May 6, 2021   Hello, Friends,  It’s been a few weeks since I’ve sent you an update and the reason for that is we have been hosting several significant events, which many of you have participated in, and planning several others. So I have a lot of news to share with you.

Professional Community Appreciation Week Although all of us at the Academies appreciate our talented professional community every day, we mark this week as a special time to thank them for the outstanding education they provide to our students. On Tuesday, our senior leadership team treated our professional community to dinner and on Wednesday our Parents Association provided them with lunch and dessert. Today, the entire professional community was treated to dessert courtesy of our board of trustees. We’re pleased to recognize our faculty and staff and extend our sincere thanks to them for their dedication to our students.

Commencement Speakers Announced We are thrilled to announce that Tom Tuttle ’84 will be The Albany Academy commencement speaker on June 15 and Suzanne Walsh ’87 will be the Albany Academy for Girls commencement speaker on June 14. Tom is a managing director of Kinderhook Industries, a private investment firm located in New York City. Prior to his employment there, he served as a director at Global Investment Advisors N.A. and founded GEM Investment Advisors, an investment advisory firm specializing in control private equity investment. After graduating from The Albany Academy, he graduated from Princeton University and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and earned his MBA from the Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar and Henry Ford II Scholar. Tom established a scholarship at the Academies many years ago and stays very engaged with the program. Suzanne became president of Bennett College, an all-women HBCU (Historically Black College and University) located in Greensboro, N.C., in 2019. Previously, she was deputy director of postsecondary success for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and also served in leadership roles with the Lumina Foundation for Education and The Heinz Endowments. She earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from Cornell University and both a master’s degree in social work and a law degree from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. We are fortunate that they have accepted our offer to speak to our graduates and their families.

Next in Our Alumni & Alumnae Speaker Series Our Alumni & Alumnae Speaker Series continues on Thursday, May 13 from 2:20 to 3:10 p.m. with a focus on technology. Be sure to join us and our guest panelists Cypriana McCray ’94 - Federal Government, Sam McHugh ’95 - Open Systems, Raymond Endres ’87 & Neerav Patel ’96 - IBM Watson Health, and Isabelle Heukensfeldt Jansen ’10 - GE Global Research Center. Click here to join the webinar.

Hall of Fame & Distinguished Alumni/ae Celebration Coming Soon Please plan to join us on Thursday, May 20 at 6:30 p.m. for our Class of 2020 Hall of Fame & Distinguished Alumni/ae virtual induction ceremony as we celebrate these outstanding individuals: AA Hall of Fame inductees: Anthony Owens ’85, Ned Duffy ’70, Jim Mills ’95, Robert Beaulieu ’85, Neil Bryant ’00, Coach Scott Young P’21, ’24, and the 1999-2000 Football Team. AAG Hall of Fame inductees: Coach Bonnie Mores-Gilham, Andrea Lodico ’00, Emily Downie ’12, and Kirstie Phelps-Harris ’01. Distinguished Alumna: Elon Johnson ’94. Distinguished Young Alumna: Carol Crummey McCardle ’04. Distinguished Alumnus: Neil Murray ’62 and Anders Tomson ’85. Distinguished Young Alumnus: Chris Ashley ’05. A link to join us will be coming later next week. It promises to be a special evening!

Journey to Success Fundraiser Coming in June Sponsored by the Alumnae Council, our third annual Journey to Success event will be held on Wednesday, June 9 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Lost and Found, 942 Broadway in Albany. Each year, this event features alumnae speaking about the paths they took to their current careers, this time with a focus on health care, wellness, and mental health careers. Joining us in June will be McKenzie Nicholson Fruewirth ’00, P’29, ‘33 who is one of our school counselors and a current parent, and parent Julie Morison P’26, ’29 of HPA/Livewell, a mental health clinic located in Albany. Click here to register, (please indicate that your payment is for Journey to Success in the designation comments box). A separate evite will be sent on May 7 so watch for it!

Reunion set for October 1 and 2 With travel and social gathering restrictions loosening more and more each week, aren’t you ready to visit and reconnect with some friends at Reunion? We know we can’t wait to see your faces again. Plan to join us on Friday and Saturday, October 1 and 2, and catch up with friends and classmates during our annual Reunion. You don’t want to miss out on all the fun we’ll be having! Check out the reunion schedule and find information about hotel accommodations here.

Check out our Summer Programs Our unique LEAP camp runs by the week of June 28-August 6 for entering grades 3-8. Students choose a block schedule and participate in six classes a day for the week. Block schedules include a variety of science, math, world language, art, and sports just to name a few! The Albany Academies are offering Virtual Math, English, and Science skills and credit classes this summer for Middle and Upper School students.  All programs are co-ed and open to the public. Program dates and rates, LEAP class charts, and more information on all our programs are available on The Albany Academies website at albanyacademies.org. Please contact Karin Epstein at epsteink@albanyacademies.org or 518-429-2332 with any questions.

AA Soccer Team Wins Colonial Council Championship Congratulations to The Albany Academy Soccer Team which finished its unbeaten season by winning the Colonial Council conference championship game over Ichabod Crane on April 30. The top-seeded Cadets were scoreless at the half but the team rallied and went on to win 5-1 in the final game for Head Coach Adam Collett. “It was huge, massive, to finish with an undefeated season and take the championship like that is something really special,” Coach Collett said. Local ABC affiliate WTEN aired a nice piece on the game, which you can find here.

AA Swimming and Diving Team Garners Post-Season Honors The Academy Swimming and Diving Team received some well-deserved post-season honors. Bryce H. ’21 and Brayden H. ‘23 were both named to the Times Union’s Section II Swimming and Diving All-Stars and Coach Scott Young was named Coach of the Year. These honors are bestowed based on votes cast by swimming and diving coaches. The Times Union staff also named Bryce as Athlete of the Year for Boys’ Swimming and the following students were named to the First Team All-Stars: Bryce H., Brayden H. ‘23, Ian Y. ‘21, Silas Strich ‘21, Ivan Y. ‘21, and Jack Slote ‘21. The newspaper staff also selected Coach Young as Coach of the Year. Congratulations to these team members on the recognitions!

AAG Swimming and Diving Team Our AAG Varsity Swim team finished up their Fall 2 season this past Saturday for Colonial Council League Championships! Congratulations to the girls and coaches for working hard every day during these challenging times!

Alumni and Alumnae Giving Days a Big Success While our April Alumni/ae Giving Days were a big success – we raised $75,000 from 73 donors – there is still time to make a gift before our fiscal year closes on June 30. Won’t you join those individuals, many of whom were first-time donors to the Academies, and make a gift today? Click here to make a gift.

Spring Gathering Includes Tribute to Matt Bender During our April 30 Spring Gathering, an annual event that raises funds to support financial and merit scholarship programs, we shared a tribute to Matthew Bender IV ’49, who died in early 2020. A very generous donor to the Academies, Matt’s donations often directly benefitted students through scholarships, endowments, financial aid, and summer writing programs. Honoring Matt at this event, during which we raised more than $110,000, was especially fitting. You can still make a donation to support financial aid and merit scholarships at the Academies by clicking here. Thank you to Jennifer Riitano Levy '93, P'28 for chairing this event. To view Matt Bender's tribute video click here.

Bacon Bat and House Day The Albany Academies Upper School celebrated the long-awaited Bacon Bat and House Day on Friday, April 23, with friendly field day competitions. Albany Academy for Girls Bacon Bat dates back to 1911 where competition and bonding activities between classes started.

There are many upcoming opportunities to reconnect with your school and your friends. I hope I will see you at some of them! Warm regards,

Ann Wendth Chief Advancement Officer