Dear Friends,

Happy Charter Day! Today we celebrated The Albany Academy's founding 210 years ago! Being part of an institution with such a storied history is incredible.

It is also the end of another great week at school, with February rolling into March. With that, we end the celebration of Black History Month and begin observing Women’s History month. 

March 4th is Maintenance Staff Appreciation Day, which we note with a special "shout out" below. In truth, a day doesn't go by when I'm not grateful for the talented team of professionals who keep our campus humming along.

Kindly remember that links to your 2023-2024 Academic Year enrollment contract have been sent to your email. We rely on contracts being returned by the March 13, 2023, deadline to begin making scheduling decisions for next year, so please respond promptly.

As you will see below, we are opening up our spring blood drive to any family members who want to participate. The need is great, and you could change a life with a 30-minute donation.

Best wishes for a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Chris Lauricella

Head of School

Charter Day

On March 4, 1813, The Albany Academy received its Charter from the State of New York. Today, our students were treated with cupcakes in celebration of this historic day. During Chapel, students were encouraged to visit the Archives to learn more about the history of The Albany Academy from our Archivist, John McClintock '57 and to ask questions of our alumni who are current faculty members about their experiences as Academy students.

Thank You to our Maintenance Team!

A special thank you to our maintenance team at the Academies. These dedicated members of our community work hard year round on general maintenance, special projects and grounds work that is needed to keep our school running. All events that occur at school run smoothly thanks to Andrea Faragon who coordinates any event support needed from our maintenance team.

A huge shout-out to the entire team led by Trent Bennett. We are all very grateful for your efforts!

2023-2024 Re-enrollment Now Open

Deadline: March 13

Re-enrollment contracts for the 2023-24 academic year are now available through the Blackbaud portal. Please follow these steps to re-enroll your child or children:

• Sign in to the Blackbaud portal and click on the banner link that reads, “you have contracts to review.” 

• General Terms and Conditions. Please indicate your enrollment plans for next year. Kindly note that, counterintuitively, a “yes” response means that you are “not enrolling,” and a “no” indicates that you are re-enrolling. This is an unfortunate quirk of the third-party admissions platform that we are unable to change.

• Your Student Information. Please confirm that the information presented is correct (Grade, Tuition, Fees) and enter your initials where indicated.

• Select a Payment Plan. Please select your preferred payment plan and indicate if you will be enrolling in the Tuition Refund Plan (which is highly recommended).

• Contract Cancellation and Refund information, please review these terms enter your initials where indicated.

• Deposit. We are accepting ACH payments and credit card payments for tuition deposits this year. You may also make your deposit payment in school or mail a check; please follow those options’ instructions.

• Acceptance. Please review the enrollment contract and sign it electronically.

• When done, you will see a Confirmation of Completion message.

• Reminder regarding Financial Aid:  Enrollment Contracts and Financial Aid awards are now released together. If you no longer need Financial Aid, let Admissions know so that your Enrollment Contract(s) can be released. If you still need Financial Aid but have not yet filed for it, please be aware that the Financial Aid budget is limited and allocated on a first come first serve basis.  

Thank you for doing this by the March 13 deadline, as we rely on this information to begin student scheduling and other mission-critical planning processes. Thank you, as well, for your continued support and commitment to The Albany Academies community.

Red Cross Blood Drive

The Albany Academies Red Cross Club will be hosting a Blood Drive on Tuesday, March 7. The Red Cross will be on campus in the gymnasium located in the Michael B. Picotte Field House. This blood drive is open to Albany Academies employees, students and families. Please use the sponsor code: AlbanyAcademyNY when scheduling an appointment. Use the link below or the QR code to schedule an appointment.



CLICK HERE to schedule an appointment.

International Taste of the World Festival

The annual Taste of the World Festival will take place on Saturday, March 11 from 3:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Silipigno Athletic Facility. This year's event will feature food and craft tables representing many cultures from around the globe. Live entertainment will include student and professional dance, martial arts, and musical groups. Please plan to join us to celebrate the myriad of cultures represented at The Albany Academies.

This event, which is suitable for all age groups, is free and open to the public. 

From the AAPA

Family Bingo night is Tuesday, March 14 at 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 

A Glimpse Into Our Classrooms

To celebrate Black History Month, Preschool parents organized a lesson where students got to decorate an African-shaped cookie with black, yellow, green and red toppings.

Students in STEM have been busy this week! 6th graders used Lego Spike Prime kits to build and program a robot of their choosing. 7th graders presented their “elevator pitch” on the puzzle cubes they built. 8th grade students presented their final project using the micro:bit after designing and building a security device. 

Second Grade students have been studying endangered animals then chose their own species to research and write reports on. They presented their findings at Chapel and held a learning fair in the classroom for the school community and families.

The Albany Academies Mock Trial team won their case, competing against CBA, last night at the Albany County Courthouse. The Academies team represented the plaintiffs in a workplace accident lawsuit.

Spearheaded by Mrs. Hofgesang, the Friday craft club has been having lots of fun working on crochet and string art projects over the past several weeks.

The AA Middle School Sweets and Treats club learned how to make different types of frosting and practiced filling and decorating their own cupcakes. The cupcakes were baked by faculty member Mr. Ford. A great time was had by all! 

Yearbooks

It is time to place your yearbook order! Click here to order a yearbook for your child. The deadline to place your order is April 18, 2023.

• To order a yearbook for AA enter passcode: 10131170417192 
• To order a yearbook for AAG enter passcode: 101411068383919

Summer Math Credit Classes:

Algebra 1, Geometry and Pre-Calculus

June 20-July 31 in person 8am-11am $1,250

Registration information coming soon. 

For math specific questions, please contact Math Dept. Chair, Bob Bischoff at bischoffr@albanyacademies.org

Online registration for summer camp is open! 

Space is limited and is on a first come first serve basis. We have a variety of camps for students entering Pre-K through twelfth grade! 

We have a number of camps already at capacity with a lengthy wait list:

Musical Theatre-Grades 3-6

Musical Theatre-Grades 7-12

Science Academy-Robotics & 3D Printing-Grades 5-6 & 7-9

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

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 and to join the Honorary Committee, please click here. It promises to be a very special evening!

Class B Sectional Championship

Congratulations to The Albany Academies Girls' Varsity Basketball team for winning the Section 2 Girls’ Basketball Championship! A special shout out to Eva G. '25 who made the all-tournament team and Saige R. '23 who was the tournament MVP.  Please click here to view the CBS 6 coverage.

The team will continue on to Regionals which will take place at 3:30 p.m on Saturday, March 11 at HVCC.

Athletic Competitions - March 3 & 4



Friday, March 3, 2023

8:00 a.m. Boys & Girls Varsity Indoor Track & Field @ States (Away - Ocean Breeze Center)

9:00 a.m. Boys Varsity Swimming & Diving @ States (Away - Ithaca College)

Saturday, March 4, 2023

8:00 a.m. Boys & Girls Varsity Indoor Track & Field @ States (Away - Ocean Breeze Center)

9:00 a.m. Boys Varsity Swimming & Diving @ States (Away - Ithaca College)

March 6, 2023

Day 3

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

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

9:15 a.m. AA Grade 4 Play "The Boy Who Cried Werewolf" (Caird Chapel)

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

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

2:20 p.m. Alumni/Alumnae Speed Mentoring for Classes of 2023 & 2024 (Stevens Center)

March 7, 2023

Day 4

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

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

2:00 p.m. AA Grade 4 Play "The Boy Who Cried Werewolf" (Caird Chapel)

3:05 p.m. AAG Senior Speeches (Auditorium)

March 8, 2023

Day 6

Community Dress Day - International Womens Day (purple)

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

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

11:30 a.m. Upper School Advising

March 9, 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. Lower School Assembly: AAG Grade 2 Presentation on Respect (Auditorium)

March 10, 2023

Day 6

AAG Grades 10 & 12 Ring Dares

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

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

11:30 a.m. Upper School Advising

March 11 - Taste of the World Festival

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

March 14 - AAPA Family Bingo Night

March 15 - Admissions Open House

March 16 - AAG Ring Dinner

March 20 - 31 Spring Break

April 4 - Upper School Assembly - Course Selection Nuts & Bolts

April 6 - Passover (School Closed)

April 7 - Good Friday (School Closed)

April 10 - 14 - Admissions Visiting Week

April 12 - Admissions Lunch On Us

April 17 - Professional Development Day (No Classes)

April 28 - Spring Community Service Day

April 29 - Spring Gathering