DEI Committee: The Academies’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee continues its work to ensure organizational growth in this area and to complete a plan that will genuinely transform the School’s approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are currently seeking funding that will allow us to hire a strategic partner to lead us in our efforts, and I’ll be sure you keep you updated.
Admissions Activity: We are very encouraged by the fact that our admissions team is seeing a 25 percent increase in inquiries about enrollment at the School. The learning environment that exists at the Academies is appealing to many parents who are concerned with the challenges that the pandemic has presented for public schools. If you know of a family that would like to learn more about enrolling a student in the Academies, please let me know.
Welcome back baskets: As we prepare for the beginning of the fall semester, we are putting together “welcome back” baskets for our professional community with the help of three generous alumni. Joan Dembinski ’55 is providing homemade biscotti’s; Nancy Wekselbaum ’69 is providing spreads from her company, The Gracious Gourmet; and Zach MacAffer ‘12 is supplying coffee products from his company, NuRange Coffee. I sincerely appreciate Joan’s, Nancy’s, and Zach’s help in creating these treat baskets for our faculty and staff.
Reunion 2020: We have a Zoom call scheduled for 2020 reunion chairs on Friday, August 28 at 2 p.m. If you are interested in participating, please let me know and I will send you the call-in information. We will schedule another Zoom call soon to discuss the 2021 reunion in the coming weeks.
Legacy of Dreams: Finally, I hope you will join us on Thursday, October 1 as we live stream our Legacy of Dreams event on the Academies’ Facebook page to raise funds to support our student-athletes and athletic programs. Event co-chairs Andrew Safranko ’91, P’23 ’26 and Jenny Riitano Levy ’93, P’28 have a wonderful evening planned. For more information, please visit albanyacademies.myschoolapp.com/page/giving/events/legacy-of-dreams.
