship in 2023. However, Kenny claims that his favorite moments from his illustrious career at Madison are something different.
“It’s more important to me that the Madison students, whether they’re involved in sports, performing arts, clubs, debate, etc., whatever their passion is, I want them to have a good experience,” Kenny said. “When they walk across that stage at graduation, they reflect back on their time at Madison and feel like it was productive, good, fun and beneficial to them. So is there a favorite moment? I wouldn’t say there’s one specific moment. I think it’s all collective for me.”
As his career comes to a close, John Kenny leaves the Madison community with one final message.
“We’re in this very small town of Vienna, in this massive metropolis of Northern Virginia,” Kenny said. “There’s so many great qualities about Madison and the support that the parents and the community provide to the school and that right there, I think, sets us apart from many other schools. I couldn’t be more grateful for our booster club, the parents and the great community and all their contributions to athletics and the activities.”
