Litigating the Right to Marry – Chris Dusseault ’87
You might predict that a debater at Milton and then Yale would turn up as a lawyer. Chris Dusseault claims an even tighter overlap between his love of music and singing at both those schools and his distinction as a litigator. “Reading your audience, understanding them, what they’re receiving and what they’re not, is much the same as looking a judge and jury in the eye. You come into the courtroom with one conception of how it should go—‘this is what I intended’—but is it working? You need to pay attention to what is resonating...
read moreWhat Don’t You Understand? Making Videos that Tackle the Issues that Confound Us. – Joe Posner ’03
The first of Joe Posner’s videos to go viral, he explains, was a robust, animated description of Europe’s austerity programs—all in about five minutes. He pitched the project, earned a grant from his alma mater, Brown, and collaborated with political economist Mark Blyth to render scholarly ideas about austerity in an accessible, entertaining video. That was 2009. Today, Joe’s videos deliver facts-in-context at Vox.com, where his approach to creating video matches the mission of the Vox digital platform. Vox.com aims to “explain the...
read moreEducation. Especially Rural and Public. – Rebecca Holcombe ’84
The map of Vermont’s school districts—more than 270—on Dr. Rebecca Holcombe’s office wall resembles a patchwork quilt. Rebecca is responsible for this mix of colors and overlapping diagonal lines, this complicated school system. A passionate supporter of public schools, Rebecca became Vermont’s Secretary of Education in January 2014. “Nothing is more important than public education,” says Rebecca. “If we cannot help children develop their voices and participate in civic life, help them make good decisions for our communities...
read moreArt: Eclectic Visions
Eclectic Visions Milton’s Nesto Gallery, May/June 2016 This spring, Milton’s Nesto Gallery showcased the work of talented alumni artists celebrating their Milton reunion. The exhibit was a broad collection of perspective, scale, medium and story. Artists include Valerie Claff ’81, Murray Dewart ’66, Mikel Glass ’81, Walter Horak ’66, Michael Maltby ’66 and Amy Wood ’76.
read moreWhat Is the Real Safe?
In the black box, six students shift quietly about the stage, taking positions to give public voice to the raw, or eloquent, or plaintive comments that emerged during more than 30 interviews. The actors, in their dark or neutral street-wear, recede physically, which isolates and emphasizes their words slicing through the air, riveting the audience. The script, which they sculpted from their transcribed interviews, sketches vulnerability in different shapes and sizes. It uses their narrators’ exact phrases. “Narrators” are those people...
read moreKnow Thyself: An Approach to Getting There
In the student lounge of Ware Hall one morning in late May, seventh graders were piecing together snack “necklaces” to represent what they’d learned about themselves. They’d just completed year one of the Middle School’s 360 program. A mini-Saltine cracker meant they knew their learning style, and could easily articulate it. Gummy candies and fruit loops in different flavors represented auditory, visual and tactile/kinesthetic learning. A Cheerio represented empathy, and a purple gummy ring was the sign of good time management. A...
read moreIn Sight, Fall 2016
World-renowned photojournalist Lynsey Addario shared with students the challenges and rewards of her work, covering wartime conflicts and human rights issues. Photographs from her award-winning collection Veiled Rebellion—documenting the plight of women in Afghanistan—were on exhibit in Milton’s Nesto Gallery, during her visit as last year’s Melissa Dilworth Gold Visiting Artist. Ms. Addario creates photographs for the New York Times, National Geographic and Time...
read moreMarshall Sloane ’17 Wins National Championship in Speech Tournament
Almost four years to the day after he earned a national title in speech and debate as a Middle School student, Marshall Sloane ’17 repeated the feat, this time becoming High School National Champion in international extemporaneous speaking at the National Speech and Debate Association Tournament in Salt Lake City, Utah. Marshall delivered 13 speeches over the course of the tournament, rising to the top of the 250 students from across the country who competed in his category. He earned awards for winning the finals as well as the entire...
read moreMatt Tabor ’17 Throws Perfect Game Against Lawrence
Matt Tabor ’17 accomplished one of the most challenging and impressive achievements in sports when he pitched a perfect game against Lawrence Academy this spring. Matt’s perfect game, which happened on April 30, capped a season full of highlights for the boys’ varsity baseball team. “Pitching a perfect game is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” says Sam Murray ’17. The accomplishment is rare—Coach Matthew Petherick had never had a pitcher throw a perfect game before Matt. Matt said that he did not have high expectations going into...
read moreCampus Safety Director Jay Hackett Wins National Award
Jay Hackett, Milton’s director of campus safety and risk management, has achieved the “gold standard” in addressing safety and security issues at sporting events, according to a national organization recognizing Jay’s leadership. Jay was included among professionals from Major League Baseball, the National Football Association, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation who received Professional of the Year Awards from the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4) at the University of Southern Mississippi. Milton’s...
read moreMilton Student Poet Wins National Recognition
A “tough contest” is how English faculty member Lisa Baker describes the Bennington College Young Writers Award. But Letitia Chan’s ’17 collection of poems stood out among more than 2,000 entries, and she was awarded the first-place poetry prize. Her poems cover topics such as a distant relationship between a mother and daughter to a grandfather who favors men over women, but only has granddaughters. “Most of my writing is only partly autobiographical. Often it is a version of something or an experience I took inspiration from,”...
read moreMiddle School “Speechies” and Coach Debbie Simon Earn National Recognition
Speaking, storytelling and bringing to life poetry and prose paid off for the Middle School’s Speech Team, as it was recognized as one of the top-five Teams of Excellence at the National Speech and Debate Association Tournament in Salt Lake City, Utah. The students used their skills in public address, limited preparation and interpretation to succeed in a variety of events over the course of the tournament. Six students placed as finalists during the tournament, meaning they were among the top six in the nation in their events, while several...
read moreJohn Avlon ’91 Kicks Off Seminar Day 2016
What Happens When Centrists Are Marginalized? “If you’re tempted to disengage from politics as a result of this surrealist campaign, don’t,” students heard from John Avlon ’91, editor in chief of The Daily Beast and a CNN political analyst. Ceding political debate to “hyper-partisans” is partly to blame for the highly polarized state of Congress and political campaigns right now, he explained. John launched Seminar Day 2016 as the Sally Bowles ’56 Keynote Speaker. John has long advocated for the power and importance of...
read moreMilton Sailors Set Their Bar and Meet It
From the shore, sailing looks effortless. Handsome boats glide across the water. Milton sailors, however, testify to the mental and physical challenges. “I describe sailing as trying to do sit-ups while going through little hills and playing chess—all with one arm tied behind your back,” says Peter Baron ’17. Sailing team coach Patrick Broome says, “Sailing is intellectual. On the water, you need to figure out where the wind is coming from, what the tide is doing, where your team is, what the other team is doing, and where you need...
read moreFrom Fifty to One: We’ll Take It a Day at a Time
After 42 years at Milton—24 of those years living in Robbins House—lots of adjustments loom ahead. One of these adjustments may not occur to most people as they think about retiring: Erica and I are going from living our everyday lives with at least fifty people to living with just one person: to living with each other. Fifty personal styles and fifty voices; fifty sets of needs and fifty senses of humor, or lack thereof; fifty cases of fatigue and fifty levels of energy; fifty fans of brownies and fifty pairs of willing ears. We’ve...
read moreMark Hilgendorf
Mark Hilgendorf History and Social Sciences Department Member of the Faculty, 1982–2016 Of Mark Hilgendorf, one history department colleague said, “He is a master at inviting our connection with each other around the table,” of encouraging “a radical sense of shared humanity.” I’ll begin there, as perhaps there’s no higher praise for a career educator. For Mark, though, such connection was, from the beginning, the goal. He arrived at Milton 34 years ago, in 1982, with his wife, Cindy, and their two, very young children in...
read moreErica Banderob
Erica Banderob Math Department and Robbins House Head Member of the Faculty, 1978–2016 Ricky came to work at Milton in 1978. John Banderob was working here already, and as former faculty member Donald Duncan recalls, “Ricky got the job, and it didn’t take very long before John realized that a treasure was teaching across the street.” However, Ricky is much more than the other half of the indomitable Banderob team. She stands up for what is just and fair, often looking at a situation from the student perspective. In fact, it is...
read moreDoug Fricke
Doug Fricke English Department Member of the Faculty, 1987–2016 Stroll. Amble. Meander. Stride. When we think of Doug, he is always walking with steady purpose—never haste—seeking out two things: good company and new experiences. Young and old alike marvel at his 500-mile walks across Spain’s Camino de Santiago, but with postal regularity Doug takes to the hallways between classes, always popping in to his colleagues’ rooms, a story, a recipe, a follow-up comment on the tip of his tongue. Just the other day, he walked to Cambridge to...
read moreJohn Banderob
John Banderob Math Department and Robbins House Head Member of the Faculty, 1974–2016 Dare to be true, nothing can need a lie; A fault which needs it most, grows two thereby. John Banderob embodies our institutional memory, and we’ve relied on his honesty and stories in our daily work. I’ve been privileged to witness John empowering students to be truthful in Discipline Committee meetings. John teaches students respect by being respectful, and to listen by listening. In and out of the DC, students and adults pay attention when he...
read moreFran McInnis
Fran McInnis Student Activities Office, 1980–2016 For 36 years, Fran McInnis has played a critical role at Milton. She has managed more information, essential to the functioning of the Upper School, than one can measure. From budgets and the all-School calendar, to student mailboxes and the quarter-filled graduation sock, nothing was too broad—or too narrow—a focus for Fran. She has been situated in two buildings and four different offices, always at the epicenter of student activity. She has seen three heads of school—and an interim;...
read moreThe Lived Truth: When Mine Is Different From Yours
When my younger brother, Richard, graduated from college, he worked for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York. Senator Moynihan—a liberal Democrat—regularly had breakfast with the staunchly conservative Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. Today’s political culture would label these two senators enemies. Legend has it that the first half hour of their shared meals involved their ridiculing one another’s positions with passion and, often, spectacular humor. Once that exchange was out of their systems, they got down to...
read moreZZ Packer
Reading her short story “Brownies” from the collection Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, author ZZ Packer explored racial segregation and prejudice among groups of adolescent girls in suburban Atlanta. Ms. Packer was the Bingham Visiting Writer. She grew up in Atlanta and Louisville, Kentucky, and graduated from Yale University. She earned her master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and her M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa; she has held fellowships at Harvard, Stanford and Princeton. The critically lauded...
read moreEmily Reichert, Ph.D.
Emily Reichert is the CEO of Greentown Labs, one of the largest and fastest-growing clean technology startup incubators on the East Coast. Dr. Reichert, who earned her Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, was the Lorax Speaker for this year’s Earth Day assembly. Businesses that have evolved from Greentown Labs’ Somerville prototyping and office space have created innovative and practical environmental solutions, such as the first fully functional airborne wind turbine and an unmanned “robot boat” that records...
read moreDost Öngür, M.D.
Dr. Dost Öngür, chief of the Psychotic Disorders Division at McLean Hospital, was the 2016 Science Assembly Speaker. Noting the stigmas associated with mental illness, Dr. Öngür described mental illness as a public health issue affecting hundreds of millions worldwide. Dr. Öngür is an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the author of more than 80 articles on the neurobiology of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Dr. Öngür’s research, using brain-imaging techniques to study chemical abnormalities in...
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