Fall 2015 Issue

In Sight, Fall 2015

Posted by on Oct 7, 2015 in 2015 Fall Issue, InSight | Comments Off on In Sight, Fall 2015

Photo by John Gillooly

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Behind the Humming Sound at Milton: The Answers in Dollars and Sense

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Behind the Humming Sound at Milton: The Answers in Dollars and Sense

“To an outsider, Milton finances seem like they ought to be simple, straightforward,” muses Rob Azeke ’87, trustee Budget Committee chair. Milton spent against revenues of nearly $60 million in FY 2015. What were those carefully allocated dollars aiming to achieve?

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Can Inadequate Metrics Drive Equitable Decisions? Seth Allen ’86

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Can Inadequate Metrics Drive Equitable Decisions? Seth Allen ’86

“I’m interested in stretching the notion of what ‘deserving’ means in this day and age,” Seth Allen ’86 says, one day in June when his normally teeming office is unduly quiet. Seth is vice president and dean of admission and financial aid at Pomona College, and he’s directing his comment at college admission overall. As a process, applying and getting accepted to college provokes fixation, incredulity and frustration for many families, nationwide. It also raises urgent questions about access, affordability and value. “Four...

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310 Emotional Touch Points: Dhruv Prasad ’95

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310 Emotional Touch Points: Dhruv Prasad ’95

“A local radio host can be a huge celebrity in town,” says Dhruv Prasad ’95. If Ryan Seacrest, TV host of American Idol, appeared alongside Brian Scott, the K2 Radio morning DJ, at a mall in Casper, Wyoming,

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Chaos in the Circle: Donna Lee Chung ’79

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Chaos in the Circle:  Donna Lee Chung ’79

When Donna Chung was 26 years old, she was ready to quit playing field hockey for good. The two-time collegiate All-American at the University of Iowa was struggling to earn a spot as a goalkeeper on the U.S. National Team. She figured the time had finally come to move on with her life. “I really did quit in my mind,” recalls Donna. “There was another goalie, and she was better than I was, so I thought, ‘I’m done.’” Then she had a revelation. “I decided I was going to play field hockey until it stopped being fun. And it never...

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Deliver Flavor: More Rather Than Less: Tomica Burke ’01

Posted by on Oct 7, 2015 in 2015 Fall Issue, Features | Comments Off on Deliver Flavor: More Rather Than Less: Tomica Burke ’01

Deliver Flavor: More Rather Than Less: Tomica Burke ’01

Tomica “Tom” Burke ’01 could check all the boxes on any “path to success” template: boarding school, excellent college, Capitol Hill job, prestigious law school, a position at a Manhattan law firm. But after two years, she left her law firm, and one year later she launched TomCookery, a catering company featuring Caribbean and Southern-inspired food, based in Queens, New York. “It all started at Milton,” says Tom. “For my senior project, I wrote a cookbook. This was before food was sexy, but I felt this urgency about wanting to...

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What Keeps College Counselors Up at Night

Posted by on Oct 7, 2015 in 2015 Fall Issue, Features | Comments Off on What Keeps College Counselors Up at Night

What Keeps College Counselors Up at Night

Each June for the past 14 years, I have taught at the Harvard Summer Institute on College Admission. For 55 years, the Institute has offered a weeklong, intensive introduction to all things college: the nuts and bolts of writing an effective recommendation; how to help families manage financial aid applications; the role of affirmative action; and what leadership in the college admission profession means, for example. Two of my colleagues on the faculty are high school counselors and 15 are college deans of admission and financial aid. At the...

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Eighth Graders Take on Big Data

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Eighth Graders Take on Big Data

Grade 8 students are talking loudly in class. Today’s math teachers welcome that. Nancy Anderson, Milton’s K–8 math coordinator and Grade 8 math teacher, is reshaping the curriculum to optimize the value of talking. “Discussion in class is a huge topic in math education,” says Nancy, whose doctoral degree is in math education. “The data are clear that you want to get students talking, but it’s very hard to do that well — to use students’ discussion to move the class forward. “If we believe students learn by...

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1798. 2015. Technology. Cloud. Blog. Wiki. Digital Native. Apps. Phablet. 3-D Printing. Drones. Wearables. Internet of Things. STEM. STEAM.

Posted by on Oct 6, 2015 in 2015 Fall Issue, On Centre | Comments Off on 1798. 2015. Technology. Cloud. Blog. Wiki. Digital Native. Apps. Phablet. 3-D Printing. Drones. Wearables. Internet of Things. STEM. STEAM.

What is Milton’s approach to technology? How do we affirm historical core values as well as relevance, well beyond 2015? In September 2013, Milton’s board of trustees convened a Technology Advisory Council (TAC) and charged the members with digging into this ever-changing landscape. The Council’s task was to develop a master plan that would guide Milton’s thinking about technology that supports teaching and learning. KublerWirka, a Boston-based consultancy that worked with Milton to develop our Strategic Plan, consulted on this project...

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Heidi Vanderbilt-Brown is Milton’s New CFO

Posted by on Oct 6, 2015 in 2015 Fall Issue, On Centre | Comments Off on Heidi Vanderbilt-Brown is Milton’s New CFO

This June, Heidi Vanderbilt-Brown joined Milton as the School’s Chief Financial and Operating Officer. Heidi previously worked in Harvard University’s Office of Financial Strategy and Planning, where she had been associate director since 2011. In that role, Heidi was responsible for the design and execution of all annual university financial planning initiatives, including multi-year financial planning, annual budgeting, tuition, enrollment and financial aid proposals, capital planning affordability assessments, and quarterly forecasting...

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