The Albany Academies coordinate single-sex and coeducational learning environments to develop diligent students of high character who become curious, critical thinkers. |
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The Skim
- Sign-Up for Voluntary Student COVID-Surveillance Testing, Week of February 15
- AIM Survey Now Available
- Affinity Group for Parents of Color Launches on 2/24
- From the School Counselors: The Power of Relationships
- A Glimpse Into Our Classrooms
- Sports Update
- Varsity Basketball Game Livestream
- ARTrageous
- Summer Camp Registration
- Academies Connections to the Civil Rights Movement
- Celebrating Black History Month
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Dear Friends,
In the spring of 2019, the Academies formed an ad hoc committee to operationalize our strategic goal of “nurturing an intentionally diverse, inclusive, equitable learning community that promotes academic excellence, enriches the school and enhances the experience of every learner.”
Since then, there has been a lot of work done to begin bringing this goal to life. On behalf of all of us on Academy Road, I want to thank everyone who has invested their time and energy in the School’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) efforts over the past two years.
I am particularly grateful for these efforts this week as we begin to develop student, parent, alumni, and alumnae affinity groups, which is an essential next step in this work. As we move towards this milestone, I thought it might be helpful to share once again the foundational terms that help define this initiative:
Diversity is the range of social identities present in our community. These include, but are not limited to, mental or physical ability, age, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, and socio-economic class.
Equity is treating each Albany Academies community member in a way that acknowledges and respects his or her different needs.
Inclusion is the degree to which all the people in our community believe that they belong at The Albany Academies and feel respected, valued, and heard.
Affinity groups are gathering opportunities for people who share a common identity. Affinity groups allow people to connect with other people who share aspects of their identity, especially in situations where these aspects may be in the minority or marginalized.
More information about the School’s DEI work can be found on the website’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion page. We look forward to posting regular updates on our progress towards this critical strategic goal.
Have a lovely weekend,
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Sign-Up for Voluntary Student COVID-Surveillance Testing, Week of February 22
If you are interested in continuing to have your child surveillance tested for the COVID-19 virus, please use the link below to sign up for next week’s testing:
Sign-up must be done by 6:00 p.m., Sunday, February 21.
Please continue with symptom screening each morning, record results in the Magnum App, and communicate frequently and transparently with our school nurses regarding your children’s health.
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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the AIM Survey
Our vision for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work at The Albany Academies is to build a community where all accepted students are authentically included and feel like they fully belong.
To help achieve this, we are using the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) Assessment of Inclusivity and Multiculturalism (AIM) survey.
Over the last decade, AIM surveys have been completed by independent school families across the country, providing their schools with the information needed to realize their DEI goals.
The survey should take no more than twenty minutes to complete, and your responses will go directly to NAIS for statistical analysis. Individual survey results will not be shared, ensuring complete confidentiality and anonymity. The survey will be open until February 25.
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Affinity Group for Parents of Color Launches on 2/24
The Affinity Group for Parents of Students of Color is ready to launch next week. Its intent is to bring a group of parents together who share common interests, experiences, and goals and engage them in meaningful conversations and activities related to their experience of being parents of students of color. Its purpose is to provide opportunities for parents of students of color to meet, share experiences, support one another, and provide meaningful feedback to school leaders.
If you would like to participate in the first meeting, please join us on Wednesday, February 24 at 4:30 p.m. via Zoom. Please contact Ann Wendth at wendtha@albanyacademies.org for the Zoom call-in information.
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From the School Counselors: The Power of Relationships
The true value of relationships has never been more evident. It is interesting that in our time of difficulty, change, uncertainty, and need, when we most need to connect with others, we are isolated from them. Many of us have missed out on time with family and friends and have truly felt the impact.
We ALL need positive relationships and to feel a sense of belonging. It's a basic human need. When we connect well with others, our well-being dramatically improves.
The good news is that we can actively do things to improve our relationships with others, even in times of COVID! This edition of the Positive Pulse highlights the top ways in which we can do just that!
Join the community in celebrating National Random Acts of Kindness Week by making an effort to practice the things you see in the newsletter, this week... (and each week after).
Be well!
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A Glimpse Into Our Classrooms |
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Dr. Dragoni's Grade 11 U.S. History class learned about the 369th infantry regiment, which was an African-American regiment of the Army during World War I and World War II. Students learned specifically about one member of the regiment, Henry Johnson, a 25 year old soldier from Albany, NY who bravely served during World War I. |
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On their way down to the gym, the AAG Pre-k class stopped to learn some interesting facts about famous black women in sports. |
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The AAG fourth graders have been reading Greek Myths and recognizing the influence they have in many of the books they read. They created display boxes and games to represent their myths, and presented them in LS Assembly. |
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Students in Grade 7 Dance class are learning about making shapes with their bodies on different levels. Both in-person and virtual learners in Dance as a Sport are preparing for the Fine Arts Department's Spring Virtual Performance. |
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Students in AP Environmental Science class designed their own experiments to figure out the effects of different concentrations of acids on seed germination and growth. This lab links in to our study of acid rain. |
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Photography students in Mr. Zabinski's class were joined by National Geographic photographer, Kris Graves, for a Q&A Zoom session. |
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Mrs. Miorin and the 4th grade girls have been working on and will be performing a Virtual Performance of the play "Mirror, Mirror" on Wednesday March 10, 2021. The girls are extra excited since Mr. Johnson's upper school Advanced Theatre and Filmmaking class will be assisting them in producing it! Look for more details in March. |
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In honor of Chinese New Year, the Chinese Honor Society offered Chinese language lessons to the school community. A variety of topics were taught, ranging from how to say and write the numbers 1-10, to different kinds of fruit and useful expressions. The Honor Society students were excited to welcome Mrs. Connors 3rd grade class, Mrs. Hanifin's Kindergartner's as well as several upper school students and Mr. Streifert.
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Senior Snow Day!
The Class of 2021 enjoyed breakfast this morning followed by sledding down Academy hill. Students were treated to hot chocolate with a choice of toppings!
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Sports Update
The Albany Academies Varsity Ski Teams participated in the Section 2 Ski Finals that were held at Gore Mountain on Wednesday, February 10th, 2021.
Here are some of the best times from some of our student-athletes for the day:
Contessa A. '22 (1:29.03)
Kara C. '22 (1:27.45)
Veronica G. '22 (1:25.19)
Eleeza M. '22 (1:22.11)
Paul A. '24 (1:21.03)
Charlie B. '24 (1:18.60)
Leo P. '23 (no scores recorded / reported)
The students on the Ski Team participated in 7 races this season including the Final Section 2 Ski Race. Congratulations to our Skiers on their historical season during these unprecedented times! Thank you to our coaches Mr. Weeber & Ms. Crisafulli for all of their flexibility, instruction, and efforts concerning the safety of all students! Lastly, thanks to West Mountain for hosting The Albany Academies Ski Team again this year!
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Academy Road
The student run newspaper, Academy Road, published approximately 30 articles last year which is a testament to the involvement of both our writers and editors. New articles have been added which you can view by clicking here.
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ARTrageous
On Thursday, February 18, we held ARTrageous, our annual fundraiser for fine arts at The Albany Academies. This year it was virtual! Thanks to the support and generosity of our entire community, we raised more than $21,000 and exceeded our goal! We’d like to extend a special thank you to our two parent co-chairs, Stephanie McCauley P'21, '24 and Mike Camoin P'22, '23, and our faculty Fine Arts Chair Rich Johnson for helping to make the event such a success.
To watch a special message from our fine arts faculty, please follow the link below!
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Summer Camp Registration
Online registration for summer camp is now open! We have a variety of camps for students entering Pre-K through tenth grade!
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New this summer-Science Academy Mr. Essery and the students will be exploring chemistry, biology, physics, ecology, and physiology. Each day will be a different type of science, a problem to solve, and an adventure!
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Little Leap and Jr. Leap camps reinforce skills while having fun with weekly themed activities.
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Rocketry Camp will study the history of rocketry and design and build rockets with Mr. Neudel.
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The Leading Edge program will be focusing on team building, problem-solving, college preparation, and service projects with Mr. Essery.
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Theater Camp will be performing fully staged short plays with Mr. Streifert.
We have a new LEAP structure and class offerings! Your child will choose a block schedule and participate in six classes a day for the week. Block schedules include a variety of academics, world language, visual arts, and sports just to name a few!
Join us for a week, a two-week session, or the whole summer! Program dates and rates, LEAP class charts, and more information on all our camps is available on The Albany Academies website at albanyacademies.org. The 2021 brochure is now available online! Please contact Karin Epstein at epsteink@albanyacademies.org or 518-429-2332 with any questions.
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Academies Connections to the Civil Rights Movement
We learned this week that Rosa Louise McCauley Parks is a relative of the McCauley family (Lew, Stephanie, Matthew ‘21 and Michael ‘24). Lovingly known as “cousin Rosa,” she visited Lew’s family annually in Stephentown, NY. She is remembered as “an amazing person who never stopped taking care of others and making a positive difference in their lives.”
An iconic figure of the Civil Rights Movement, Mrs. Parks is best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955. In 1987, she co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute with the mission to motivate youth to reach their highest potential. Upon her passing she became the first woman in history to lie in state in the US Capitol.
Pictured: Lew, Rosa, and Lew’s mom, Gladys
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Celebrating Black History Month
Students in the Upper School are sharing daily fun facts during morning meeting in celebration of Black History Month. The group then sends an email each day with more information about the fact and the person to Upper School students and members of the professional community. Below are two of the people highlighted this week. To learn more about additional people highlighted this week please visit our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion page on The Albany Academies website.
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Marie Van Brittan Brown
Did you know that Marie Van Brittan Brown was the first inventor of the home security system and was also credited as being the first inventor of closed circuit television?
Marie Van Brittan Brown was born in 1922 in Jamaica, Queens, New York. She started off her career working as a nurse. Her husband, Albert Brown, was an electronics technician. As a nurse, Brown worked long hours and would return home late at night. Her husband, too, had irregular hours so she was often alone at night. Fearful of being vulnerable in a high-crime neighborhood, Brown decided to figure out a way to see who was at her door if she heard knocking. In 1966, Brown, along with the assistance of her husband, invented a security system that consisted of four peepholes, the sliding camera, television monitors, and two-way microphones. These items created a closed-circuit television system for surveillance also known as CCTV. With multiple peepholes, the sliding camera was able to capture images of people who were of different heights. The two-way microphones allowed Brown to communicate with the person outside. She also had a remote that would allow her to unlock the door at a safer distance. Lastly, she could press an emergency button that would send an alarm to police or security. In 1969, Brown and her husband received a patent for the invention. Her invention was recognized in The New York Times and she received an award from the National Scientists Committee for her work. Brown passed away at the age of 76 in 1999, but her legacy continues. Brown’s contribution to home security led her invention to be cited in 32 subsequent patent applications. Her invention formed a system that is still relevant in today’s society with use in places such as banks, office buildings, and apartment complexes.
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Ella Jo Baker
Did you know that Ella Baker is reverentially known as the mother of the Civil Rights Movement? Her organizing skills and ideas help give birth to Dr. King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference and to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
Ella Jo Baker was born on December 13, 1903, in Norfolk, Virginia. Baker studied at Shaw University where she graduated as valedictorian. In 1927, She moved to New York to join several social activist organizations, including the Young Negroes Cooperative League (YNCL). The YNCL focused on developing Black economic power. Baker also took part in multiple women’s organizations. Baker joined the NAACP in 1940, working as the field secretary and then later the director of various branches. She helped young leaders find their voice and their leadership capacity. One of those people was Rosa Parks. Baker was also recruited by Martin Luther King Jr. to help run the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which was helping to build the Civil Rights Movement. In addition to her activism, she co-founded the organization In Friendship in 1955 to combat the Jim Crow laws in the South.
She left NAACP in 1960 and developed one of the most well-known human rights advocacy organizations in the country, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Baker believed that young student leaders were an instrumental resource to the movement toward racial justice. SNCC, along with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), adopted the Gandhian view of direct action through non-violence. The organization helped form the Freedom Rides of 1961 and Freedom Summer, an attempt to register Black voters and to highlight Mississippi’s racism.
Ella Baker inspired so many of her supporters to speak out and gave them the energy to push for what they believed in. More interested in effecting change than public acclaim and financial reward, Baker inspired a generation of young Americans to risk their lives to fight racism, sexism, and white supremacy. She died on Dec. 13, 1986, in New York at age 83.
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