Alumni Weekend Highlights
WA Alumni Honored with Awards During Reunion Weekend
The Woodstock Academy hosted its annual Alumni Weekend on October 13 and 14. Alumni from near and far came together to celebrate their shared Woodstock Academy experiences and reconnect with classmates. Highlights of the weekend included:
Awards Ceremonies: The Athletic Hall of Fame, Hall of Excellence, and Distinguished Alumni Award for Service to Alma Mater awards were the focal points of the weekend.
“To be able to share those moments with our alumni and their families and honor them with awards was amazing,” said Brad Favreau, Director of Alumni Relations at The Woodstock Academy. “Each of these people have made outstanding contributions to The Academy in their own way and are deserving of this recognition.”
The Athletic Hall of Fame inducted Shaila (Segal) Chandler ’13 for gymnastics (presented by Brad Favreau ’88), Franklin Converse ’50 (posthumously, presented by Brad Favreau ’88, accepted by grandson Tom Converse ‘01), Baseball Coach David Greer (presented by Marc Allard), and the 2013 Boys Basketball State Championship Team (presented by Holly Singleton ’86), which included players Ian Converse ’13, Tristan Welch ’13, Sullivan Gardner ’13, Jake Almquist ’13, Cameron Henry ’13, Chris Lowry ’14, Trent Peters ’14, John McGinn ’14, Will Bourgeois ’14, Zach Loughead ’14, Kyle Duethorne ’14, Adam Converse ’15, Oliver Simon ’15, and coaches Greg Smith, Mike Bourgeois, Dave Magee, and Earnest Graham.
Presented by Dr. Michael Harten, Dean of Academics at The Academy, Dr. Jerry Kuper ’72 was the recipient of the inaugural Hall of Excellence Award, which is given to an alumna/us that embodies the mission of The Academy and inspires the next generation of global citizens, thinkers, and innovators. Throughout his esteemed career as an optical scientist, Kuper coinvented 17 U.S. patents on lasers, fiber optics, and illumination systems. His career also afforded him the opportunity to work with world-renowned scientists, including Nobel Prize winner Dr. Richard Smalley, and he has helped explore and expand the frontiers of various aspects of scientific knowledge.
“During my time at The Woodstock Academy, I was inspired by my interactions with many of my teachers. Their encouragement and guidance put me on the path of my future endeavors,” said Kuper.
The Distinguished Alumni Award is given to an alum who has shown an exceptional measure of service to The Woodstock Academy or to society. Awardees have made significant contributions benefitting their community, state, nation, world, or The Academy. Presented by John Rauh, Jeri (Carpenter) Musumeci ’63, and Martha (Arvidson) Beckwith ’80, it was with great honor that we presented the Distinguished Alumni Award for Service to Alma Mater to Paul Kelly ’69, highlighting his outstanding contributions to The Woodstock Academy community during his remarkable 40-year tenure serving as a Trustee and Foundation Director. For much of that time, he led the Board’s Finance and Nominating Committees. He helped develop and create The Woodstock Academy Foundation and served as a founding Director of that board and as a Treasurer for 13 years. In addition to this award, the South Campus turf field and track was officially dedicated as Kelly Field in his honor.
Alumni Art Show: Alumni had the chance to both submit work and explore the Then & Now alumni art show in the Gallery at Loos Center for the Arts, which features submissions of alumni work from when they were Academy students, and a recent piece of work to accompany it. Then & Now is open to the public now through November 16. Exhibit viewing hours can be found at theloos.org/gallery.
Alumni Dinner & Portrait Reveal: The weekend concluded with a dinner at Loos Center for the Arts, where attendees enjoyed a meal and witnessed portrait reveals for Lauren Anderson ’63 and Paul Kelly ’69. The portraits were photographed by Guy Grube ’61 and will be displayed in the Grube Galerie on North Campus among other works of notable WA alumni and community members.
“We had a successful alumni weekend on so many levels. Over the course of the two days, more than 150 alumni were able to reconnect with WA and their classmates,” said Favreau. “We have already begun planning for next year,” he added.
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The Woodstock Academy is an independent, day and boarding, co-educational, college preparatory high school for grades 9–12 and postgraduates located in Woodstock, CT. The mission of The Woodstock Academy is to prepare all students by providing diverse opportunities through a rigorous curriculum and a variety of programs in order to cultivate the necessary skills to become lifelong learners and global citizens.
