Member of the Faculty, 1984–2011
Ana Colbert’s contributions to Milton as teacher, advisor, colleague, mentor and trusted friend made her a keystone of the Upper School. Head and heart, life and language, faculty and family: Ana knows these are linked, and for 27 years she has worked to teach us how. Ana’s teaching was fueled by an inextinguishable passion for her subject, formidable scholarship, unwavering faith in students’ potential, and high standards tempered with humor and patience. Ana created a blueprint for communication, content and continuity in our department, and in doing so, she helped usher in a new era of excitement and éxito around the study of Spanish at Milton.
Never one to permit a closed mind or even a closed door, Ana will leave a singular legacy all around campus. Ana assisted in the admission office for 11 years, reading folders and interviewing
students. She was an advocate for Hispanic students from the Boston area and an expert in mining gems for Milton’s classes. She worked for years in Cox Library, where she is primarily responsible for one of the best collections of Spanish and Latin American works of any secondary school. She was editor of La Voz, our award-winning Spanish language magazine. In 1992, Ana helped Anne Neely organize an exhibit of Latin American painters in the Nesto Gallery. She was a champion and chaperone of the Spanish Exchange and worked countless hours here and in Spain to foster our close relationship with Colegio Nuestra Señora del Pilar.
Students responded unanimously to Ana’s work. Leading by example and always listening, Ana helped her students explore and develop their intellectual, affective and social potential. Tales of her enthusiasm and passion come back to us constantly. One recently came from Armeen Poor ’04: “She had an uncanny ability to dare you to see things from another lens, take another approach, and learn not only more about the topic at hand, but also about yourself as a student.” Liz Bloom ’08 said, “She exposed me to the richness of Spanish and Latin American literature and film. Even more, she deepened my appreciation of these mediums, no matter the language.” It is not easy for language teachers to find opportunities to insert life lessons into our classes. However, Ana always found a chance to teach her students how to live with respect for the discipline and each other. John Charles Smith shares that “Ana has always been about her students, not herself. Her distinguished place on our faculty has come from her students’ appreciation of [her] scholarship, her enthusiasm for her discipline, and the high standards to which she holds herself and them.”
Here is an example of where Ana’s scholarship meets her deep interest in students. Ana has a well-earned reputation as a national authority in Spanish language and literature. She has worked for the College Board to create curriculum, lead workshops, and create and correct AP exams. Always more egalitarian than elite, Ana set out with her daughter, María, and former Milton faculty member Marisol Maura to create a student manual for the present AP Spanish Literature course. From that labor the text Azulejo was born. They could have sold it to the highest bidder, but they worked with a local publisher to keep quality high and costs low. Imagine this scene: Ana at Milton’s book rush chastising bookstore staff for selling books, among them her book, at a price and in a condition that was not optimal for students. In every sense of the expression, Ana wrote the book on teaching Spanish with a student-fi rst approach.
Overall, Ana had an important role in crafting everything we now take for granted about what it means to study Spanish at Milton. From leading the placement process for new students to awarding prizes to our best and brightest, Ana had a leadership role in all we do. She reworked our curriculum, securing the essential structures of elementary Spanish while creating upper level courses in Latin American Women Writers, Spanish Film and Social Change, and most recently, Mexico: Yesterday and Today. Former faculty member Jim Ryan shared: “She is not simply the lifeblood of the department, but the heart that keeps life pumping throughout.” Bernard Planchon put it this way: “There is no work without love and no love without work for Ana.” In so many ways, head and heart, life and language, faculty and family are inseparable.
We are thankful for the way Ana made Milton part of her family and the way she made her family part of Milton. Her children graduated from Milton and they have always been a part of our extended family. Ana was always the one who kept our department’s birthday list, passed around cards and got cakes at Roche Brothers. She was always the first to ask about our families and ask to hold our children when we brought them in. Ana was always attuned to those small, daily acts of kindness and generosity that sustain each individual for the common good.
To be sure, Ana had other dance cards. We know she had chemistry with former colleague Marie-Annick Schram after the famous cancan dance for George Fernald. She had figurative dance cards from everyone from consuls to catedráticos. There are even rumors of a dance in Pamplona many years ago with Ernest Hemingway. Despite these offers, she chose to dance with us. We are grateful—and all the more gracious—for the chance.
Mark Connolly
Modern Language Department Chair