Special Projects

 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION SPECIAL PROJECTS

Below are some of the special projects that the Alumni Association has conducted or participated since it was formed. 

2010 - 2018 SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM - Each year, the Alumni Association raises money from its members to award scholarships to deserving seniors. To date, the Association has awarded 61 scholarships for a total of $65,000..

2009-2018 - REUNION PLANNING AND ASSISTANCE Each year, the Association assists 10-15 classes in planning their reunions and communicating the news to classmates. One specific benefit of this has been the growth of multi-class reunions where one class invites the members of the years around it to join them in their reunions. This is possible only because of the ability to email additional classes without cost. More classes are participating in this every year. 

2018 - ENHANCEMENTS TO  AUDIO\VISUAL SYSTEMS: The Alumni Association had been searching for a project that would benefit the entire Albemarle High School staff, teachers and students and former Principal Jay Thomas and current Principal Dr. Jesse Turner recommended that we fund improvements to the sound and visual capabilities of the two most used areas in the school for meetings and presentations - the cafeteria and the media center (the former library). The project was competitively bid and, with generous discounts provided by Crutchfield Electronics, the Alumni Association was able to fund the $17,000 project. Thanks to the generosity of the AHS Alumni Association Supporting Members, the entire AHS community now enjoys this new capability. 

2017 - THE JACKSON P. BURLEY MONUMENT WALL: When Albemarle County's high schools were consolidated into Albemarle High School, Jackson P. Burley High School remained open and served as the only the high school for Charlottesville and Albemarle County students of color. In later years, Burley High School students were integrated into AHS and Burley was closed. Several years ago, the Burley Varsity Club, the school's alumni group,  began an effort to build the Jackson P. Burley Monument Wall to commemorate memories of the school, its students, and its namesake. The monument will feature the names of every former student as well as members of the faculty, staff, and administration that could be identified by the organizers of the effort. The $90,000 fundraising effort to provide funds for building the wall was short of its goal when groundbreaking neared in the fall of 2017. It was a time of unrest in Charlottesville and members of the Association felt it was important for members of the AHS community to show their unity with the graduates of one of the county's most important schools, and it voted to make a $2,000 contribution to the project. The wall is currently under construction and the organizers of the project have invited all AHS alumni to the unveiling ceremony on September 29.

2012 - MARCHING BAND UNIFORMS - The Alumni Association supported a project to buy new uniforms for the Marching Patriots Band and encouraged its members to donate.  

2012 - AHS TURF FIELD PROJECT - The Alumni Association publicized this large project to install a turf field at the school for sports and physical education uses. Alumni members supported the project, and a major donation was made by Hall of Fame member Ms. Hunter J. Smith.

2011 - "10,000 MEMORIES" PUBLISHED - The Alumni Association compiled and published a book of memories of Mr. Hurt. More than 700 remembrances were provided by the 10,000 students that graduated while Mr. Hurt was principal. That is over 1 in every 3 former students who we were able to contact. More than 400 copies of the book have been sold with all proceeds going to the Alumni Association.

2011 - "A NIGHT TO REMEBER" - A special "retirement party" was held for Mr. Hurt 28 years after he retired. over 750 former graduates and other friends of Albemarle attended the event. 

2009 - WEBSITE AND EMAIL COMMUNICATION BEGUN - The Alumni Association launched its website in 2009 and began collecting the emails addresses of graduates. Since its inception, the home page has been visited by AHS Alumni more than 250,000 times and more than 7,000 graduates have received, in total, more than 1 million emails telling them about reunions, class news, obituaries, and other AHS news.