Events

We look forward to many opportunities, in person and virtual, to meet Sally Mingarelli, SYA’s new president. Get to know her and the perspective she brings to SYA as she begins this next chapter with School Year Abroad.

SYA Momentum is about building on the strength of our community, the impact of the SYA experience, and the possibilities ahead. As Sally begins her leadership, she is listening, learning, and looking forward — and she wants to hear from you.

Together, we’ll explore where SYA is headed, what matters most to our community, and how we can build the momentum to carry SYA forward.

Come connect, share your perspective, and be part of what’s next.

SYA began 61 years ago as a bold idea: give high schoolers the chance to swap classrooms for cobblestone streets, sharpen their language skills and spend the year living and learning in another country. We celebrate our founding annually on September 9, the date the first class of 11 schoolboys departed for Spain.

Join us September 9, 2026, for our annual Founder's Day Town Hall, featuring a special conversation with this year's award recipients. 

Register for Founder's Day Town Hall

Stay tuned for updates on Town Hall webinars with our School Directors. We're still putting the finishing touches on our virtual programming schedule.

In the meantime, explore recordings of previous sessions.

We're still putting the finishing touches on our virtual programming schedule.

In the meantime, explore recordings of previous sessions.

Classes ending in 2 or 7 celebrate milestone reunions this year! A big shout out to ES'77  and FR'77 as they celebrate their 50th reunions, and to the classes of CN'02, ES'02, FR'02 and IT'02 as they celebrate their 25th.

Learn more about reunions at SYA.

SYA's budget supports many areas, including the day-to-day operations of our campuses. Charging a registration fee helps to offset expenses allowing more funds to be applied to operating the schools. Our commitments to vendors are based on the number of registrations received.  If you need to cancel, we will be happy to designate your attendance fee as a donation to the SYA Fund. If the price is a deterrent in your ability to sign up, please let us know. We don’t want to miss having you in the room because of a price tag.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Yes, please let us know by submitting your regrets. This will eliminate the reminder emails we send to those we haven't heard from! This goes for virtual events, too!

Of course! Please register your guest using the appropriate selection from the drop-down menu. In-person events limits you to three guests. For virtual events, please consider watching together to allow for more registrants.

Depending on capacity and under special circumstances we can allow additional guests. Please contact events@sya.org for more information. 

Classes in reunion years are encouraged to host virtual reunions and the Alumni Office can help by hosting it on one of its Zoom accounts! Non-reunion classes are encouraged to host virtual Zoom chats; the Alumni Office will provide you with your class contact information and suggestions. 

Have you moved? We invite alumni, parents and friends to events near their home, school or work, depending on the address information we have on record. Please let us know if we need to update our information. We'd love to invite you to events nearby!

Are you receiving our newsletter and evites? If not, we may have an older email address on record or our emails may be ending up in your spam folder. Be sure to mark events@sya.org, news@sya.org and alumni@sya.org as safe email addresses.

Interested in hosting an event or have an idea for one? We'd love to hear from you!