•

Dear Graded Fellow Alum's,

We regret the need to cancel the 'large group' Reunion event planned for the Fort Lauderdale Ocean Manor Resort.  As explained in the Organizing Committee's e-mail, the financial commitment that the Resort required of us as organizers became untenable, given the modest number of folks who had signed up to attend. 

Accordingly, those who registered will receive a full refund of the amount you paid via the Reunion website.  

If you had made a hotel reservation, and no longer plan to spend the weekend at the Ocean Manor, you must cancel it up to 48 hours before you would have checked in to avoid any penalty.

However, despite the disappointment, we recognize that many of us would like to gather, reminisce and catch up with Graded friends, Reunion or no Reunion.  We certainly would.

So, we invite you to join us for a typical Brazilian lunch at Estação do Pão, a Brazilian restaurant and padaria in Boca Raton, FL on Saturday, May 17, 2025 starting at 1 pm.  Their feijoada and other typical Brazilian dishes are excellent.

If you think you would like to attend the lunch, please visit our Event Page at https://www.facebook.com/share/14zQik3gLkL/ and record your intent.  

And if you like this idea, please share or forward the Event page link to Graded friends that you wish would join us at the Estação do Pão.

We look forward to seeing you.

Sincerely,

Dennis & Esther (Comer) Rodrigues, Tim Chardavoyne and Patrizia (Tamburini) Diamond

•

Dear Graded Classmates:

We are pleased to announce Graded Reunion 2025!

Dates: May 16 – 18, 2025

Location:  Ocean Manor Beach Resort, 4040 Galt Ocean Drive, Fort Lauderdale FL

We have reserved the Ocean Manor Beach Resort for a Welcome Reception (Friday, May 16) and a Banquet (Saturday, May 17).  This was the location selected for the 2020 Reunion cancelled due to COVID.

You may reserve rooms directly with Ocean Manor.  Reference the Graded Reunion for discounted rate of $300/night.  Information about the resort and booking rooms linked here: oceanmanor 

Once we settle on banquet and other events, we will ask you to register and submit a deposit through the classcreator website.

We look forward to seeing you in May.

•

Plans for a Graded Reunion have been postponed to April 2025.

We appreciate the interest from everyone who responded to the survey.  Alas, the number of responses was disappointing, in part because the contact info from Alumni website is often missing or several years out-of-date.  Several people responded that they were already booked. We concluded more time needed to secure a weekend in your busy schedules, connect with more classmates, and plan three-days of activities.

We expect to use this channel to communicate in the Fall revised plans for an April 2025 Reunion.

•

September 24, 2020

Dear All,

We were finally able to process the refunds of the Graded Centennial Reunion deposits. According the host site everyone who made a credit card payment should receive the credit back to their card in 3 to 5 business days.

Please let me know in a week or so if your credit did not go through and I’ll try to find out what went wrong.

Hopefully, this pandemic will be out of the way in the near future and we can organize another reunion.

Stay safe and healthy.

Best,

James

•

Hi everyone,

•

This afternoon I stopped by Graded to “Matar a Saudade”, catch up on how the school is doing and to thank Roberto D'erizans, the Middle School Principal, Rich Boerner, Graded´s Superintendent and Susan Chain, the school´s Chief Development Officer for their support and participation in our recent Delray Alumni Reunion.

I was taken on a full tour of the school and boy, was I impressed! Major construction is underway. For example, can you imagine a 450 space parking lot under the upper track and soccer field? How about a pool, an amphitheater, a fitness center, new tennis courts, and a yoga studio?! These and other improvements are just phase one of a three phase redesign of the school. Truly a thing of beauty and good taste.

Another of the school´s initiatives, one that is close to my heart, is the Graded Scholar Program where outstanding, talented underprivileged children can study and take full advantage of all the educational resources Graded has to offer. You might consider supporting this or another of the school´s outstanding initiatives. Check out the Graded site to learn more of what is going on at our school: graded.com

If you are in for a bit of nostalgia, take a look at the senior picture from the early ´70´s and a picture I took today from almost the same angle. Can you recognize the landmarks that are in both pictures? Needless to say São Paulo has grown, but the schools dedication to excellence in education has outpaced even that of the city. You can be proud of your school and its legacy!

James Lynch

Class of 1972

•

It was such a great experience working with Sharon Crane for over a year organizing the Graded 2016 All Class Reunion and having it thrill everyone who participated!

It continues to surprise me how Graded imprinted itself on the lives and personalities of the people who were privileged to spend one or more years studying there. Coming together to celebrate Graded’s legacy, decades after graduation, speaks volumes to the value of the experience and education that helped make us into the people we are.

The friendship ties have survived the test of time, as very few others. Coming together with people we were last with over 40 years ago and feeling it was only yesterday… how wild is that? Memories that link us together are still there and strong, so long after they were made.

Graded, AEGSP, Associação Escola Graduada de São Paulo SPGS, São Paulo Graded School, Escola Graduada, Graded School The American School of São Paulo – whatever the name, it is part of us, part of who we are and what unites us!

Celebrate GRADED!

James Lynch '72

•

Please update your profiles.  I need current contact information.  Also please check out the Missing Classmate section.  If you know of any of our "lost" classmates please contact them or have them contact James Lynch or Sharon Crane.  Thanks!

•

2016 All Class Graded Reunion - Delray Beach, Florida

James and I have been to Delray Beach a couple of times in the past few months and are pleased to announce that we have negotiated and secured rates at The Colony Hotel and The Hyatt Delray. Both offer great rates and amenities.  Many stayed at The Colony during the 2009 Reunion and loved its historic charm.  The Hyatt Delray is relatively new and is stylish and modern.

The negotiated rates for these hotels and instructions for booking can be seen on the Home Page of this site.  They can be found on the left menu under accommodations.

Please visit their websites: http://delraybeach.place.hyatt.com/  and http://www.thecolonyhotel.com/

Since the 2009 Graded Reunion there has been a group of classmates that have met annually in Delray and have stayed at Breakers on the Ocean.  They have already committed to the 2016 reunion.  They have made their reservations and together with their family and friends have booked all of the rooms!  Please visit http://delraybreakersontheocean.com/ if you would like to be added to a wait list.

We also visited The Marriott Delray Beach, The Seagate and The Delray Sands.  These are higher end hotels and are willing to negotiate their prices.  However they require a deposit to block rooms as well as a guaranteed minimum reservation of 15-20 rooms.  James and I feel that this commitment is premature.  Should there be a class or a large group that would like to stay at one of these hotels please contact me or James and we will revisit them.

In the near future James and I will be sending out a survey.  Please take a few minutes of your time to answer.  We need to have an idea of how many will be attending, or are interested in attending so that we can book venues for the cocktail party as well as the dinner.  We visited many different venues and have some wonderful ideas!

Looking forward to seeing you in 2016!

Sharon Crane '73   James Lynch '72