Alumnae Letter

Winter 2022

Dear Alverno Alumnae, I hope 2022 is off to a good start for you and your families. This Alumnae Magazine highlights many of the activities of the new year, introduces new employees (including Genevieve Ostrander, our new Director of Alumnae Relations and Advancement), and includes our Philanthropy Report for the 2020-21 school year. Alverno is in full swing even though we had to delay returning to school for one week due to the Omicron surge. It has been a busy school year with much hope and joy to be back on campus. Our theme this year is “Be Brave Enough to be the Light” for the Upper School and “Be the Light” for the Lower School, which was inspired by the inaugural poem by Amanda Gorman. All of our students and faculty have embraced the themes whole-heartedly as evidenced by the articles in this magazine. The effects of COVID-19 and the eighteen month lockdown was hard on the community, but it could not keep us down. Alverno has risen to the challenge as we embrace the opportunities that have been afforded us despite the pandemic. We are learning to be not only an all-girls’ Catholic high school, but now a TK-12 school with boys and girls in the lower grades. It has been exciting to see these changes at Alverno. There is a whole section on our Lower School in this magazine. We just celebrated the Winter Formal in the Villa in January, and this year we are looking forward to having the Gala on campus! More information is inside this edition.

In spite of difficulties with shut downs and lack of access to many service opportunities, our students continue to amaze and awe us with their commitment to service. In this edition, you will read and see examples of our students from TK-12 working together for those in need and the disenfranchised during the Advent and Christmas season. We also reconnected with the charism of the Immaculate Heart Community through the film, Rebel Hearts, and were blessed to have our seniors hear from Sr. Susan Maloney, SNJM,the executor of Anita Caspary’s estate, as well as Dr. Sheila Briggs from USC who was in the film. Both speakers were extremely impressed with our seniors’ maturity and knowledge of their faith. In fact, a group of seniors has been working alongside Sr. Susan to catalog Anita Caspary’s collection and prepare the archives for their new home at USC. You will be able to read all about it.

As you can see, Alverno continues to thrive and grow. We do keep all of the Alverno community far and wide, from 1960 to the present, in our daily prayers as we continue to battle the virus. We are blessed to be here each day, as our whole community learns to be flexible, kind, accepting, and loving during these unpredictable times. Please continue to keep Alverno in your prayers and enjoy the magazine! To health and well-being,

Julia Fanara Head of School