Ravenscroft alumni spanning the school’s 50-plus-year history on the North Raleigh campus came out on Friday, May 3, and Saturday, May 4, to celebrate Alumni Weekend with friends and classmates.

The weekend’s events, spearheaded by the Alumni Council and the Office of Alumni Engagement, gave Ravens from all past graduating classes the opportunity to celebrate several meaningful milestones — including the conferring of six alumni awards and the 21-year tenure of Head of School Doreen Kelly — in a fun and inclusive way.

Friday night’s All-Alumni Awards Celebration, held at Raleigh event venue Whitaker and Atlantic, drew nearly 200 alumni, guests, and friends and families of the evening’s honorees. These Ravens were recognized by the Alumni Association:

• Director of Enrollment Management Margaret Mahood Mills ’76, Distinguished Alumni Award 

• Filmmaker David Rountree ’93, Alumni Association Fine Arts Hall of Fame

• Track & Field/Cross Country athlete, four-time All-American and eight-time national champion Wesley Frazier ’13, Alumni Association Sports Hall of Fame 

• Track & Field athlete, two-time All-American and five-time national champion Ryen Frazier ’15, Alumni Association Sports Hall of Fame

• Longtime Varsity Baseball Coach Greg Long, Alumni Association Sports Hall of Fame

• Head of School Doreen Kelly, Class of 1862 Award 

Alumni Council president Anne Forsyth English ’98 also provided attendees with an update on the group’s ongoing work in support of alumni engagement. She listed some of the alumni events the Office of Alumni Engagement, led by Emma DeMent ’16, has organized over the last year: Homecoming and the Early-Career Alumni Tailgate, College Reading Day coffee breaks, the Young Alumni Social, the Care Package Party for parents of college-aged students and Career Day, which brings alumni back to campus to talk about their professions with Upper School students.

She also noted a number of important initiatives the Alumni Council has been working on:

We are starting a new program this year, “Alumni Ambassadors.” Five seniors were self-nominated and will support the Alumni Council and the Ravenscroft team in keeping the Class of 2024 connected as social and communication chairs. These chairs will help the class stay informed and celebrate milestones. This is an evolution of the traditional class-agents model. Our focus on creating relationships as the seniors (and their families) graduate will continue to strengthen and broaden our alumni community.

Additionally, we have started a partnership in communication with Shelley Brown, Dean of Community, Culture and Belonging.

The goal of the alumni events and our council is a continuous sense of community, connection and inclusion among all Ravenscroft students throughout their lives. We look forward to continuing to further build this community together.

The fun continued Saturday as Ravens were invited back to campus to enjoy a light breakfast in the Olander Center for Student Life at the A.E. Finley Activity Center before engaging in an informal Q&A with Kelly, incoming Head of School Derrick Willard and board chair Laura Helton Kalorin ’92. Alumni, joined by the 2024-25 officers of the Upper School SGA, were able to visit with these leaders and learn about the board-directed transition planning. Then, on Saturday evening, reunion-year classes — those ending in 3, 4, 8 and 9 — held special gatherings at venues across Raleigh. (The 50-year reunion of the Class of 1974 and the five-year reunion of the Class of 2019 will take place this fall.)

The timing of the weekend’s events was a departure from the traditional fall-season gatherings scheduled around Homecoming, but the robust turnout and positive feedback from attendees suggested that the change is a welcome one.

Duke Finley ’76 said of his experience, “Cheers to Ravenscroft for putting together a great reunion! It was fun to see so many friends from the Class of 1976 as we had the chance to honor one of our own, Margaret Mills, who has done an outstanding job heading up Ravenscroft Admissions. I can’t wait to see everyone in a couple of years for our 50th reunion!”

DeMent, who has served as Alumni Engagement Officer since July 2023, said that kind of enthusiasm was exactly what the reunion planning team was hoping for. 

“Our team and the Alumni Council felt that a spring Alumni Weekend was the perfect opportunity to give our alums a space to celebrate, connect and reminisce,” she said. “Our community had been craving this opportunity, and I am so happy that we were able to make it a reality with a celebration of all four alumni awards, connection to current and future school leadership, and reunion parties for 15 total classes! I am so proud to be a part of this community and excited to see where this event goes in the years to come.”

Enjoy photos from the All-Alumni Awards Celebration at Whitaker and Atlantic on our Flickr page. Go to Our Ravens>Alumni on the Ravenscroft Magazine website to read about the award recipients and many other outstanding Ravens who make our school community proud.