Dear Friends,

It’s the time of the year when we begin planning for summer and next year. With this in mind, there are several items below that you should be aware of, including bussing requests, financial aid applications, college counseling night for sophomores, and summer camp registrations. On this last item, please be mindful that public registration for summer camp opens on February 7. Historically, many camp sessions will quickly sell out, so don’t delay if your child wants to attend.

Many thanks to the AAPA for inviting a conversation about our Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) program at this week’s meeting. We had an opportunity to discuss the current state of the program and our plans for expanding it over the next few years. If you could not attend, a video of the presentation can be found here . Many thanks to our STEAM Coordinator, John McNally, and our Middle School Director, Adam Collett, for sharing our vision for this vital program.

Thank you to all who supported the Performing and Visual Arts through last night’s virtual ARTrageous event. Your generosity will help fund a range of student experiences at The Albany Academies. One of these is our dance program, and I encourage you to take a moment and read Why Creative Dance Matters, a superb article with a contribution written by our very own Eve Welchel. Please also mark your calendars for the upcoming winter musical, Cyrano De Burger Shack, on March 17 and 18th at 7:00 pm.

Finally, this week marks the beginning of Black History month, and we have been enjoying various student presentations in classes, Chapel, and Morning Meetings focused on remembering important people and events in the history of the African diaspora.

Have a lovely weekend. Bundle up!

Chris Lauricella

Head of School

WINTER ILLNESS NOTIFICATION

As cold and flu season is in full swing, The Albany Academies have seen an increased number of students and staff with symptoms of influenza, gastrointestinal viruses, Strep throat, and COVID. 

As a reminder, please keep your child at home if they are sick. If your child is sick, please continue to test for COVID-19 and keep them at home until they are without diarrhea or vomiting for 24 hours and are fever-free for 24 hours without medication.

Please contact your child's campus health office if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you for helping keep our school community healthy.

The Albany Academies Health Office

NYSSMA Festival Registration

This year The Albany Academies will be participating in the NYSSMA Festival held at Farnsworth Middle School (Guilderland) on May 19^th and 20th. If you are interested in participating, please see Ms. Kouloriotis for a form to fill out or email the following information to kouloriotisa@albanyacademies.org:

• Name
• Grade
• Instrument/Voice Range
• NYSSMA Level
• Is this a Jazz solo? 
• Composition Title
• Required Movements
• Composer/Arranger
• Manual Page Number (if known)
• Preferred Day/Time:  
• Friday PM
• Saturday AM
• Saturday PM
• Cost:
• I-IV $16
• V-VI $24
• All State- $30

All forms/emails must be submitted to Ms. Kouloriotis no later than Friday, March 17th. Please make all checks out to "The Albany Academies."

Important Reminder about School District Bus Transportation Deadlines

If your student requires busing to or from The Albany Academies for the 2023-2024 academic year, the deadline for requesting this service from your home school district is soon coming due.

While many districts have a different deadline date, some do require registration requests back by March 1^st for the following academic year.

Your family received notification about this from your home district, including forms to request busing next year. This information is mailed to your home address from your home district office, however it is also available on your home school district's website, often under a "transportation" tab.

Your home school district's administrative office is the best direct point of contact if you need help with busing requests. If you require additional assistance, please contact Andrea Faragon.

Financial Aid

Reminder! Families that are planning to participate in our Financial Aid program for the 2023-24 School Year should submit the 2023-24 Parent Financial Statement at School and Student Services by February 15, 2023. Information about how to apply for Financial Aid can be found on our website or families can contact The Office of Admissions at Admissions@albanyacademies.org to receive instructions.

Please note - each year requests for financial assistance exceed our financial aid budget. Aid is therefore allocated on a first come, first serve basis and is carefully managed in conjunction with the Admissions and Re-Enrollment processes. Financial Aid decisions will be communicated together with Re-Enrollment Contracts. Preference will be given to families that complete their financial aid submissions by February 15, 2023.

College Counseling Event for the Class of 2025

The College Counseling Virtual Sophomore Night for the Class of 2025 is scheduled for Thursday, February 9th, at 7:15 pm.  Brendan Corsones, Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at Notre Dame University, will be our featured guest presenter.

This important event is specifically tailored to sophomores and parents and is packed with information to help you understand the college process. Sophomore families should plan on attending.  Webinar information will be sent closer to the event.

Family Fun Month

February Fun! Save the date for the following fun Academies community events in February: 



Sunday, February 5, 1:00 p.m.

Family Skate at the Robison Family Ice rink – The hot cocoa was a big hit, so we plan to offer the cocoa bar again! 

Sunday, February 12, 1 – 3:00 p.m.

Families are invited to participate in a guided snowshoe exploration at Thatcher Park. Space is limited and RSVP’s are required.  

International Taste of the World Festival

The Albany Academies will host the 12th annual International Taste of the World Festival on Saturday, March 11, 2023 in the Silipigno Athletic Facility.

We are inviting Academies families and student groups to share food and information about the cultural heritages represented in our community. If you are interested in participating by sponsoring a food table with a cultural display, providing entertainment and/or offering an interactive activity or craft, please click here for a registration form.

From the AAPA

Family Bingo night has been rescheduled to Tuesday, March 14, 5:30 pm!

It's a fun, free, community-building night planned to chase those winter blues away.

Enjoy pizza and snacks while playing for prizes!

PLEASE RSVP for this event here:

www.albanyacademies.org/family-bingo-night 

Creative Dance

Eve Whelchel was recently asked to contribute to a blog on why creative dance matters for the "Behind the Curtain Blog" for the National Dance Education Organization. Here is an excerpt from the article:

Eve D. Whelchel, Dance Instructor at The Albany Academies in Albany, NY, sees these benefits in action every day with her preschool and elementary students:

Creative dance in early childhood provides a pathway to holistic education and empowers our youngest learners to become co-creators within the framework of the course curriculum. I am fortunate to see the benefits of creative dance in the early childhood setting on a consistent basis. Students are building fine and gross motor skills as well as thinking critically through the exploration of the creative process. Creative dance reinforces core classroom content such as scientific themes, social-emotional learning, and English language arts, providing enriching opportunities for students to “move to learn” through interdisciplinary projects. Perhaps most importantly, creative dance in early childhood encourages students to gather as a community, harness their imagination, and discover how to express themselves through movement awareness, building their confidence and self-esteem.

Please click here to read the full article.

ECA and Lower School Reading Challenge Update

Lego Drive

The Robotics Team is holding a Lego Drive! Do you have any unwanted Legos taking up space in your house? Donation boxes are set up in the front lobbies of both buildings. The team will sanitize and repackage all of the donated Legos to be distributed to local kids programs to encourage kids interest in STEM.

A Glimpse Into Our Classrooms

PreK and Kindergarten AAG classes are finishing up the basketball unit. Colleen Organ-Guse, assistant coach to our 17-0 state ranked girls varsity basketball team, was spotted working with our youngest Bears this week in PE on some basketball skills. 

Ms. Anetzberger's upper school Chemistry class has making VSEPR structures with molecular modeling kits to understand the 3D shapes formed by chemical bonds.

As part of the Endangered Animal Study, second graders at AA and AAG took a virtual field trip to the Carolina Tiger Rescue. They were able to meet and learn about tigers, pumas, lions and more!

AA Grade 6 students are working on their Lego gear builds. They are learning about how gear trains can be designed to create more torque or speed and change the direction of a driven gear.

On Wednesday, The Albany Academies hosted the San Francisco based modern dance company ODC. Our Middle and Upper School dancers were treated to a top-notch performance and learned some of the choreography from the performance.

Our international students took a field trip to the Empire State Plaza to participate in a celebration of the Lunar New Year. The students shared their experiences with representatives from different countries and met many new friends!

Online registration for summer camp for Albany Academies' students is now open. Registration will open to the public on Tuesday, February 7. 

Please use this link to register. 

Please do not share the link with anyone outside of the Academy. We have a variety of camps for students entering Pre-K through twelfth grade! 

Refer a family and receive $25 toward your summer 2023 registration fee!

Join us for a week, a two week session or the whole summer! Program dates and rates are available on our website. On Monday, please visit The Albany Academies website for the 2023 brochure, LEAP class charts and more information on all our camps.  Please contact Karin Epstein at epsteink@albanyacademies.org or 518-429-2332 with any questions.

Mid-Winter Gathering to Feature Actor and Alumnus

The Mid-Winter Gathering, sponsored by the Alumni Association, will be held on Thursday, February 16, 2023, at 6:00 pm at the UAlbany ETEC Building on the Harriman Campus.

The featured speaker will be Armen Garo '73. Parents are encouraged to attend the event! For more information about the gathering and Armen, please click here.

Save the Date for Spring Gathering

Our annual Spring Gathering will be held on Saturday evening, April 29 at the Albany Country Club. For more information, please click here.

Athletics Competitions February 3 - 5

Friday, February 3, 2023

4:30 p.m. AA Varsity Swimming & Diving vs. Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk (Home)

*Senior Night

5:00 p.m. AA Varsity Hockey - NEPL vs. Brunswick School (Away)

5:00 p.m. AAG JV Basketball vs. Cohoes (Away)

6:30 p.m. AAG Varsity Basketball vs. Cohoes (Away)

Saturday, February 4, 2023

9:30 a.m. AA Varsity Diving vs. Mohonasen (Away)

2:00 p.m. AA Varsity Hockey - NEPL vs. Winchendon (Home)

6:30 p.m. AA Varsity Basketball vs. Shenendehowa (Away @ Washington Ave Armory)

Sunday, February 5, 2023

8:00 a.m. AAG &AA Varsity Indoor Track & Field @ NY State Quaifiers(Away @ HVCC)

2:20 p.m. AAG Varsity Basketball vs. Bishop Ludden (Away)

3:00 p.m. AA Varsity Basketball @ Zero Gravity Tournament (Away @ Washington Ave Armory)

February 6, 2023

Day 4

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

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

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

12:00 p.m. Middle School Chapel (Caird Chapel)

3:30 p.m. Afterschool Winter Enrichment Programs

February 7, 2023

Day 5

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

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

8:20 a.m. AAG Lower School Assembly - Grade 4 Mythology Presentation (Auditorium)

3:30 p.m. Afterschool Winter Enrichment Programs

February 8, 2023

Day 6

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

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

3:30 p.m. Afterschool Winter Enrichment Programs

February 9, 2023

Day 1

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)

3:30 p.m. Afterschool Winter Enrichment Programs

7:15 p.m. College Counseling Event for Class of 2025 (Zoom)

February 10, 2023

Day 2

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

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

3:30 p.m. Ski Club

February 11 - Upper School Snowball Dance

February 13 - Professional Development Day (No Classes)

February 15 - Admissions Lunch on Us

February 20 - School Closed - Presidents' Day

February 21 - 24 - Admissions Visiting Week

February 28 - Admissions Regional Prospective Family Reception

March 2 - AAPA Meeting

March 3 - Winter Term Ends

March 11 - Taste of the World Festival

March 13 - Parent/Student-Teacher Conferences (No Classes)

March 15 - Admissions Open House

March 20 - 31 Spring Break