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Keynote Address

ALBEMARLE HIGH SCHOOL KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Leonard Sandridge ('60)

April 26, 2013

Thank you and let me add my welcome to you and your families. 

I am delighted to see so many of you here and I am honored to share brief reflections as your representative this evening.This will be a time of celebration and a time to visit with classmates and friends that you may not see regularly.

Indeed, we have a full program this evening and I guess I am the one standing between you and the really fun things you came here to enjoy. So, let me assure you that I know a good keynote address is a short keynote address – and, on that point, I will not disappoint you.

Each of you represents a special chapter in the history of Albemarle High School and in our history collectively as “alumni.” Given that the school is almost 60 years old, the experiences that we had as students are in many ways very dissimilar – literally, as they say, decades apart. 

When I was here, Eisenhower was President, gas cost 24 cents a gallon and the 1957 Plymouth was the hottest thing on the car market.  Not so for those who have graduated more recently.And yet what brings us together this evening is what we share in common as AHS alumni.

When one looks at the accomplishments of the Albemarle alumni it is obvious that you are in every part of society and in every walk of life. And while I am certainly a bit biased, you have been very successful. You have served our country, you have contributed to your local community wherever it is today, and you have taken on every profession, service, and trade we can imagine. 

To a substantial degree, Albemarle High School is where we established our core values, started to grow up and began our journey – of course, that growing up was faster for some than others – but we all got there. This is the place where we learned not only about biology, Latin, math, industrial arts and Spanish – but we also learned how to run a club, compete in a sport, become an actress, play a musical instrument and act with integrity in all that we do.

Each of us has a core group of friends from our time here that we keep in touch with, people we seek out in a crowd just to be able to ask them how they are doing. Or, to state it another way, we formed life-long friendships here.Each of us have mentors and role models in our lives – in many cases they are family members – but for most of us, our mentors include a teacher or a principal or a bus driver or a coach or another student who we encountered here a AHS. 

Tonight is a reminder of the important experiences we had here at Albemarle – it was not perfect but it was what we needed at the time and I am confident most of us feel our days here have served us well over the years. 

In my case, I had an opportunity to attend a new consolidated high school here at Albemarle that provided many more opportunities than the 11 grades offered at Crozet High School where I started my public school experience -- in large part because of the vision of Superintendent Paul Cale, Sr. 

I was able to go to College because an Assistant Superintendent, Leslie Walton took the time to take me and two other students to visit the University of Richmond – and then helped me apply for financial aid and find a job so I could pay my way through college.

I got my college application in on time because Mrs. Dofflemyer reminded me of the deadline. 

And like any of you who were here at that time, I have a long list of “Lessons Learned” from Mr. Hurt.

I failed at a few things too – I never quite got the biscuits right in Mrs. Hurt's Home Eco exploratory class.  And I was far too slow to run the 880 in track – but in the process, I learned from Coach Null that when things get tough you can always dig down and do a little more – a lesson that I have never forgotten. 

Indeed each of us can recount our mentors, personal experiences and life lessons that we took from here. Regardless of what you have done since you left Albemarle, I dare say that you have done it with a little more integrity, energy and good judgment because of what you leaned here at this school.

So tonight is a time to reflect, to catch up and to commit to do what we can to make sure those students who follow us have the same opportunities in the Albemarle County public schools today that we had. 

Our Alumni Association is an important vehicle for getting engaged and for sharing our time, talents and resources in support of the next generation of students.

This also is a night to remember our classmates and teachers who are no longer with us. While that fact is always in the backs of our minds, we especially remember and miss them when we gather at times like this.

I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the significant role that several of our classmates have played in establishing the AHS Alumni Association and making all of this possible.

Connie Crenshaw imagined what was possible and took the first steps; other key volunteers believed in the effort and joined Connie, including Penny Layman Ray, Charles Terry, Karen Viar, Stan Maupin and Gay Norford Loftin. These pioneers and many others who became involved along the way created an AHS alumni association that is informative, effective and fun.   All of us are in your debt.

Please join me in thanking them.

It is now time for us to move on to the portion of the evening that you and I are here to enjoy.  Thank you for letting me be a small part of this special occasion