Dear Friends,

It has been a great week on campus, with our students’ artistic talents on full display during the holiday performing arts festival. Many thanks to our performing arts colleagues for their outstanding work preparing our students for these stellar performances. We have not been able to share these experiences since 2019, so hosting so many families back on campus was an absolute joy.

Winter sports are also in full swing, with equally large crowds attending. I hope you will consider joining us in the ice rink for the Rider Cup this weekend or attending ing AAG’s Junior Varsity or Varsity basketball game tonight or the Junior Varsity Squash match this afternoon. If you can’t make these, I hope you will come out soon to support the Cadets and Bears.

As always, classrooms continue to be busy and productive places focused on developing the habits of mind our students need to become curious, critical thinkers of high character. I hope you will scroll down to take a glimpse into our classrooms and see how we do this.

Finally, as you'll see below, congratulations are in order to our fall scholar-athletes for their fine academic work.

Best wishes for a wonderful weekend!

Chris Lauricella

Head of School

The Risk of COVID Transmission remains HIGH

The community level of COVID-19 infection in Albany County is High, per CDC standards. The CDC recommends the following precautions during periods of high transmission:

• Wear a mask indoors in public
• Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines
• Get tested if you have symptoms
• Additional precautions may be needed for people at high risk for severe illness

Attendance

A reminder to all parents of protocol for reporting absences, notifying the school of students arriving late, or requesting for students to leave school early. Please email attendance@albanyacademies.org. We ask that you don’t email Mrs. Motley, Ms. Conroy or advisors directly regarding absences or appointments. Thank you for your cooperation.

NYSPHSAA Scholar Teams

At the end of each sports season, the NYSPHSAA honors those teams and individuals that excel in the classroom. Those student-athletes, teams, and schools work very hard throughout the year and deserve to be recognized for their academic success. 

To receive Scholar-Athlete team recognition with a certificate, the team’s average GPA for 75% of the roster must be greater than or equal to 90.00.

Congratulations to the following Albany Academies Varsity Teams for earning Scholar Team status!



• AA Varsity Cross Country
• AAG Varsity Cross Country
• AA Varsity Golf
• AAG Varsity Golf
• AA Varsity Soccer
• AAG Varsity Soccer
• AAG Swimming and Diving
• AAG Varsity Tennis
• AAG Varsity Volleyball

Colonial Council All Stars

Congratulations to two members of the AAG Varsity Soccer team, Sunra T. '23 and Liana W. '26, who were recently honored at the Colonial Council All-Stars banquet.

From the AAPA

Faculty & Staff Appreciation Luncheon - For information and sign-up opportunities for the Faculty & Staff appreciation luncheon on December 14, click here for AA or here for AAG. This is a wonderful tradition at The Albany Academies and a great way to thank our amazing educators & staff. 

The AAPA Wreath & Poinsettia sale has started! All funds raised will go to support programs for the students and faculty. Flyers were sent home with all students, but you are welcome to buy online with the link or QR code below (which can also be found on the AAPA page of the school’s website). Orders must be placed by December 12. The vouchers - to be redeemed at any Hewitts - will be sent home with the students as orders are received. Any questions please reach out to Cara Milde at carasofia@yahoo.com or CLICK HERE to order online.

Winter Arts Festivals

Our student Winter performances were the perfect way to celebrate the arts at The Albany Academies and showcase our talented students. Congratulations to all of our students on an amazing job!

Winter Enrichment Program

Sign up is now open for the afterschool Winter Enrichment program for 2022-23. This year’s Winter program will run between January 9 and February 13. As in the past, you will have options to choose from for Mondays and Wednesdays, and/or Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Please use the following link to access the form for sign-up: Winter Enrichment Sign- Up Sign-up will be open until 6:00pm on Tuesday December 20 so that we can publish groups on Wednesday, December 21. Certain programs have limited space, so please be aware that students will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.

Club Selections:

• Art Club – Grades 1-3 (Mon/Wed) and Grades 4-6 (Tues/Thurs) – Max. 20 students per group
• Beginners Robotics – Grades 3-4 (Tues/Thurs) – Max. 15 students
• Board Games: Make your Own – Grades 1-2 (Mon/Wed)
• Intro to Chinese – Grades 1-2 (Tues/Thurs) and Grades 3-4 (Mon/Wed)
• Yoga – Grades 1-3 (Tue/Thurs) – Students will require their own yoga mat which can be stored at school.
• Yo Yo Club – Grades 3-6 (Tue/Thurs)
• Zumba – Grades 4-6 (Mon/Wed)

If you have any questions about the programs please contact Adam Collett, colletta@albanyacademies.org

A Glimpse Into Our Classrooms

Fifth grade science students are learning about the impact various pollutants have on Earth's ecosystems. Small groups of students researched different pollutants and then presented skits/commercials to teach their classmates about the pollutant and some possible solutions to decrease the problem.

The students in Chinese IV have been learning about Chinese geography and public transportation, which they applied to planning their own trips to China. They chose a place of interest, researched the region, designed well-rounded itineraries, and presented their trips in Chinese to the class.

Mark McCarty '70, a local photographer and alumnus, visited our Advanced Photography class. Mark spoke about his interesting and successful career as a photographer in the Capital Region, the companies he worked with to take photographs, and stories of how he set up and achieved certain shots. Students had the opportunity to see some of his work from over the years.

Dr. Brower's advising group were treated to some Canadian snacks during advising lunch on Wednesday. Olivier T. '26, a student from Canada, shared ketchup chips and coffee crisp candy bars with the group.

The PreK boys have been talking about some of their family traditions for this time of year. Our friend Jackson’s grandmother and mother came into the classroom this week to teach us about Hanukkah. They read them a Hanukkah themed story, gave the boys turns to grate potatoes for some homemade latkes, taught them how to spin a dreidel, and finally had a latke tasting party.  

AAG Grade 4 students are learning to add, subtract and compare fractions.

5th, 6th, and 8th grade STEM classes are learning to write algorithms to break a complex task into a sequence of small steps. On Friday we wrote sandwich algorithms and students realized making a sandwich is harder than it seems (most did not include “open the wowbutter” in their instructions).

December 12, 2022

Day 3

8:00 a.m. Upper School Chapel (Caird Chapel)

12:00 p.m. AAG Middle School Assembly (Auditorium)

December 13, 2022

Day 4

8:00 a.m. Upper School Chapel (Caird Chapel)

8:00 a.m. Upper School Morning Meeting (Auditorium)

December 14, 2022

Day 5

8:00 a.m. Upper School Chapel (Caird Chapel)

8:00 a.m. Upper School Morning Meeting (Auditorium)

11:00 a.m. Faculty and Staff Appreciation Lunch (Drawing Room & Trustees Room)

1:00 p.m. Student Performances at the Beverwyck

December 15, 2022

Day 6

8:00 a.m. Upper School Chapel (Caird Chapel)

8:00 a.m. Upper School Morning Meeting (Auditorium)

8:20 a.m. Lower School Chapel (Caird Chapel)

11:30 a.m. Upper School Advising

December 16, 2022

Modified Schedule

Festive Sweater Dress-Down Day

7:30 a.m. Senior Breakfast (Stevens Center)

8:00 a.m. Upper School Chapel (Caird Chapel)

8:00 a.m. Upper School Morning Meeting (Auditorium)

2:20 p.m. Lower School & Middle School Winter Assembly (Auditorium)

2:20 p.m. Upper School Coed Cup (AA Gymnasium)

December 19 - January 2 - Winter Break

December 30 - Frank O'Brien '84 Memorial Alumni Hockey Game

January 3 - Classes resume

January 5 - AAPA Meeting

January 7 - Grade 8 Scholarship Exam

January 12 - College Search Kickoff, Class of '24

January 13 - Snowflake Dance

January 13 - 15 Robotics Tournament

January 16 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day

January 17 - Professional Development Day (No Classes)

January 18 - Admissions Open House

January 24 - Lower School Coffee Break