December 4, 2020     Greetings, Friends!

Giving Tuesday First of all, let me thank the many alumni and alumnae who so generously included donations to the Academies in your Giving Tuesday gifts on December 1. We far surpassed our goal of raising $40,000 and raised $70,364 through 171 gifts thanks to the continued support and generosity of our community! We are extremely grateful for these donations, which will help us with the many unexpected pandemic-related expenses we have incurred. If you haven’t donated to this campaign yet and would like to make a gift before year-end, there is still time. Click here to give.

“Chat with the Head” Sessions Mark your calendars to join us on December 8 from 8 to 9 a.m.; December 8 at 6:00 p.m.; or December 14 at Noon for a virtual “Chat with the Head.” Planned specifically for alumni/ae, Head of School Chris Lauricella will share information about the current state of the Academies. These three sessions have been planned exclusively for you! If you have questions you would like to submit in advance, please send them to wendtha@albanyacademies.org. You will need to RSVP to me to attend the session so that I can provide you the appropriate Zoom call-in information. Due to security protocols, I cannot include those details in this letter.

Division 1 Signings Have you heard? Five Academies seniors have signed letters of intent to attend Division 1 colleges and universities as student-athletes. We extend our congratulations to our AA students heading to Boston College for swimming; Yale University for lacrosse; and St. John’s University, also for lacrosse. We also applaud our AAG students heading  to Georgetown University and Duke University for crew. We held a special signing ceremony for the students on November 23, and it was widely covered by Capital Region media. You can see that coverage here: WTEN view here; CBS6 view here; the Times Union view here; and The Record view here.

Surveillance Testing The Academies are conducting a five-week pilot program of COVID-19 surveillance testing as an additional mitigation protocol in response to the rising rate of infections in the Capital Region and in anticipation that we may be required to do such testing by New York State as part of its micro-cluster strategy. Surveillance testing helps gauge the prevalence of a disease within a community by periodically evaluating samples from pre-selected groups of non-symptomatic individuals within that community. Everyone on campus will be tested once during the pilot program, which is one more effort we are taking to maintain the safety and good health of our entire community.

Reunion As I’ve shared before, we have had several discussions about when to hold Reunion 2020 and 2021, and we recently decided to move both to the fall of 2021. Stay tuned for the dates and other important details. Thank you for your patience as we work to continue these important events while keeping all attendees safe.

Our Preschool Superheroes Our Preschool students at The Albany Academies dressed up today as superheroes as part of special recognition for their recent hard work. During these challenging times, we all know of a superhero in our life, so enjoy this photo of some of our Academy superheroes!

Student Artwork Unfortunately, due to COVID requirements, we have been unable to welcome you to campus for a visit. As a result, you have not had a chance to see the beautiful student artwork that is on display throughout the campus. I’m including a few photos here, so you get a taste of what those of us who are on campus have been delighted to see. I was particularly moved by the artwork at AAG depicting “thanks” because that is how I feel every day here at the Academies.

We’re looking forward to the time when we can invite you back to the Academies for a special event, a visit with old friends, or just to see what’s new here. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for that to happen in 2021! Best wishes for a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season.

Ann Wendth Chief Advancement Officer