Living 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 moreAn Exhortation to Cum Laude Inductees
From Carly Wade, as she enters the stage of the “Forest Dweller” I’ve been thinking a lot about changes recently. I always think about changes at this time of year. Many of my students will graduate next week. Others will move on to other classes and programs. Are your questions for yourselves anything like mine for my students? What will come next for them? What will they learn that delights them? That consternates them? What will they take with them from Milton? What will they leave behind? Especially, what do they know about...
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...
read moreMy father’s gifts
I arrived at Milton in 2009, but Milton was not new to me. My family’s legacy here is a source of pride. Few heads of school can claim that their existence is attributable to their school. My parents met and fell in love at Milton during the spring of their Class I year. Several members of the Class of 1958 claim that I am a gift from them to the Academy (though they may choose a less flattering term). Onward from that spring, my family’s journey is not a storybook tale. Many remember it more with a sense of sadness rather than joy. In the...
read moreA Win-Win Proposition
Alumni athletes are volunteer coaches Athletic coaches at Milton motivate, mentor and challenge their student athletes. They are also masters at multitasking—dealing with schedules, injuries, equipment and travel logistics. Some teams are getting additional help from alumni athletes who return to campus as volunteers. They assist team coaches in a variety of sports. Word of mouth, chance encounters and individual initiatives have increased the alumni presence in coaching over the past few years. “They are a nice addition to our athletic...
read moreWhen the rubber meets the road, can I pursue science?
When I first stepped onto the Milton Academy campus in the fall of 2007, I thought I knew exactly the trajectory my high school career would take. And just as I had a vivid picture of where I would sit in Forbes, and what I would wear to my fi rst school dance, I entertained romanticized visions of myself in the science lab. Long white coat and gloves, in case whatever extremely dangerous substance I was studying should stray from the test tube in my steady and capable hands. I thought I knew what it meant to study science, and I knew that was...
read moreCommencement 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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
read moreImprovised Shakespeare Company
Three members of the Improvised Shakespeare Company, based in Chicago, spent a week on campus performing and conducting workshops with students in April. The performers were on campus as part of the Melissa Dilworth Gold Visiting Artist series, which has been bringing notable artists to campus since 1992. “When you improvise, you give up control. No one person is directing the moment, so you have to be prepared for that. Improv comedy is collaboration. The key is to stop trying to be funny, because it isn’t funny when it looks like...
read moreTina Packer Presents Women of Will in Ruth King Theatre
Ophelia. Juliet. Lady Macbeth. Actor and director Tina Packer brought her intimate knowledge of these and other female characters from Shakespeare’s oeuvre to campus this spring as the Melissa Dilworth Gold Visiting Artist. Throughout her four-day visit, Ms. Packer—founding artistic director of Shakespeare & Company—conducted workshops, taught several drama classes, and discussed and performed Othello with two sections of Class IV English. She also presented Women of Will in the Ruth King Theatre, a performance that includes a range...
read moreHockey Standout Rob O’Gara ’12 Drafted by Boston Bruins
Before his junior year, Long Island native Rob O’Gara ’12 made a decision to transfer to Milton Academy. That decision led him to new academic and athletic opportunities, and for the School’s hockey team, Rob was a great addition. The defenseman helped the team win the NEPSAC Championship this past winter, and this summer Rob was selected 151st in the fifth round of the NHL entry draft by the Boston Bruins. “It’s a surreal experience and I still feel like I’m on cloud nine,” said Rob. “It’s such an honor to be chosen and see...
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