THE DOANE STUART SCHOOL’S 30TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION  Student Ambassadors Noel McKenzie ’06, Hildy Marinello ’07, Kendra Thomson ’07, and Carter Neugarten ’06 present an exquisite anniversary cake at the 30th Anniversary celebration on October 15, 2005.
Albany, NY - The Doane Stuart School marked its 30th Anniversary with a weekend extravaganza on October 15 and 16. Alumni, parents, grandparents, trustees and friends returned to campus for a grand celebration, which provided events and offerings as diverse as the school itself. One of the highlights of the weekend was the creation of a traditional Buddhist sand mandala in Doane Stuart’s historic Gothic-Revival Chapel. The mandala was created through an intricate process involving painstaking funneling of multi-colored grains of sand into elaborate geometric shapes. Over the course of five days, the mandala grew to five feet in diameter. On the final day of the weekend, the mandala was dismantled, according to Buddhist tradition, signifying the impermanence of all that exists.
The School hosted a 30th Anniversary Grand Buffet on Saturday, October 15. Both the Roman Catholic Bishop of Albany, Howard J. Hubbard and Davis S. Ball, Bishop in Residence of the Episcopal Cathedral of All Saints, offered moving opening prayers, uniting our twin Catholic/Protestant Heritage. The Bishops were followed by Madeleine Ortman, Executive Director of the Network of the Sacred Heart Schools and the Rev. Peter G. Cheney, Executive Director of the National Association of Episcopal Schools, who welcomed Anniversary attendees to the Grand Buffet.
The Doane Stuart School enjoys the distinction of being the only successfully merged Catholic-Protestant school in the country. In 1975, the Roman-Catholic Kenwood Academy of the Sacred Heart, founded in 1852, and the Episcopal Saint Agnes School, founded in 1870 merged and were renamed The Doane Stuart School in recognition of their heritage. The Doane Stuart School has shared a home with the Sisters of The Kenwood Convent since its merger, and in 1999 Doane Stuart offered a home to a local Buddhist congregation, which continues to worship on the campus.
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