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Monday, May 03, 2010
The Albany Academies e-newsletter
Week of April 26
Seniors enjoy annual barbeque!
The annual Senior Barbeque was held this afternoon on the AA Quad for the AAG & AA Classes of 2010.
The boys and girls enjoyed some delicious food cooked and served by AA Associate Head of School Scott Milliken, AA Dean of Students Brian Fruscio & AA Director of College Counseling Jak Bestle.
Our seniors also had the opportunity to interact with each other before heading off to May Projects next week!
A celebration of the arts
Our AA Evening of the Arts celebration on Wednesday brought a number of Academy parents to the AA campus to view some beautiful artwork and enjoy a lively Upper School concert.
Parents and students had the opportunity to enjoy a reception, view beautiful student artwork, and listen to a band and choral performance from our Upper School students. Special thanks to Arts Chair Greg Cummings and Arts Department faculty members Jane Chasin, Diana Westbrook, Joseph Jacobs and Matt Streifert for organizing a very special event. Thank you also to the Albany Academies Parents Association for providing the food and refreshments for the reception.
Albany Academy for Girls will hold its annual Evening of the Arts celebration this evening with an Art Show & Reception beginning at 5:30 p.m. and a dance performance from our Middle & Upper School students beginning at 6:30 p.m. on the AAG campus.
World Language students recognized
A World Language Awards Assembly was held on Thursday in the AAG Auditorium to recognize those students who are the highest achievers in their World Language classes and/or have placed well on the French, Spanish and Latin National Exams.
The program featured footage from the French, Chinese and Spanish classrooms and some of the film recorded during the China trip over Spring Break. Sasmith Menakuru (Form IV) also gave a short speech about the experience of having a cultural exchange with students in Ecuador.
Special thanks to World Languages Department Chair Donna Keegan and the World Language faculty members for organizing the event.
Academy students display speaking skills
Eight Upper School students took part in the US Declamation Finals on Monday in the AAG Auditorium in front of the entire Upper School.
The students -- Clara McNulty Finn '13, Garrett Esper (Form III), Jemila Hoyte-King '12, Anthony Rossi (Form IV), Olivia Huffman '11, Thomas Carter (Form V), Emily Bruce '10 & David Buran (Form VI) -- each did an excellent job with their speeches.
In the end, Olivia and David were selected as the AAG/AA winners for their declamations about a poem and Xbox 360 experience, respectively.
Ecuador school exchange update
Spanish III students in Veronica Puente-Windle's class have entered into an exchange with General Machado Academy in Otavalo, Ecuador -- home of one of the most famous markets in South America.
As part of the program, the students participated in a Skype video session with the students in Ecuador this past Tuesday. The discussion was held in both English and Spanish with both groups of students analyzing the novel Huasipungo that they have been reading. Huasipungo tells the story of a village of native Andean Indians that are put to work on a road building project by a despotic Ecuadorian landowner.
In the News
Congratulations go out to Isabelle Heukensfeldt Jansen '10 for receiving the 2010 GE STAR Award! The competition, which is eligible to children of GE employees worldwide, awards a scholarship to a student who has shown a well-rounded sense of excellence throughout their academic career. After viewing Isabelle's records, she was awarded a $3,500 scholarship for her first year of college. In addition, our school will be receiving a $500 award once Isabelle decides on where she will be attending college. Good Job, Isabelle!
Bridget Malicki '11, Kaitlyn Mulvaney '11, Tessa Palladino '12, Thomas Welles (Form IV), Hunter McCarthy (Form IV), Christian Miller (Form V) & Nick Cardona (Form V) have been selected to receive the YMCA Outstanding Student Award. The program honors high school sophomores and juniors who exhibit the qualities of leadership, citizenship and volunteerism in the community. Faculty members Christopher Conway and Scott Young were also honored as part of the program.
Logan DeVost '13, Rebecca Smith '13, Clara McNulty-Finn '13, Morgan Wojtusik '13 & Dominique Bukovan '13 have been nominated to attend the Hugh O'Brien Youth Leadership Community Workshop, a day-long leadership development program hosted by the Kiwanis Clubs of Latham and Troy. The workshop will take place on May 8 at Shaker High School.
Kalyna Apkarian '11 has been selected by the Society of Women Engineers on the basis of her high achievements in mathematics and science as well as her interest in pursuing an engineering career. She will be recognized at an awards banquet on May 6 at the Edison Club.
A desire to improve the world
We extend much praise to Oskar Niessen '18 for the volunteer work that he has been doing to raise awareness about the plight of orangutans throughout the world.
Inspired by Michael Morpurgo's book Running Wild, Oskar decided to take action on his own about this cause that is very dear to his heart. During his research about orangutans, Oskar discovered that experts are predicting that orangutans will be extinct by 2017 due to deforestation, the exotic pet trade and poaching. Oskar has firsthand experience dealing with deforestation as he spent four years living in Singapore and dealt with the issue. While there, he says there would sometimes be a heavy fog coming from all of the trees being burnt down in neighboring Malaysia.
Oskar is looking to raise awareness and support of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works to save orangutans in the wild, stop deforestation locally and create other profitable working opportunities for local farmers.
A donation jar can be found outside Caird Chapel on the AA campus. We hope that you will consider supporting this cause and congratulate Oskar on taking the initiative to get actively involved in making the world a better place!
Academy students impress at yo-yo contest
Andrew Maider '16 earned third place honors in the Sports Division at the Northeast Regional Yo-Yo Contest held on April 25 in Northampton, MA.
Noah Martin '18 and Arian Baghaei-Rad '16 also competed with Andrew on Sunday; all three faced some pretty stiff competition from all across New England!
Congratulations to Andrew on receiving his medal as well his fellow Academy competitors.
Blood drive a huge success!
The blood drive that took place on Monday in the AA Gym -- our second of the school year -- was a tremendous success for the American Red Cross.
More than 60 donors showed up to give blood, with 17 of them first-time donors. Forty four pints of blood were collected, surpassing the goal of 30 by a wide margin! The American Red Cross estimates that 132 potential lives were saved thanks to our students' efforts.
Many thanks to Red Cross Club Head Alydaar Rangwala (Form V) and faculty member Mark Wimmer for their work in coordinating the event.
Academy community joins in support of Afghan school
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On April 22, with the help of our school, the National Military Academy of Afghanistan (NMAA) was able to distribute supplies to the young female students of the Shahrak-e-Mili School in Kabul, Afghanistan.
The 127 backpacks filled with school supplies and textbooks were provided by many Academy families through a donation held recently. The Kabul school, which has no electricity and does not have a sufficient amount of desks and chairs for its students, is under construction for a new classroom building. With many of the classes overcrowded, a new building and some wonderful new supplies should certainly alleviate some of the challenges that the school faces. |
A U.S. Mentor Team working at NMAA expressed how appreciative the students, teachers, principal and local chief were of the generosity and kindness expressed by the members of the Academy community.
An up-close look at Academy athletics
We are well into the spring season at Albany Academy for Girls & The Albany Academy, and our student-athletes have much to be proud of this season. In this week's electronic newsletter, we wanted to highlight two of our outstanding teams -- the AAG Varsity Lacrosse Team & AA Varsity Baseball Team.
AAG VARSITY LACROSSE
Current record: 9-0
"We are off to a great start so far this season, which I would attribute to the dedication our girls have shown this season and last season. We graduated very few players from last year's team -- which made it all the way to the regional finals and posted a record of 19-1. That loss in regional finals left a hunger in our girls to make it to states this season.
We have a good balance on our team, led by Caroline Gersuk '10, Bridget Malicki '11 & Kaitlin Pericak '11 -- who have scored more than 25 goals this season. Defensively, Co-Captain Madison Daly '10 leads a senior-driven defense accompanied by Jill Verde '10 and Erica Eglow '10 -- who have stepped up big this season. Leddy Sullivan '10 has been a force in net.
Probably the most consistent player all season has been Polly Grey '11, not only in helping us get draw controls but also playing on both sides of the field. Emily Downie '12 has been amazing at being able to face our opponents' best players and shut them down. Finally, Katie Lukas '11, Emma Malicki '13 and Julia Baldwin '10 have each stepped up offensively in different games to lead our team to victory. It has been a great first half of the season and we look forward to a strong finish and hopefully a run at states." -- Greg Giombetti '89, AAG Varsity Lacrosse Head Coach
AA VARSITY BASEBALL
Current record: 6-2
"The successful start to our season is in large part due to the fact that we were a young team last year and the majority of those players are returning with experience. We also had a week of spring training in Florida this year that was invaluable to us and really helped us improve our game.
We are fortunate to have a quality pitching staff led by Brian Flood (Form VI) with 3 wins; and Christian Miller (Form V), Paolo LaPietra (Form V) and Ted Smallwood (Form IV) with 30 strikeouts in 20 innings pitched. Offensively, Hunter McCarthy (Form IV) and Mike Eglow (Form IV) are batting .500, followed by Justin Brock (Form IV) at .370, Albee Daley (Form V) at .296 and Nick Pichette (Form V) at .292." -- Dave Rider '73, AA Varsity Baseball Head Coach
All recent athletic results can be found in the Athletics section of our website.
ALBANY ACADEMY FOR GIRLS RESULTS
THE ALBANY ACADEMY RESULTS
All athletic schedules -- Varsity, JV, Freshman and Modified -- for the spring season are available in the Athletics section of our website.
ATHLETIC SCHEDULES
Flower Sale deadline is today!
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Don't forget that the deadline to order spring flowers in support of the Visiting Artists Series is today, April 30. The flower sale is put on by the Albany Academies Parents Association and features flowers from Verstandig's Nursery; flowers will arrive in time for Mother's Day!
SPRING FLOWER SALE ORDER FORM |
Show your Academy spirit!
Do you have children looking to display their school spirit? We have a great line of Spirit Wear items available that includes t-shirts for girls and boys, a zip-up jacket and hats.
If you have any questions, please contact Tracy Freed at freeds@berk.com.
AAG SPIRIT WEAR ORDER FORM
AA SPIRIT WEAR ORDER FORM
IMPORTANT UPCOMING EVENTS
Please note that there will not be a Lower School Assembly on Wednesday, May 5 or Wednesday, May 12; the next assembly is scheduled for Wednesday, May 19.
We encourage you to also mark your calendar for these upcoming events:
****Albany Academies Parents Association meeting -- May 4
8-9 a.m., Drawing Room, AAG campus
****Lower School Art Show -- May 7
1-2 p.m., AAG & AA campuses
There will be a concert at 1 p.m. in Caird Chapel on the AA campus. There will be an art show at 1 p.m. on the AAG campus immediately followed by a concert in the AAG Auditorium.
****Middle School Musical Performance -- May 12
Grades 5 & 6 Band and Choral performance from 2-3 p.m. in Caird Chapel.
Grades 7 & 8 Band, Strings and Choral performance from 6:30-7:30 p.m. in Caird Chapel. All students should be in full uniform; student arrival time is 6 p.m.
****Middle School Musical -- May 19
2-4 p.m., AAG Auditorium
A reception will follow in the AAG Cafeteria.
Albany Children's Book Festival -- May 15
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We are just two weeks away from the Albany Children's Book Festival and encourage you to make plans to attend this exciting event. Join us on Saturday, May 15 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Silipigno Athletic Facility on the AAG campus.
Many thanks to our sponsors of the Book Festival, including Austin & Co., Aviemore, CDPHP, The Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region, Drs. Decker, Sbuttoni, Boghosian, DiCerbo & Lawless, M & T Bank, AAPA, The Book House, MM Hayes, SEFCU, Shalimar Restaurant, Smalline and Harri, Attorneys, and the Spotlight Newspapers. |
BECOME A FACEBOOK FAN OF THE FESTIVAL!
A special website for the book festival has been created at www.albanychildrensbookfestival.com.
Summer Camp 2010 begins June 14!
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Summer Camp 2010 at the Academies is filling up quickly and we hope that your children will join us this summer. We will be offering a wide variety of classes through our LEAP Camp along with sports camps, a drivers education course and an SAT Prep Course.
If you or someone you know would like a printed brochure, please contact Director of External Affairs Ann Wendth at (518) 429-2385 or wendtha@albanyacademies.org. |
SUMMER CAMP 2010 BROCHURE
SUMMER CAMP 2010 REGISTRATION FORM
REGISTER ONLINE FOR SUMMER CAMP 2010.
Legacy of Dreams -- June 19
Please contact the Office of Institutional Advancement at (518) 429-2432 or
collins-schroedera@albanyacademies.org with any questions.
If you have any questions or comments about this electronic newsletter, please contact Ann Wendth, Director of External Affairs, at (518) 429-2385 or wendtha@albanyacademies.org, or Adam Doling, Communications Associate, at (518) 429-2344 or dolinga@albanyacademies.org.
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2010-2011 ACADEMIC CALENDAR
SPRING/SUMMER 2010 ISSUE OF A2 ACADEMIES MAGAZINE
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Stay up to date with our Online Calendar
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