A Centennial Celebration for All

Centennial Celebration Information

CA’s Centennial Celebration

Coinciding with Reunion 2023

Friday, June 9 – Sunday, June 11

All members of the CA community—alums, parents, students, faculty, and staff—are invited to campus for the grand finale of the school’s Centennial festivities!

Please join us for a variety of special Centennial activities, speaking programs, and experiences highlighting CA’s history, traditions, and values. We welcome the global CA network to campus for this historic event. Don’t miss this chance to celebrate CA’s first 100 years and help launch the next century.

 

Register

Who Is Coming

Edith Tucker

1955

Ann Carroll

1956

Marcia Synnott

1957

Lydia Menendez

1958

Natalie Churchill

1960

Erica Powers

1961

Ingrid Detweiler

1961

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SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Friday, June 9

3:00–7:00 p.m.

Registration and House Check-In

 

4:00 & 5:00 p.m.

Student-Led Campus Tours

 

4:00–6:00 p.m.

Opening of Centennial Archival Display and CA Oral History Project
Any time throughout the weekend, stop by the main school hallway to browse a decade-by-decade display of CA history in images and objects, based on stories shared in Concord Academy at 100: Voices from the First Century by Lucille Stott. There will also be an opportunity to contribute to a CA Centennial oral history project. Bring a friend and share your CA stories!

 

5:00 p.m.

CA’s Campus Today and The Vision for Tomorrow
Join Don Kingman, director of campus planning and construction, for a walking tour of CA’s main campus. Revisit favorite spots, learn about recent improvements, CA’s commitment to environmental sustainability, and plans that will allow students to thrive in CA’s second century.

 

4:30–6:00 p.m.

Concord Twilight Walking Tour
In partnership with Visit Concord, this 90-minute tour of Concord explores the streets and byways of the historic town CA calls home. Start the weekend immersed in the environment that has helped to shape our school’s culture.

 

6:00–8:00 p.m.

Welcome Reception
Enjoy an evening with friends under the stars with artisanal pizza, craft beer and wine, and s’mores by the fire.  

 

Saturday, June 10

8:00 a.m.

Yoga

 

8:00–9:30 a.m.

Breakfast in the Stu-Fac

 

10:00 a.m.

Walking Tours
Please choose one of these concurrent tours, offered in partnership with Visit Concord.

Women of Concord 
Learn from a CA faculty member about some of the remarkable women who fought for justice in Concord and contributed to a uniquely American literary and artistic vision.

Indigenous People of Concord 
Join a current CA faculty member to learn about the 10,000-year history of the Indigenous people of Concord (Musketaquid).

 

10:00 a.m.

Centennial Memorial Service
This special service will honor and celebrate members of the community who remain alive in our hearts, and whose memories we will carry forward into CA’s future.

 

10:00 & 11:00 a.m.

Student-Led Tours

11:00 a.m.

Alum Chorus Practice
All alums are invited to join former CA choral director Keith Daniel to practice selections to be performed during Saturday evening’s program. No prior choral experience is necessary.

 

11:00 a.m.

The History of CA’s Campus: An Augmented Reality Tour
CA faculty and students have developed a mobile app that lets you experience the campus in a new way. In this interactive program, you will encounter stories from the people who inhabited CA’s land and spaces long before the school was founded. A smart device is encouraged to fully experience the tour via the Hoverlay app (available on the Apple App Store and Google Play).

 

11:30 a.m.

Lunch for All Classes

 

CA’s Mission in Motion

Centennial Speaker Series

1:00-4:45 p.m.

CA alums contribute to positive change across generations and through a wide range of fields. We can’t imagine a better way to celebrate this milestone than shining a light on change makers who embody values at the heart of Concord Academy. On Saturday afternoon, CA authors, scientists, activists, creatives, journalists, educators, and difference-makers will lead stimulating conversations in a variety of settings and formats.

Drew Gilpin Faust ’64
Gail Weinmann ’67
Julia Preston ’69
Lucy McFadden ’70
David Michaelis ’75
Richard Read ’75
Jody Heymann ’77
Lara Jordan James ’80
Catherine Gund ’83
Sonia Lo ’84
Lisa Dreier ’85
Turahn Dorsey ’89
Imani Perry ’90
Tremaine Wright ’90
Peter de Blank ’92
Danielle Lee ’93
Rachel Morrison ’96
Alexandra Berzon ’97
Susanna Fogel ’98
Dave Cavell ’02
Julian Joslin ’05
Freddie Tunnard ’07
Zack Winokur ’07
Natalia Winkelman ’11
Connor McCann ’14
Henry Fairfax, head of school
Amy Spencer, former faculty
Lucille Stott, former faculty

Be sure to check out the conversation descriptions and speaker bios. Please note, program details are subject to change. Can’t make it to campus? All conversations will be recorded. Check back after the event for the full list of recordings.

5:00 p.m.

Student-Led Campus Tours

 

5:00 p.m.

The History of CA’s Campus: An Augmented Reality Tour
CA faculty and students have developed a mobile app that lets you experience the campus in a new way. In this interactive program, you will encounter stories from the people who inhabited CA’s land and spaces long before the school was founded. A smart device is encouraged to fully experience the tour via the Hoverlay app (available on the Apple App Store and Google Play).

 

6:30–10:00 p.m.

Centennial Celebration and Dinner
We’ll gather for a memorable evening filled with music and joy. Together we’ll toast an unforgettable milestone, 100 years in the making.

 

Sunday, June 11

8:30–11:00 a.m.

Farewell Brunch

This is a preliminary schedule. Check back for updates and additional program details.

Pricing

Pricing Philosophy:
Your lasting connection to your school is invaluable, which is why Concord Academy covers a significant amount of the costs of Centennial Celebration and reunion activities. Fees associated with this event help offset, but do not cover, the expense of the weekend. If cost is a barrier for you to attend, please contact Merrill Genoa.


Centennial Celebration Weekend Packages:
Full Weekend Package: $150*
Saturday Centennial All-Day Pass: $100
Saturday Evening Only: $75

*The full weekend package includes all meals, entertainment, activities, and programs. Friday and Saturday dinners include beer and wine for attendees 21 and older.


CAYAC Discount (Graduates from the Classes of 2008–2022):
Full Weekend Package: $125
Saturday Centennial All-Day Pass: $75
Saturday Evening Only: $60

On-Campus Housing:
For those who want to be close to events without driving worries, housing on campus is available for $100 for Friday and Saturday nights. The housing charge is per bed for your entire stay, regardless of whether you stay one or two nights. Breakfast is included. Please visit the Local Hotels and Accommodations section for more information.


Kids’ Club Pricing:
Child care is available during the Centennial Celebration. Please visit the Kids’ Club section for pricing and an overview of the program.

Local Hotels and Accommodations

On-Campus Housing:
Housing on campus is available for a $100 fee for Friday and Saturday nights.

Accommodations are in CA’s Main Street Houses, with a choice of single or double rooms, all with shared baths.

Classmates will be housed together whenever possible, and friends who would like to share rooms should note their request on the registration form. Pets are not permitted. CA’s houses are not air-conditioned, and many beds are lofted (on risers). If you require accessible housing, please email Meredith Walsh.

On-campus housing is offered on a first-come, first-served basis. The room will be booked for Friday and Saturday night, regardless of whether you stay one or two nights. We encourage you to register early to secure your stay in the houses.

Room Blocks at Local Hotels:

Special nightly rates are available at local hotels for those attending the Centennial Celebration. Room blocks are available at the following locations for Friday, June 9, and Saturday, June 10, 2023:

Residence Inn Concord
CA discounted rate: $279/per night
*Book by May 10 to receive discounted rate.
(978) 341-0003

Concord’s Colonial Inn
(rates are listed per night)
Prescott Queen: $189
Main Inn King: $225
Main Inn Queen: $215
*Book by April 27 to receive discounted rate.

Please call (978) 369-9200 or reserve online using the code 2306CONCOR.

Shuttles will be provided on Saturday evening to and from the hotels listed above.


Other Local Hotels:

Aloft Lexington
727 Marrett Road, Lexington
Visit website
(781) 761-1700

Doubletree Bedford Glen Hotel
44 Middlesex Turnpike, Bedford
Visit website
(781) 275-5500

Element Lexington
727 Marrett Road, Lexington
Visit website
(781) 761-1750

Hawthorne Inn
462 Lexington Road, Concord
Visit website
(978) 369-5610

The Inn at Hastings Park
2027 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington
Visit website
(781) 301-6660

If you are local to CA and willing to house guests free of charge for the Centennial Celebration, please contact Meredith Walsh.

Kids’ Club

We hope you will bring your family with you to Concord! Kids’ Club welcomes children on Saturday evening, with dinner and activities included. We kindly request that all children be toilet-trained, and between the ages of 3 and 12.

Please register for Kids’ Club as part of the full event registration. If online registration is not an option for you, please contact Hannah Dunphy or call (978) 402–2238. Note that advance registration for all child care is required to ensure adequate staffing.

Drop-Off and Pick-up Times

5:30 p.m. – Drop-Off
9:30 p.m.–9:45 p.m. – Pick-Up

Pricing

$50 for the first child
$40 for the second child
$30 for the third child
$20 per child for any additional children

Additional Family-Friendly Activities

You are welcome to accompany your child to any of the following events that are available for future chameleons. Please note that children 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult at all activities except for Saturday evening Kids’ Club.

Saturday, June 10

1:00 p.m. – Animal Adventures
2:00–5:00 p.m. – Pool Open, lifeguard on duty

Families can also enjoy canoeing the Sudbury River or cruise around town on CA boarding bikes. Or make your way to Moriarty Athletic Campus to enjoy pick-up soccer, baseball, and lawn games.

Additional Information

Parking at CA

Parking on campus is located at two locations:

  • West Gate
    CA Main Campus
    166 Main Street, Concord, MA
  • Moriarty Athletic Campus
    157 Fairhaven Road, Concord, MA
    The Moriarty Athletic Campus is 1 mile from campus; shuttles will be provided to and from main campus on Saturday evening.

Public Parking

    • Main Street (free overnight April–October)
    • Concord Municipal Lot located at 150 Keyes Road (.2 miles) free overnight
    • Concord Station Parking (.3 miles)
    • Middle Street (.2 miles)
    • Sudbury Road (.4 miles)
    • Alcott Elementary School (.6 miles)
    • Everett Street by Emerson Field (.7 miles) parking only on the field side allowed

Try the town of Concord’s parking app. It allows you to use your phone’s location to show where you can park.

Remember to minimize your carbon footprint by walking to campus if possible, or carpool with friends to help reduce the number of vehicles on the road.

Suggestions for Attire

New England weather can be unpredictable this time of year, so be sure to check the weather forecast. Many of the activities will be outside under tents, so please dress accordingly.

Visit Concord

Visit Concord is a great resource for helping you make the most of your time back in Concord. Be sure to stop by the Visitor Center on Main Street while you’re here! We are pleased to be partnered with them to offer tour opportunities for Centennial Celebration attendees.

Campus Facilities and Area Transportation

The weekend can be a mini-vacation for the whole family. Swim in CA’s pool, canoe on the river, or use the tennis courts, fitness room, and fields. Train schedules will be available for trips into Cambridge and Boston. Take advantage of all that the Boston area has to offer on your own or with your spouse, partner, guests, and children!

Admissions Information

Families considering independent schools for their children are invited to take a closer look at CA during the Centennial Celebration. CA admissions officers will be available on Friday from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. to speak with families on an individual basis who may be interested in applying to Concord Academy. Please contact Merrill Genoa to arrange an appointment.

Contact Us

Please reach out with any questions!

Program
Hilary Rouse
Director of Engagement
(978) 402-2217
hilary_rouse@concordacademy.org

Registration
Merrill Genoa
Annual Fund and Alumnae/i Program Officer
(978) 402-2248
merrill_genoa@concordacademy.org

Housing
Meredith Walsh
Assistant Director of Engagement and Parent Programs
(978) 402- 2569
meredith_walsh@concordacademy.org

Childcare and Kids’ Club
Hannah Dunphy
Annual Fund and Alumnae/i Programs Officer
(978) 402-2238
hannah_dunphy@concordacademy.org

Service and Sustainability at CA: Highlights from 100 Years

Throughout Concord Academy’s history, our students, faculty, and staff have taken action to care for one another and our earth. In these highlights from CA’s 100 years, we see exemplified a common commitment to service and sustainability.

Service During World War II

During the 1940s, CA students supported war relief efforts by knitting, sending care packages, staging plays, and doing chores to raise funds. They trained as plane spotters on Nashawtuc Hill, practiced first aid, and prepared surgical dressings for local blood banks. Many young alums served overseas—Headmistress Wheeler’s scrapbook from 1942 lists 33 in service in the Women’s Army Corps, Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, and the Red Cross. Faculty also served in the Red Cross, including English teachers Doreen Young and Mary Manso, who was awarded the Army’s Medal of Freedom. This commemorative painting hangs in the J. Josephine Tucker library.

Good Citizens

In CA’s early years, a coveted white jacket—a prize for citizenship—was awarded annually to one senior. Headmistress Elizabeth B. Hall ended the tradition, placing importance on good citizenship for all students. “We need to serve in order to be our whole selves,” she said in an assembly in November 1960. In the following decade, CA’s curriculum began to reflect that. Ruth Scult, a social worker, taught an influential course in community service, taking students on field trips to the Framingham Women’s prison and what was then called the Fernald State School, where they interacted with children with disabilities. Illustration by Elizabeth M. Corey ’59.

Environmental Conference & Earth Day

Several months before the first national Earth Day, CA students organized an Environmental Crisis Conference. Held in December 1969, the gathering welcomed 230 representatives from 20 public and private schools, along with elected officials and environmental professionals. A few months later, CA celebrated the first Earth Day in 1970 by setting up information-exhibit booths at several locations in downtown Concord. Along with students from Xavier, Concord-Carlisle High School, and Middlesex, they showed their concern about the environmental crisis with exhibits highlighting pollution in the Concord area and urged townspeople to take public transportation.

Joan Shaw Herman Award

In 1976, the Alumnae/i Association established the Joan Shaw Herman Award for Distinguished Service. The only award given by Concord Academy, it was established to honor the life of Joan Shaw Herman ’46. Despite being stricken with polio and often confined to an iron lung, Herman dedicated her life to improving the well-being of others with disabilities. Since it was first given to her posthumously, over 40 alums have received this award in recognition of their service—they have exemplified generosity and have shared with our community their own visions of a better world.

Winterfest

Decemberfest, the precursor to today’s Winterfest, began in 1982 as a means of raising money for A Better Chance, a nonprofit organization that works to recruit and develop leaders among young people of color in the U.S. Since then, students have continued to organize the fundraising event for financial aid at CA, then in most recent years, for an organization of their choosing. In February 2022, students hosted Winterfest to raise money for the Loveland Foundation, which brings opportunity and healing to communities of color, especially to Black women and girls.

Volunteerism Reinvigorated

The 1990s saw a renewed interest in service at CA. A Centipede article from 1989 acknowledged the influence of Jen Quest-Stern ’90 and Catherine Moellering ’90 in revitalizing the Volunteers in Action (VIA) club, whose members served in soup kitchens, visited area nursing homes, and spent time with disabled adults at Minute Man Arc. In 1993, the club took a different name, United for the Community (UFC), organizing weekly trips to after-school programs for elementary school students, among other activities. From the sale of ceramics to benefit Rosie’s Place to the Needle Arts Club’s knitting of hats for premature infants, CA students used their time and talents to benefit their communities.

Environmental Science Reimagined

A new Environmental Science course introduced at CA in 1993 built on teaching that fostered practical, applied, and experimental learning—getting students out into rivers, fields, and forests as well as the laboratory. The spring 1994 issue of CA Magazine says it “began with a few basic intentions: to place students at the heart of scientific inquiry, sharing with them the wonder and excitement of scientific discovery; to engage students in hands-on work, making them active participants and critical thinkers rather than passive learners; and, to encourage advance study in the sciences, preparing students for the enormous challenges ahead in the 21st century.”

Hurricane Katrina Support

After Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005, the CA community channeled empathy into action, raising more than $15,000 for relief efforts through a blues concert, Concord Academy Students in Action (CASA) bake sales, and, most importantly, canceling the annual advisor-advisee dinner and reallocating those funds. CA also welcomed two brothers from Louisiana who had been displaced by the hurricane. In June 2007, a large group of students and faculty headed to the Gulf Coast to help rebuild homes and engage in other relief efforts, and additional groups did the same over the next several summers.

Polar Plunge

In December 2007, several CA students and Academic Dean John Drew braved a frigid Walden Pond in the name of the fight to reduce global warming. The Polar Plunge was part of protests organized worldwide to coincide with the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali. Environmental actions on campus became sustained during this decade. The year before, CA’s Green Club began a composting program in the dining hall that continues to this day.

CA Service Trips

The first of a series of CA-sponsored service trips began in 2007. Within the U.S., students traveled to help local communities in Kiln, Miss., and New Orleans; Washington, D.C.; West Virginia; South Dakota; and Vermont. Environmental and education-focused trips also brought CA students to Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua. Over seven trips between 2009 and 2016, math teacher and former Peace Corps volunteer George Larivee accompanied a total of 89 CA students who built libraries in small Nicaraguan communities and taught in local primary schools.

Environmental Activism

In 2019, young CA alums such as Audrey Lin ’19 began taking leadership roles in the Sunrise Movement of young people fighting for climate action in the U.S. That spring, CA students succeeded in urging the Town of Concord’s Select Board to approve a resolution supporting a Green New Deal. On September 30, 2019, some 300 members of the CA campus community protested in Boston during a Global Climate Strike. And CA’s Environmental Symposium—begun decades ago as a local consortium—continues today as a fall-semester course that connects students with climate activists and alums and experts in environmental science.

CA's Sustainability Plan

In 2019, Concord Academy became one of the first independent schools in the Northeast to release a comprehensive sustainability plan. The plan’s goals include dedicating faculty/staff time to sustainability efforts and reducing campus greenhouse emissions and food and energy waste. Learn more.