The Love of the Game Becomes a Life’s Work
Carol “Haussie” Haussermann ’43 is an athlete of national stature. She played field hockey, squash and lacrosse, and coached girls for decades. “I simply loved to play field hockey,” Carol says, beginning her story at the beginning. That was the early 1940s at Milton. Carol chose to keep playing. Well past college, through escalating levels of teams, field hockey represented discovery as well as pleasure. Over time, playing the game allowed her to take risks, define a unique career, and nurture the players who followed. Eventually,...
read moreLiving at the Nexus of Imagination and Common Sense
Marian Cross’s longest career, 50 years worth, began serendipitously. Her newest career as an organic farmer—now six years old—had a similar start. After all, “most formative, life-altering moments emerge not from carefully laid plans,” as Marian says, “but from being present where you are and doing what is needed.” When she graduated from Radcliffe College in 1960, Marian was married and pregnant. Fresh from Harvard Law School, her then husband, Fritz Schwarz ’53, responded to an ad for legal work in Africa. The couple and...
read moreFinding the Right Groove
Whether dancing in a piece he’s choreographed or running a play down the football field, Joseph Reynolds likes to move. His energy fi lls a room. Activity, excitement and vibrancy are magnets that draw him. A love for action is a great quality for a Milton student, but it can be a drawback when hunkering down and getting serious are necessary. Joseph’s first set of Class IV grades threw up a brick wall, and this young man who was moving quickly had to take a step back and reassess. “It was the idea that there were people smarter than...
read moreSmooth Transit
In India, tenth-graders complete what Americans would consider high school. Indian teenagers make life choices at that point, their options framed by scores on the national exams. Choosing to attend college at home is a career focused direction that many take. Some choose an International Baccalaureate. Very few make the choice Tanya Panicker did. No cohort of her friends pretested the route Tanya pursued—attending a college preparatory boarding school in the United States. “It seemed like a more exciting, more unfamiliar choice that would...
read moreWhy Not? Finding Your Feet “Far from Home”
“But if these years have taught me anything it is this: you can never run away. Not ever. The only way out is in.” —Junot Díaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Aylin Feliz has scripted this line from Junot Díaz into her email signature. “There’s something about me that’s ‘Why not?’” Aylin says. “I can put myself out there. I’ve lived that, and I know why it’s worth doing.” Aylin’s family is Dominican, and she grew up in Roslindale, Massachusetts. In her eighth-grade class at the Rafael Hernandez public...
read moreOn Happiness
Recently, I have been weighed down by adolescence. The mood swings, erratic frustration, and chronic sarcasm were constant reminders of my growing up. I was complaining to my parents, nagging my brother, ranting to my friends. People say that these years define who we will be as adults: Is this who I will become? The more I struggled with finding myself, the more nostalgia I felt for my childhood innocence. To sort out my own happiness, I read Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project. In her best-seller, the author pursues happiness through...
read moreOn Making Things
When I was trying to figure out my Class IV Talk, one of my friends asked me what I like to do. After a fairly boring list, I announced that I like to make things, and break things. While I can assure you that breaking things can be a lot less frustrating and more fun than making things, people usually think of it as destructive, although I can’t imagine why. For that reason, my Talk is about making things—some interesting things that I’ve made, some famous inventors who have actually made important things, and what we can learn from...
read moreFictional Characters Complicate the Lives of Fifth-Graders
Grappling with the experience of a fictional character often opens doors for readers. A close range, intimate look at a character’s challenges and decisions can aptly teach about perspective. Jenn Katsoulis’s fifth-graders not only consider writing styles and develop analytical skills as they study literature. Through the books that she and librarian Joan Eisenberg choose, Jenn aims to help students look at the world from another person’s point of view. “I choose books that force the reader to do that,” Jenn says. Book by book, her...
read morePritzker Science Center Dedication May 6, 2011
On May 6, 2011, Brad Bloom, president of the board of trustees, welcomed faculty and staff, students, donors and the Pritzker family at the dedication of the Pritzker Science Center. The ceremony honored those whose dedication and philanthropy made Milton’s exciting new building possible. Milton science students addressed how the building’s design inspires science teaching and learning. J.B. Pritzker ’82 noted that faculty-student relationships are the root of all great discovery at Milton. At a Thank You Celebration that evening, Milton...
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