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Author: Magazine Editor

If Only… Second Graders Try Persuasion

Celebrating culture, tradition, personal stories and love, Grade 2 students present their Family Museum, sharing their months of exploration into their own families and history. The students interview family members and collect artifacts from their history—this year, a 200-year-old family bible, a military medal, a Milton diploma, a Korean hanbok, a fraternity leadership gavel, and a traditional shofar were among the exhibits. They also design their own family crests, record videos, share unique family traditions, tell parts of their family stories in Spanish, and write persuasive essays to their parents. “The students take away an appreciation for who they...

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Seminar Day Connects Students with Thought-Provoking Experts and Activists

Journalist, author and cultural critic Touré ’89 returned to campus as the Sally Bowles ’56 Keynote Speaker for Seminar Day 2018. “As journalists, our integrity is under assault,” said Touré, who hosts The Touré Show podcast. “Media people are deeply aware of the importance of trust; we are the cornerstones of democracy. Media people are obsessed with getting to the truth. These are people of high integrity and they take their duties seriously.” Touré discussed his time at Milton and his rising activism at Emory University, where he started a black student newspaper. He told stories about getting his start as an intern at Rolling Stone magazine, eventually becoming a writer for numerous publications covering a wide range of artists from Eminem to Kanye West, Zadie Smith to Jay-Z. “In my career it’s always been about truth, particularly adding complexity to black people. Giving them a voice to talk about what makes them amazing — their genius and the tactics they took to get ahead in life.” Not one to shy from controversial topics, Touré, who has hosted various television programs, discussed what is happening in the media today — for example, how Fox News compares to MSNBC. “The right-wing media give untrue information,” said Touré. “They lie to their audience all the time. This leaves their followers unable to understand reality. These are people pretending to be journalists, but they are propagandists.”...

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Nancy Anderson Leads the Middle School

When students returned this September, a familiar face greeted them, but in a new role. Nancy Anderson, formerly Milton’s K–8 math coordinator and Grade 8 math teacher, has assumed the title of Middle School principal. During the search process, Nancy researched and evaluated every aspect of the Middle School, from curricular work to student discipline, diversity and identity work to faculty professional development. Now in her sixth year at Milton, she stepped into the role fully committed to the Middle School, saying, “I’ve said many times, and I continue to say, ‘I want to retire at Milton.” “After a thorough search, it was wonderful to find that the best leader was already part of Milton,” says Head of School Todd Bland. “Nancy has great educational vision, a calling to serve children and their families, a strong work ethic and an absolute love of middle school and its students — not to mention a wonderful sense of humor. We are thrilled to have Nancy step into this role.” Nancy is a well-known math educator. She has published books, articles and multimedia professional development resources. She frequently speaks at conferences, such as the annual meeting of the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM). Nancy focuses on using discussion in math class, the value of mistakes in teaching and learning, and the development of teacher content knowledge. She co-authored Talk Moves: A Teacher’s...

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Milton Writers, Getting Published and Winning Awards

Numerous Milton students were recognized for their short stories and poetry this year. Senior Jessica Wang’s short story, “Child from the Stars,” will be published in Hyphen magazine. Founded in 2002, Hyphen is a nonprofit news and culture magazine that tells the stories of Asian Americans. Jessica began writing the story at the end of her junior year in her creative writing class, and continued working on it over the summer at the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio. “When I’m looking for story ideas, sometimes I Google random things. I looked up the word for autism in Chinese and it translates as ‘child from the stars.’ So I wrote a story about two Chinese girl students in an all-white school; one is autistic. The other student is assigned to be her translator. At first, she doesn’t want to become friends with her because she doesn’t understand autism, and sees her as a burden. But as their relationship develops, they become better friends.” This is not the first piece of Jessica’s writing to be recognized. In her sophomore year, she was a semifinalist for the Smith College Poetry Prize for “In the Kitchen with My Mother.” Her poem “Like July” was published in the 2016 edition of Apprentice Writer. Last year, she won Silver Key and Gold Key awards for poetry in the Massachusetts Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and this...

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Milton Math Student Competes in USA Junior Mathematics Olympiad

Qualifying among the country’s most competitive math students, Lawrence Kim ’21 represented Milton in the highly selective United States of America Junior Mathematics Olympiad (USAJMO). Lawrence qualified for the USAJMO with high scores in a series of math competitions. He then sat for the nine-hour USAJMO over a two-day period, where he competed against fewer than 250 other students from the United States and Canada. The test consisted of six questions, for which Lawrence had to present essay-style mathematical arguments, and required him to work in a testing room away from all electronics and outside influences. “I was really nervous, but at the same time, very excited to compete. It was the longest test I’ve ever taken,” Lawrence says. “There is a lot of critical thinking involved in the problems. On the first day, I solved the questions I knew how to solve and then went to work on the others. The next day, I worked on explaining my answers.” When he was younger, Lawrence would borrow his older sister’s math homework and solve the problems on his own. Math competitions help him challenge himself and feel empowered to take risks, he said. Milton’s Math Club is a great opportunity to explore new topics in math outside a classroom setting, Lawrence says. Recently, the club has learned about game theory and paradoxes. “I would encourage people to check it...

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