Albany Academy for Girls is an independent college-preparatory day school for girls in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

, United States, enrolling students from

preschool A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an school, educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they ...

(age 3) to

grade 12 Twelfth Grade (also known as Grade 12, Senior Year, Standard 12, 12th Standard, 12th Class, or Class 12th or Class 12) is the twelfth and final year of formal or compulsory education. It is typically the final year of secondary school and K–12 ...

. Founded in 1814 by Ebenezer Foote as the ''Albany Female Academy'', AAG is the oldest independent girls day school in the United States. It is located on the corners of Hackett Boulevard and Academy Road, across the street from its brother school

The Albany Academy Albany Academy is an independent college preparatory day school in Albany, New York. It enrolls students from Prekindergaten (age 4) to Grade 12. It was established in 1813 by a charter signed by Mayor Philip Schuyler Van Rensselaer and the cit ...

. In July 2007, the administrative teams of The Albany Academy and Albany Academy for Girls merged into The Albany Academies. Both schools bring with them deeply treasured values of community, tradition and purpose. In 2024, the school continued its campus realignment efforts and launched a rebrand of the unified school as "Albany Academy."

Collaboration with The Albany Academy

The Board of Trustees announced that

and Albany Academy for Girls would merge into The Albany Academies in July 2007. In 2024, the school continued campus realignment efforts and became known as Albany Academy. Single-gender education will continue in the Middle School, while Lower School and Upper School students are now co-educational. Christopher Lauricella currently serves as the Head of School.

Accreditation and memberships

The Albany Academies are accredited by the

New York State Association of Independent Schools The New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) is an association of 204 independent schools and organizations, ranging from nurseries to high schools, in New York (state), New York State. Founded in 1947, NYSAIS is the second la ...

and recognized by the Regents of the State of New York. The Albany Academies are a member of the following associations: the

College Board The College Board, styled as CollegeBoard, is an American not-for-profit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education. While the College Board is not an asso ...

, the

Cum Laude Society The Cum Laude Society is an international organization that honors academic achievement at secondary institutions, similar to the Phi Beta Kappa, which honors academic achievements at the university level. History The Cum Laude Society was fo ...

, the

National Association of Independent Schools The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) is a U.S.-based membership organization for private, nonprofit, K-12 schools. Founded in 1962, NAIS represents independent schools and associations in the United States, including day, board ...

, the

Educational Records Bureau Educational Records Bureau (ERB) is a private, American educational nonprofit organization that provides standardized tests for both admissions (entrance exams) and annual assessments for 2,000 private and selective public schools during pre-K ...

, the

Capital Region Independent Schools Association The Capital Region Independent Schools Association (Crisa) includes 18 private, independent schools in the region of New York State. * Academy of the Holy Names, Albany (Girls, Day, K-12, Roman Catholic) * The Albany Academy, Albany (Boys, Day, ...

, the

Association of Boys' Schools Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

, the

Secondary Schools Admission Test Board The Enrollment Management Association, formerly known as the Secondary School Admission Test Board (SSATB), is a nonprofit organization founded in 1957 in the United States by independent school admission officers with three goals in mind: to provi ...

, and the

New England Prep School Athletic Association New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 19 ...

Alumnae

Notable alumnae include: *

Anne Lynch Botta Anne Charlotte Lynch Botta (November 11, 1815 – March 23, 1891) was an American poet, writer, teacher and socialite whose home was the central gathering place of the literary elite of her era. Biography Early life She was born Anne Charlotte L ...

, poet, author, teacher, socialite *

Magdalene Isadora La Grange Magdalene Merritt (, LaGrange; September 17, 1864 – 1935) was an American poet. She published two volumes, ''Songs of the Helderberg'' (1893) and ''Helderberg harmonies'' (1909). Early life and education Magdalene Isadora La Grange was born in ...

, poet *

Mary Gardiner Horsford Mary Gardiner Horsford (born Mary L'Hommedieu Gardiner; September 27, 1824 – November 25, 1855) was an American poet and the wife of chemist Eben Norton Horsford. Mary L'Hommedieu Gardiner was born in New York City, the daughter of Samuel Smit ...

, poet *

Mary Blanchard Lynde Mary Blanchard Lynde (December 4, 1819 – June 26, 1897) was an American philanthropist and social reformer, active in all of the progressive women's movements in Wisconsin. She was the co-founder of the Wisconsin Industrial School for Girls, an ...

, philanthropist and social reformer *

Mary Margaretta Fryer Manning Mary Margaretta Fryer Manning (1844–1928) was an American social leader with wide experience in business, social, and philanthropic areas. During the years that her husband, Daniel Manning, held the portfolio of the United States Secretary of ...

, socialite *

Jane Stanford Jane Elizabeth Lathrop Stanford (August 25, 1828 – February 28, 1905) was an American philanthropist and co-founder of Stanford University in 1885 (opened 1891), along with her husband, Leland Stanford, in memory of their only child, Leland S ...

, co-founder of

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

alongside her husband

Leland Stanford Amasa Leland Stanford (March 9, 1824June 21, 1893) was an American attorney, industrialist, philanthropist, and Republican Party (United States), Republican Party politician from Watervliet, New York. He served as the eighth governor of Calif ...

Elise Stefanik Elise Marie Stefanik ( ; born July 2, 1984) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for . As chair of the House Republican Conference from 2021 to 2025, she was the fourth-ranking House Republican. Stefanik's district covers ...

, politician *Rev.

Caroline Soule Caroline A. Soule (, White; September 3, 1824 – December 6, 1903), was an American novelist, poet, religious writer, editor, and ordained Universalist minister, who was in 1880 the first woman to be ordained as a minister in the United Ki ...

, first woman ordained in the UK * Harriet Mabel Spalding, litterateur, poet

Faculty/administration

John Chester John Chester is an American filmmaker and television director. Early life Chester grew up in Ocean City, Maryland, and graduated in 1990 from Stephen Decatur High School (Maryland). Work Chester's first primetime television docu-series aired ...

, second president of

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (; RPI) is a private university, private research university in Troy, New York, United States. It is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world and the Western Hemisphere. It was establishe ...

* John Ely,

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Doris Grumbach Doris M. Grumbach (''née'' Isaac; July 12, 1918 – November 4, 2022) was an American novelist, memoirist, biographer, literary critic, and essayist. She taught at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

biographer Biographers are authors who write an account of another person's life, while autobiographers are authors who write their own biography. Biographers Countries of working life: Ab=Arabia, AG=Ancient Greece, Al=Australia, Am=Armenian, AR=Ancient Rome ...

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

, and

essayist An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

She died in 2022 *

Eben Norton Horsford Eben Norton Horsford (July 27, 1818 – January 1, 1893) was an American scientist who taught agricultural chemistry in the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard from 1847 to 1863. Later he was known for his reformulation of baking powder, his i ...

, chemist and

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

enthusiast * Caroline B. Mason, educator, the only person in the United States to head two schools simultaneously * Anne Montgomery,

RSCJ The Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (; ), abbreviated RSCJ, is a Catholic centralized religious institute of consecrated life of pontifical right for women established in France by Madeleine Sophie Barat in 1800. History Madeleine Sophi ...

, non-violent activist and educator

In media

*In ''The Official Preppy Handbook'', edited by Lisa Birnbach, an Albany Academy for Girls admissions pamphlet is pictured among others in a section titled "Preparing to Prep: Picking the School for You"

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albany Academy For Girls 1814 establishments in New York (state) Education in Albany, New York Educational institutions established in 1814 Girls' schools in New York (state) Preparatory schools in New York (state) Private schools in Capital District (New York) Private K–12 schools in New York (state) Private high schools in Albany County, New York Organizations based in Albany, New York