At T.C. Williams Senior High School in 1976

Meet Ilryong

Ilryong’s life journey embodies what the American dream is all about-a teenage immigrant from a poor family overcoming language and cultural barriers to serve the public. His life story including almost thirty years of community service inspires so many people around.

Ilryong was born in Seoul, Korea, in 1957 and immigrated to the U.S. in 1974 in the middle of high school. Back in the 1970s, Korea was a poor country, and his family was among the poorest. His parents, neither of whom had even graduated from high school, decided to move the family to the U.S. for their three children’s education and a better future. They landed in the City of Alexandria.

Both of his parents worked hard—his father in electric motor repairs, and his mother in cleaning. His father worked long hours, and his mother, for many years, held two full-time jobs as a hotel housekeeper and a school custodian. She even cleaned private homes on weekends to ensure the family stayed afloat.

Seeing how hard their parents worked, Ilryong and his two younger sisters studied equally as hard. He graduated from what was then T.C. Williams Senior High School (now Alexandria City High School) and became the first in his family to go to college. After graduating from Harvard in 1981, he attended William and Mary Law School. Ilryong has been practicing law in northern Virginia since 1984.

Youth group photo after Sunday service in 1973

With his late father

A strong believer in public service, he ran for the Braddock District seat in Fairfax County’s first ever school board election and won, thus becoming the first Asian-American to be elected to public office in Fairfax County. Ilryong served for 20 of the next 24 years on the school board, building a nationally recognized model for student achievement. During his tenure, he served as the chairman and vice chairman for three terms each.

Ilryong has two sons. They both went through Fairfax County Public Schools and graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Joonyoung, after studying economics at Harvard and public policy at UC Berkeley, now works for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a director in its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs. Wooyoung studied physics at Brown and received his doctorate from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He works in the private sector in machine learning and software engineering.

Singing the National Anthem

Ilryong’s two sons

A former ESL student and fluent Korean speaker, Ilryong spent a year in Taiwan to study Chinese while in college and also enjoyed learning Spanish in the FCPS ACE program while serving on the school board. Even during the pandemic, he has been volunteering to teach adult ESL and adult Korean. He has also served as a member of the Core Planning Team for the last several months working to develop the new FCPS strategic plan. He has been a Sunday school teacher for more than a dozen years and enjoys spending time with his students.

In October 2021, the Fairfax County School Board honored Ilryong for his long service on the school board by naming the main gymnasium at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology as “Ilryong Moon Gymnasium.” He is the author of two books, ‘Sky Castle School Board Member Stories’ (2020) and ‘Hamburger Coke’ (2021).

TJ Gymnasium naming dedication

Ilryong’s book, Hamburger Coke

    • At-Large Member, Fairfax County School Board (01/2004-12/2019); Chairman, 2006, 2012-2013, and 2013-2014; Vice Chairman, 2005, 2011-2012 and 2018-2019

    • Braddock District Member, Fairfax County School Board (1996-1999)

    • At-Large Member, Fairfax County School Board (07/1995-12/1995), Appointed

    • At-Large Commissioner, Fairfax County Planning Commission (01/2000 – 12/2003)

    • Trustee, Montessori School of Northern Virginia (1994-1995)

    • Member, Annandale Rotary Club (1998 to Present)

    • Member, Board of Directors, EduTutor of Virginia

    • Advisory Member, Board of Directors, NAKS-Washington Association for Korean Schools (WAKS)

    • Member, Annandale Campus Advisory Board, Northern Virgnia Community College

    • Former Member and Treasurer, Board of Directors, American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras (2000-2010)

    • Former Member, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine’s Urban Policy Task Force (2007-2009)

    • Former Member, Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, Fairfax County, Virginia

    • Former Member, Executive Committee, Fairfax County Police Chief’s Diversity Council

    • Former Member, Fairfax-Falls Church Regional Council, United Way

    • Former Member, Community Service Fund, Fairfax-Falls Church Region, United Way

    • Former Member, Congregational Health Partnership Advisory Committee, Inova Health System

    • Former Member, Virginia State Advisory Committee, U.S. Civil Rights Commission

    • Columnist, The Korea Times-Washington, D.C.

    • Implementing full-day kindergarten.

    • Implementing full-day elementary school Mondays.

    • Expanding preschool programs.

    • Expanding world language programs.

    • Expanding course offerings to meet the diverse needs of students.

    • Implementing later high school start times (We need to work on improving middle school start times).

    • Fighting book banning.

    • Supporting more workforce diversity.

    • Strengthening the auditing function of the school system.

    • Working closely with five superintendents and setting them up for success.

    • Increasing teacher salary (We have a long way to go to optimizing the salary level, though).

    • Reducing the number of trailers used for instruction (Another ongoing project).

    • Providing better supports for the mental and social well-being of our students.

    • Adopting the district’s nondiscrimination policy.