June 19, 2020

Dear friends,

I am very pleased to be able to share several happy updates with you as the 2019-20 academic year has come to a close and summer 2020 is upon us.
We held our first-ever virtual Spring Gathering on Thursday, June 11 in the Schellenberger Alumni/ae Center. Although it was different not having our community in the room, the event was a success and raised $120,000 for financial aid and merit scholarship programs. THANK YOU to the alumnae and alumni who supported the event and a special thanks to Jenny Levy Riitano ’93, ‘28 (pictured at right with co-chair Stephanie McCauley P'21, '24) for co-chairing and hosting Spring Gathering.
Although commencement ceremonies were different this year due to our need to be separated, we were thrilled to celebrate our graduating seniors and all they have accomplished both on campus (June 8 & 9) in a very personal way as well as at a Drive-in Theatre (June 15 & 16). We were fortunate to have two stellar speakers for these ceremonies. Sarah McLaughlin ’89 was the AAG speaker and Alydaar Rangwala ’11 was the AA speaker. Both of their remarks were pre-recorded and included in two special commencement videos shown on the big screen at the Drive-in.
Sarah is a federal management specialist with the National Marine Fisheries Service. Through her work managing domestic and international Atlantic tuna fisheries, she operates both locally and globally, helping commercial and recreational fishermen near Gloucester, Mass. Sarah remains active as an alumna and serves as reunion chair for her class.
Alydaar is a principal at Perry Creek Capital, an investment firm that makes concentrated, intensively researched public and private investments across all asset classes, industries, and geographies. Alydaar was a lifer at The Albany Academy, joining the school in kindergarten and graduating in 2011. During that time he served as president of the Student Council. We were honored to have Alydaar attend in person for the June 16th event (pictured at left with Head of School Chris Lauricella).
We have made the decision to postpone Reunion until May of 2021 and jointly celebrate with next year’s reunion classes. More details, including the dates, will be coming soon.
 
Thank you to the many alumni and alumnae who made a gift to this year’s Annual Fun d. All of us are incredibly grateful for your generosity. Our fiscal year concludes on June 30, 2020. If you are still interested in supporting the Academies, please let us know or Give Here.

Finally, as part of a recent reorganization of the School’s Senior Leadership Team, on July 1, I will take on the role of Chief Advancement Officer, overseeing Enrollment as well as my current responsibilities of fundraising, alumni/ae relations, marketing, and communication. This new structure consolidates all advancement efforts in one office with the vision that it will provide a more unified approach to resource allocation and external communication efforts. Please reach out to me if I can assist you in any of these areas.

Take care and stay in touch!

Best,
Ann Wendth