March 12, 2021
 
Hello Friends,

I hope you have been following us on social media and sharing in all the wonderful activities and announcements we’ve posted there. Here’s a small taste of what you’ll find if you visit our pages:
Outstanding Student-Athletes Recognized
Capital Region media showcase our student-athletes quite regularly and the latest story featured our AA Swim Team, which focused on teaming up for relay success when they were able to get back into the pool. The boys’ medley relay team missed tying the New York State record by just seven-tenths of a second but did succeed in tying the Section 2 record. This report on WNYT NewsChannel 13 says the team is one of the best relay teams in New York state history. View the article here.
Yesterday, the Times Union ran a great article on the successes of our AAG Basketball Team and coaches have enjoyed during this shortened season. The article highlighted the team’s 58-36 victory over Voorheesville on Thursday night, which happened to be senior night. The girls will travel to Cohoes tomorrow night for their last game of the season. Click here to view the full article.
A former Academies student-athlete, Yale University senior Kevin O’Neil ‘16, was named a finalist for ECAC Hockey’s 2020-21 Student-Athlete of the Year award. Kevin is a physics major who has been a regular on the ECAC all-academic team. Click here to see Yale’s write-up on Kevin
Hall of Fame & Distinguished Alumni/ae Celebrations Scheduled
Our Class of 2020 Hall of Fame & Distinguished Alumni/ae Induction Ceremony will take place virtually on Thursday, May 20 at 6:30 p.m. Watch for details on how to participate. Please join us and help us 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 Morse-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 Alumni: Neil Murray ’62, P’99, ’05, ’06 & Anders Tomson ’85, P’14, ‘19.
  • Distinguished Young Alumnus: Chris Ashley ’05.
4th Grade Girls Present ‘Mirror, Mirror’
Congratulations to our Albany Academy for Girls grade 4 class members who successfully created a performance of “Mirror, Mirror,” with a little help from our Upper School Advanced Theater & Advanced Filmmaking classes and teacher Rich Johnson. The show was live-streamed on March 10 for our entire school community to enjoy. The arts continue to thrive at the Academies!
Congratulations to our Academies Arts Department for a wonderful musical performance of "The Theory of Relativity" over the weekend! The talents of our students and faculty are simply amazing.
March Alumni/ae Speaker Series Discussion a Success
The March 4 edition of our Alumni/ae Speakers Series was a great success! Thank you to our esteemed panelists Dr. Robert Higgins '77, Dr. Seth Wander '02, Dr. Meenakashi Gupta '99, Dr. Alice Kim '89, and Dr. Pamela Carroll '81 for sharing their knowledge, experiences, and insights in the fields of medicine and biotech research. Our students continue to have amazing opportunities to learn from our alumni and alumnae about the many careers they can pursue. Watch for information about the next in this series of informative and enlightening discussions, which will be held in May and focus on technology. The webinar was recorded; click here to watch the March 4 session.
Alumnae of Color Affinity Group Begins Its Work
The first meeting of our Alumnae of Color Affinity Group was held via a Zoom call on March 10 and 12 alumnae joined us for the launch. Thank you to Jeannine Blanco ’89 for leading this group and a wonderful discussion. It was inspiring to see the support that participants showed each other, the networking that happened, and the interest in wanting to mentor students at the Academies. We hope to see more young alumnae join us for the next meeting. If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to Jeannine at nettlesblanco@gmail.com.

The next Alumni of Color Affinity Group meeting will be held on March 30 at 4:30 p.m. Please contact Chair Evril Clayton at evrilclayton@yahoo.com if you are interested in joining us for the next meeting.
Spring Gathering Honorary Committee
You are encouraged to join us for the Spring Gathering event on April 30, 2021. Remember, proceeds from this annual event support our financial aid and merit scholarship program. If you would like to join the Honorary Committee, please contact me. Many thanks to alumna Jenny Riitano Levy ’93, ’28 for chairing the event and for all her support.
Reunion Set for October 1 and 2
I hope you received your Reunion save-the-date postcard and have marked your calendar for Friday and Saturday, October 1 and 2. This annual event is always a great deal of fun and you won’t want to miss catching up with your former classmates.
Please keep in touch and remember to share your good news with us to include in Class Notes. Enjoy your weekend!
Ann Wendth
Chief Advancement Officer