Commencement 2011
One of the reasons why addressing you on this day of days is such an utter privilege is that I know what a brilliant, diverse, engaged, curious bunch of people you are. I have talked to your teachers. I have talked to some of you. I have heard the stories. Graduations are so momentous not just because of what has been achieved today but because of the accumulation of what will be achieved in the future. Look around you, seniors. Your classmates will go on to study and unravel the human genome, to write novels and hilarious television shows, to argue cases in front of the Supreme Court, to...
Read MoreGraduates’ Weekend 2011
The walls of Wigg Lawrence Coburn ’61 Future Miltonians Shade next to Straus Paul Schmid ’61 Faith Howland ’61 Macy Lawrence Ratliff ’76 and Anne Myers Brandt ’81 Nat Barbour ’61 Musical friends Sascha Greatrex Proudlove ’91 and family Schwarz Student Center, transformed Michael Lou, history faculty, leads the discussion Regine Jean-Charles Asare and Ohene Asare—both Class of 1996 Down the green, around the hoop… Jack Reardon ’56, trustee Sallie Thompson Soule, Beverly Seamans and Martha Farrar—all Class...
Read MoreAt Harvard Now, Yuleissy Ramirez ’11 is National Squash Champion
Squash standout Yuleissy Ramirez ’11 was the under-19 champion at the National Urban Individual Championships, which took place in June at Williams College. “It was very exciting,” said Yuleissy, who played for the SquashBusters team. “In the final match, I won the first two games and felt confident. I lost the next two games, and it can be hard to come back after that. I went back on the court telling myself I wasn’t going to lose.” Yuleissy won that final game 11–4 and captured the championship. Chris Kane, her former squash coach at Milton, isn’t surprised: “She has...
Read MoreSabbath Loaf and Transit Stop Passersby Alongside Straus
Two sculptures surprised and intrigued everyone on campus this spring. They are the works of sculptors from the Class of 1966. Sabbath Loaf, by Murray “Mac” Dewart and Transit, by Walter Horak helped commemorate Mac’s and Walter’s 45th Reunion this year. In the weeks leading up to Graduates’ Weekend, both pieces adorned the green space between Wigglesworth Hall and Straus Library, just off the pathway. Mac Dewart’s work is represented in several permanent collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the DeCordova, and the Rose Art Museum. His work is also represented at...
Read MoreSteve Lebovitz Joins Board of Trustees
Steve Lebovitz joined the board of trustees in 2011. He is president and CEO of CBL & Associates Properties, Inc., the fourth-largest mall REIT in the United States, which owns, holds interests in or manages over 130 retail properties. Before joining CBL, Steve worked for Goldman, Sachs & Co. An active Parents’ Fund volunteer for Milton, he and his wife, Lisa, live in Weston, Massachusetts. Their son Andrew ’10 is a student at Middlebury College; their children Matthew and Abby are members of the Classes of 2012 and 2014, respectively. Steve attended Stanford University, and...
Read MoreRussell Weatherspoon
Russell D. Weatherspoon, dean of residential life and religion teacher at Phillips Exeter Academy, encouraged Milton students to draw on the philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr. as they contemplate their futures. Mr. Weatherspoon was the Martin Luther King speaker and spoke to Classes I–IV at the Onyx Assembly in February. “Think of yourself in 30 or 40 years. Who do you want to be when you get there? What do you want the world to look like when you get there? What are you planning to do to make things happen? Things don’t happen because we think about them. They happen because people...
Read MoreEllen Goodman
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Ellen Goodman reflected on her journalism career and life lessons learned as the Margo Johnson lecturer in March. The Margo Johnson Lecture, named for the headmistress of Milton Academy’s Girls’ School from 1941 to 1982, brings accomplished women to Milton’s campus. “Even if newspapers diminish, news is expanding, and the places we can write are also expanding. People need trusted guides to help them understand the speed of change. There is no better way to grow up in our society than as an observer, a chronicler, a writer, someone paying attention and...
Read MoreMark Doty
Poet Mark Doty, the Bingham Visiting Reader, read from his collection of poetry to Class I and II students in March. Mr. Doty’s Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems won the National Book Award in 2008. Established in 1987, the Bingham Reader series brings accomplished creative writers to share their work on campus. “If you know what you are going to say ahead of time, you are going to say what you already know. If you don’t know what you are going to say, you are going to discover something. And the discovery process is crucial to poetry, to good writing, because if you learn something,...
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