5 Treasured Traditions
Class IV Talks A rite of passage. A distinct memory for most alumni. Five- to seven-minutes on a subject you choose. At Milton today, classmates vote on which talks they want to hear again at an annual “Best of” event in May. Topics range from being the oldest of eight children to China’s one-child policy, from hiking Mount Washington to breaking a Breaking Bad addiction. “Class IV Talks are one of the most valuable things we do here,” says English faculty member Caroline Sabin ’86. “Putting students in front of their peers and...
read moreWhat’s on your Milton Bucket List?
How many of these “Milton musts” have you experienced? Observing the night sky from the Ayer Observatory Applauding budding thespians at the Class IV Play Getting your laughs at Improv Night Finding your rhythm in the Dance Concert, or at Beatnik Café Entertaining classmates during morning assembly Cheering on the Mustangs at an away game Running for an elected position Calling alumni during a development office phone-a-thon Spending a night in a dorm, if you’re a day student Spending a night at a day student’s home, if you’re a...
read moreJoe Ellis ’76 is President of the Denver Broncos — Not Just a Team, but a Brand
He’s a master of relaxed, congenial banter. Just ahead of him was a game that would end in a three-point overtime loss by the Broncos to New England—after midnight on a wind-whipped field. Trim and dapper in his orange Broncos’ warm-up jacket, Joe Ellis ’76 casually answered a stream of questions about what it takes to lead an enterprise that is intensely talent-dependent: talent in executing game-winning football, and talent in growing a brand experience that millions consider part of their lives. Joe describes the Denver Broncos as...
read moreLeading a Frontline Media Agency, Lisa Donohue ’83 Lives “Life in Beta”
As CEO of Starcom USA, one of the largest and most cutting-edge media agencies in the business, Lisa Donohue ’83 keeps her finger on advertising’s racing pulse by surrounding herself with talent on all levels, and staying on top of an ever-changing technological and media-savvy world. From her Twitter presence (@ldonohue), to walking the floor at the annual CES conference, to meeting with start-ups, Lisa brings an entrepreneurial spirit to an industry that is changing rapidly, driven by technology that is constantly shifting consumer...
read moreWhen Doctors Tell Stories
Jonathan Emerson Kohler ’94, M.D., uses more than one theater. Many of us know and envy people who can balance work lives with serious avocations. The engineer who’s also a chef, or the investment manager who writes spy novels—somehow these people have cultivated different talents simultaneously. A few people pursue two separate careers at once. Jonathan Kohler ’94, on the other hand, has woven two seemingly unrelated talents into a single career. He is a pediatric orthopedic surgeon who integrates story and medicine. His formula has...
read moreTze Chun ’02 Wants to Introduce You to Your Favorite Work of Art
Tze Chun ’02 is five-feet-three-inches tall and as lithe as you would expect a dancer to be. She’s an uncommon combination of radiant warmth and fierce focus. That focus has helped her complete a self-crafted double major at Columbia, run a bartending agency of more than 200 employees at age 19, and found the thriving Tze Chun Dance Company. Her passion is art, and these days Tze concentrates her entrepreneurial vision on her newest venture, Uprise Art. An online gallery of contemporary art, Uprise welcomes new collectors as well as the...
read moreThe Act of Teaching is Changing as We Speak
Indu Chugani is Milton’s dean of teaching and learning. In her first year here, she has focused on cultivating talent within Milton’s faculty through new professional development programming. Growth as an educator, Indu says is “constantly reviewing and defining the act of teaching, and how it is changing as we speak.” We asked Indu to consider questions about teaching that intrigue and challenge every community, and resonate at Milton. What set of skills should I bring to the table if I want to teach at Milton today? In a different...
read moreWe Call Them Specials: Chances to Try, “Fail,” Learn
Each day, projects in music, woodworking, visual and performing arts, and physical education add context to what children are studying in mathematics, social studies, science and language arts. In the Lower School, both grown-ups and children refer to these courses as “specials,” and in these classrooms, creativity reigns. K–5 specials are strong curricular components, fully integrated with the academic curriculum. In these fun and challenging classrooms, students ignite and develop particular interests and talents. Specialists may be...
read moreWho made it happen? Reunion Classes Holding the Bowl
Every school depends on committed volunteers. At Milton, volunteers not only have a great time working with equally energetic people on a shared goal. They also make sure that faculty and students this year—as in past years—will thrive, learn and grow in that particular Milton environment. Last year, reunion classes broke records and won the Bowl. For 40 years, the Jackson Bowl, named for Henry B. Jackson ’23, celebrates a “select few” who have done the most to promote annual giving at Milton. The classes of 1978 and 1993 both...
read moreHigh Energy Math Makes Tracks
The math department has taken the lead in a renewal process that every department at Milton will conduct, in sequence and at regular intervals. “Ongoing, rigorous, curriculum renewal” is a key tenet of the Strategic Plan adopted by the trustees in January 2013. Heather Sugrue, math department chair, and her colleagues have pioneered the first major example of the process the plan intends. The energy surge sparked by this process has resulted in many outcomes; Heather established a new speaker series—Pi Talks, pairing math discussion and...
read moreMessages: Chris Herren
This year’s Talbot Speaker, former basketball star Chris Herren, spoke with students about his very public 14-year struggle with drug and alcohol addiction. In his powerful talk, Mr. Herren urged students to think about the “whys” as well as the consequences of drug and alcohol use during their teenage years. Mr. Herren runs the Herren Project, a nonprofit that assists individuals and families struggling with addiction. One of the nonprofit’s initiatives, Project Purple, aims to create a sober culture within schools. “Studies show...
read moreMessages: Brendan Caine ’03
Brendan Caine ’03 served as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Marine Corps with deployments to Iraq in 2009 and Afghanistan in 2011. This year’s Veterans’ Day speaker, Brendan asserted that several military acronyms, such as PFC and GPS, relate powerfully to Milton students’ lives at School, opportunities here, and choices ahead. Before joining the Marines, Brendan attended the University of Southern California, where he earned degrees in biology, psychology and neuroscience. Since fulfilling his active-duty commitment, Brendan is...
read moreMessages: Kevin Young
Kevin Young’s lyrical poems draw on themes of birth, death, food, heritage, New England and the South. The award-winning poet, this fall’s Bingham Visiting Writer, read a selection of new and old work to students. He read poems from his collections about the death of his father, the birth of his son, and his student/teacher relationship with poet Seamus Heaney. Mr. Young earned his A.B. in English and American literature from Harvard University and an MFA in creative writing from Brown University. He is the Atticus Haygood Professor of...
read moreMessages: Chris Messinger
Where do stereotypes come from? Chris Messinger discussed some of the answers with students. Mr. Messinger is the executive director of Boston Mobilization, a youth-serving nonprofit that works with hundreds of teens each year. Mr. Messinger spent three years after college as a community organizer and then three years as a classroom teacher in Boston. He is the co-author of Speak Up!, an anthology of personal stories being used by independent and public schools around the country. “We all hold conscious and unconscious stereotypes. However,...
read moreMessages: Jim Cullen
This year’s Henry R. Heyburn ’39 Speaker, Jim Cullen told students their “inheritance” is today’s America of prosperity and political stability, true since the end of World War II. Mr. Cullen, chair of the history department at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York City, yet warned that this “overstretched empire is starting to contract.” Mr. Cullen earned his B.A. in English from Tufts University, and his A.M. and Ph.D. degrees in American civilization from Brown University. He is the author of many books, including...
read moreMessages: Tectonic Theater Project
Students performed The Laramie Project this winter, a play in which actors portray various members of the Laramie community, the Wyoming town where college student Matthew Shepard was beaten and killed by two local men in 1998. This year’s Melissa Gold Visiting Artists, two members of the Tectonic Theater Project, the show’s creators, visited campus. Actor Andy Paris and director Leigh Fondakowski spoke with students about Matthew Shepard, the creative theater process, and the role performance can play in national conversation. “In the...
read moreMessages: Irene Monroe
Reverend Irene Monroe talked with students about the rewards and challenges of developing a diverse community as the 2014 Martin Luther King speaker. Rev. Monroe is a pastor and syndicated religion columnist. Her writing focuses on how religious intolerance and fundamentalism perpetuate other forms of oppression, like racism, sexism, classism and anti-Semitism. A Brooklyn native, Rev. Monroe graduated from Wellesley College and Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University. She served as a pastor at an African-American church before...
read moreIn Sight, Spring 2014
“Nicky” and “Rod,” brought to life by Shaheen Bharwani ’15, Mack Makishima ’16 and Charlie Barrett ’15. Milton actors became puppeteers for the first time in this fall’s production of Avenue Q: School Edition, which meant puppet boot camp for...
read moreFortitude and Finesse: Girls’ Hockey Demands Both
Ponytails flying behind them, these young women will skate circles around you. Girls’ ice hockey players don’t hesitate to tell you that being a hockey player takes toughness and commitment. “It’s a challenging sport, both mentally and physically,” says Katherine Flaherty ’15 who has played competitively since she was 5. “It’s a huge commitment. You play through the 5 a.m. practices when you are 10 years old. You make yourself shoot 500 pucks a day to get to this level because it’s so competitive.” Kaitlin Gately ’14,...
read moreAttracting Teaching Stars
As educators, Nancy and I were treated like rock stars by Milton families and friends in Korea, China and Hong Kong last spring. Every educator deserves to feel like a rock star. Every teacher deserves to be celebrated for having chosen to teach. How do educators in the United States feel about their careers? In America, baby boomers answered the call to educate at rates ahead of any generation since. Today, 40 talented faculty members who have each been dedicated to Milton for more than 25 years are a source of our strength. How will we fill...
read moreA Victim, A Soldier, An Activist: Memorias de protesta | Memories of Protest
By Salomón-G. Díaz-Valencia Translated by Mark Connolly Bien decía Rousseau: “Ofrecemos nuestros sentimientos cuando hablamos y nuestras ideas cuando escribimos”1. Las ideas se transforman cuando adquirimos la capacidad de analizar diferentes perspectivas. Quizás por causas del destino nací en un país en el que la guerra civil subyugaba y aun hoy no encuentra su fin. He vivido ahí la mayor parte de mi vida. La memoria más fuerte y clara que guardo de mi niñez se remonta a cuando yo tenía 4 años. Mi padre tenía un taller de...
read moreMagic Marks the Spot The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates: Book One, by Caroline Carlson ’02
Magic Marks the Spot The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates: Book One by Caroline Carlson ’02 HarperCollins Children’s Books, September 2013 Hilary Westfield has always dreamed of being a pirate. She can tread water for 37 minutes. She can tie a knot faster than a fleet of sailors. She particularly enjoys defying authority, and she already owns a rather pointy sword. There’s only one problem: The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates refuses to let any girl join their ranks of scourges and scallywags. But Hilary is not the kind...
read moreA Complementary View
by Vcevy Strekalovsky ’56 Our culture values the practical over the artistic. Arts education is often considered a luxury, outside the base curriculum, yet Harvard’s Howard Gardner shows in his “multiple intelligences” theory that visual and performing arts awaken and engage students, leading to self-esteem and follow-through—transferable effects. Our global competitors seem to understand this dynamic. Business leaders who are liberally educated understand that they are managing much more than the bottom line. Creativity, teamwork,...
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