A Letter from the Alumni Board President: Tracey Lankford '81

We are a mighty community of 4,000 alumni worldwide – business leaders, creators, dreamers, explorers, entrepreneurs, caregivers, teachers, mentors, volunteers and so much more. Calvert faculty and staff helped develop our confidence, fostered our curiosity and encouraged us to speak up, ask questions and help those in need. Many of us consider our Calvert classmates to be our dearest lifelong friends.

The Alumni Board is here to support you. We strive to create meaningful opportunities for alumni to feel connected to Calvert and one another and to give back to the School that gave us so much.

Our Alumni Board members are a talented, hard-working team of volunteers who believe in the power of the Calvert community. I am delighted to welcome new Alumni Board members in 2026-2027: Jennifer Lankford Brunner '85, Olive Waxter Mitchell '06, A.J. Cooper '18, and Ella DeLong ‘20. Together, we are enthusiastically building an alumni community that is engaged and connected across generations. We welcome your ideas, and we hope you will choose to be involved.

Highlights for the year ahead:

We seek to strengthen the connection between alumni and today's students. Through classroom visits, career conversations, panels, and campus programming, our alumni have an incredible opportunity to inspire the next generation.

We are expanding our Professional Mentorship Program. Whether you are just beginning your career, considering a new direction, or interested in sharing your experience with others, there are ways to get involved. The Mentorship Program offers one-on-one mentorship, resume review, mock interviews, networking resources, industry roundtables, and career panels. I hope you will spread the word to your Calvert network about this valuable resource and consider participating yourself.

The Regional Connections continue to grow across the country. Your Calvert community exists wherever alumni live, from Baltimore to New York, Denver to San Francisco, and everywhere in between. Reconnect with friends, grow your professional network, and have fun together!

When you are able, I hope you will also consider supporting Calvert philanthropically. Your generosity ensures that today's students receive the same transformative education that shaped generations before them.

As we begin this new year together, I hope you will embrace opportunities to be actively involved. I encourage you based on my personal experience. Earlier this year I was a “Mystery Reader” in my niece’s Sixth Age class, and I will always remember that day and how it felt to see the bright, smiling faces of the inquisitive students. Recently I asked my niece what she is most looking forward to going into Seventh Age. She said, "Learning to write cursive, the Calvert way."

My fellow Alumni Board Members and I visited with the Class of 2026 at their fall breakfast gathering, a relaxed time to get to know them a little better. We were back on campus again in May for their Almost Alumni Lunch, where we enjoyed hearing about their plans for the summer and high school. These opportunities left us inspired to continue building upon our special Calvert bonds throughout the alumni community for future generations.

The time we shared together in the classroom is behind us, but our brilliant future is right in front of us in our students and this community. Thank you for your dedication to Calvert.

I look forward to seeing you on campus or wherever the Calvert connection takes us.

Warmly,

 

Tracey M. Lankford ‘81

President, Alumni Board of Governors