Blair to me means an intentional community of support, exploration, and learning. Blair also means an environment of healthy challenge, integrity, and accountability. Blair created a secure foundation to walk forward in life."
- postClassYellow
Blair Academy alumni are leaders who have made a profound impact in a wide variety of professional endeavors. In fact, you’ll find successful Blair graduates in every field, including banking and finance, education, entertainment, communications, engineering, management and many more!
The Alumni Stories Series showcases Blair Academy alumni and their careers, as well as how Blair inspired their life’s journeys.
Blair to me means an intentional community of support, exploration, and learning. Blair also means an environment of healthy challenge, integrity, and accountability. Blair created a secure foundation to walk forward in life."
Blair is my cornerstone"
What does Blair mean to me? Simpler times, friendships, exploration, curiosity, and growth."
Blair provided me with the tools that allowed me to be successful in my career. Blair taught me time management and responsibility and provided me with the freedom and structure to grow."
Community, opportunity, a launching pad for success, an agora of beautiful minds and agents of change coming together to make the world a better place by leading through empathetic philanthropy. I am honored to be part of such a legacy and community that has impacted our world in such a positive way and to have my family legacy part of the Blair Academy story is an honor I am proud to hold. Blair is hope. Blair is excellence. Blair is an opportunity. Blair is love. Blair is home. Thank you Blair Academy. I love you."
Blair is so many things! It's where I learned about time management, it was my first interview, it's where I fell in love and experienced my first heartbreak. I worked hard, saw failure and success, stressed about Sadie Hawkins dates, ate bag lunches while traveling to away games, cheered at pep rallies. I got to be a student, an athlete, an actress, a mentor, a prefect, a musician, a volunteer, a leader, a friend and more. Now I'm just an alum, a donor and a volunteer. Blair is meaningful because it was my home, it still is."
What does Blair mean to me? In times of stress, when I am stuck in horrific traffic or suffering from a bout of insomnia, I close my eyes and imagine I am flying over 3 places: Machu Picchu, Yellowstone or the Blair campus. Blair always does the trick!"
Blair has become one of the most important resources I ever will have. Not only do I continue to make connections through our alumni, but also, the friendships I made while at Blair have only grown and strengthened, both professionally and personally. Just the other day, I was asked to be a bridesmaid for a dear friend whom I met while living in Locke Hall – a friend who I reconnected with during our ten-year reunion. Blair continues to bring likeminded people together throughout all stages of their lives, and I am forever grateful."
To me, Blair is a special place with special memories — memories of growing up in a beautiful space, surrounded by great friends and teachers, having the best kind of fun and excitement both in the classroom and out. It was like a lab for the soul."
Blair will always mean “family” to me. No matter how much time has passed, when I set foot onto campus it feels like coming home."
Blair meant and means the world to me. I never finished my schooling at Bates College, so Blair is about as far as I got, you could say. And, frankly, I am just fine with that. The education, the faculty, my classmates…I really couldn’t be more grateful for having the opportunity to attend Blair.”
Blair taught me how to learn, how to use my resources, and how to be part of a community. I plan to spend the rest of my life applying the skills I learned as a Buccaneer."
Blair Academy built the foundation for who I am today. I learned a lot in the classroom, but just as importantly, learned a lot outside of the classroom. I use the life skills that Blair taught me every day, both professionally and personally and I am incredibly grateful for my four years at Blair."
My overall experience at Blair was both challenging and incredibly rewarding. The more energy, care and hard work I put in, the more I grew as an individual. I believe that’s the essence of a healthy learning environment."
I had a truly wonderful experience at Blair—I grew so much as a student and as an individual. Blair allowed me to explore many of my curiosities, interests and passions while instilling in me the work ethic and standards necessary to be successful in college and my career. I left Blair with a deeper understanding of my morals, the importance of community involvement, and the value of engagement."
Blair is the beginning of my real roots, where, during my formative years, I learned so much about who I was and how to prepare for life in the future. The quality education, students, faculty, sports and campus experiences are ingrained in my memories forever. It is with great gratitude that reflect on my opportunity to attend such a wonderful school on such a beautiful campus. Over the years at reunions and in corresponding as a class representative, I have had the pleasure of keeping up with my classmates as we have all lived through the college years, military experiences and building families of our own. I am a truly lucky person to have Blair in my life."
Kate Laufer Gorenstein '98, Founder and CEO of KLG Public Relations was recently featured in Forbes. To read more about Kate's story and her PR agency, click here.
Matthew Bottone ’19 was recently featured in Advertiser-News for his creativity on his TikTok account, @mbttones.
Lisa Scheller ’77 is running for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 7th congressional district.
Steph (Leal) Garbutt ’02 and her husband, Jaime, opened a new restaurant in Norwich, United Kingdom. Salt, the sister restaurant to the couples successful pastry shop, Figbar, opened its doors at the beginning of July. To read more, click here.
Kweighbaye Kotee '01 recently returned from a trip to Monrovia, Liberia, in partnership with Accountability Lab as a co-producer for the Reel Peace Film Festival.
As a feature writer for ROI-NJ, Meg Fry ’06 had the opportunity to share her experience as a Blair Alumni Roundtable speaker with readers of the website.
Andrew Cotto ’87 was recently featured in Parade for the release of his new novel, Cucina Tipica: An Italian Adventure.
William (Will) Pemberton ’16 was recently featured in Lehigh University's student newspaper, The Brown & White. The article highlights Will's accomplishments at Lehigh University and Blair Academy.
MUSH, the on-the-go, cold soaked overnight oats created by Ashley Thompson ’08 and Kat Thomas was recently featured in Forbes. The article highlights the success of the 2015 startup which was supported by famous entrepreneur Mark Cuban after appearing on ABC’s hit television show, Shark Tank.
Lisa Scheller '77 recently opened a small town coffee shop in the heart of Pennsylvania. Hope & Coffee located in Tamaqua, Pa., is not just your average coffee shop, but a local community hub for people recovering from addiction, recovery meetings, nonprofit gatherings and other various events.