In the News

Milton’s Math Team finished at the top of the New England Mathematics League for the third year in a row. The team scored 179 out of 180 possible points across the 2025–2026 season, one point shy of perfection and one more than runner-up Cheshire Academy. Milton’s Celina Wang ’27 (above, speaking at the 2024 opening reception for the Farokhzad Mathematics Center) was the only student with a perfect score of 36, while junior Dillan Agrawal ’27 was among five students with 35 points. The competition included teams from public and private schools throughout New England.

Two Milton students, Adam Amin ’27 and Benjamin Wang ’27, had research papers published in The Concord Review, a prestigious academic journal for secondary students.

Amin completed his paper, “Dismantling the Empire of Egyptology: The Nationalization of the Egyptian Antiquities Service (1922–1952),” as part of an independent study during the 2024–2025 school year. In 2024, he enrolled in an Egyptology course at Harvard Extension School taught by Professor Peter Der Manuelian, which sparked a fascination with the study of ancient Egypt and Egypt’s reclamation of its Antiquities Service after decades of colonial British rule. Amin made two separate trips to Egypt, where he pored over archival documents and records in Arabic, English, and French in the American University in Cairo Rare Books and Special Collections Library. In late 2025, he presented his work at the American Society of Overseas Research annual conference, and The Concord Review published his work in December.

Wang’s research into deindustrialization in Youngstown, Ohio, began as a paper in Matthew Petherick’s U.S. History class at Milton. Initially interested in studying how automation has historically replaced jobs, Wang learned about the rise and fall of the steel industry in Youngstown. After the class ended, he still had questions, so he traveled to Youngstown, where he visited the steel museum and a university library. There, he had the opportunity to research primary sources that included oral histories and handwritten records. His paper, “Moral Witness in the Neoliberal Dawn: A Mill Shutdown, Religious Resistance, and the Paradox of Deindustrialization in Youngstown, 1977–1979,” was published in The Concord Review in March. The quarterly journal, which features history essays by high school students across the English-speaking world, only publishes about 5 percent of the submissions it receives.

Avaneesh Siruvuri ’26 traces his passion for economics back to middle school, when his father opened an investment account to help him learn about money.

“Through this experience of dealing with what felt like my own money, I began to gain a deep interest in understanding the fundamentals of our money system,” he explains. “I will never forget making my first dollar on a $10 investment.”

That early curiosity has since grown into a commitment to expanding financial literacy among students in India and at Milton, a passion he discussed during an appearance on CNN-News18 (an independent Indian news network licensed by CNN International).

During trips to India to visit family, Siruvuri realized that many young people he met lacked access to financial education. “When I asked questions about the Indian economy or how banks work, I was often met with vague or nonspecific answers,” he recalls. “It seemed to me that much of the financial decision-making was influenced by the media or outdated methods.” To help close that gap, he launched an economics discussion group, loosely inspired by Milton’s Harkness teaching method, that meets in person and online to explore interdisciplinary topics in economics and decision-making.

That same passion has come to life in Ware Hall, where he’s developed a four-class financial literacy program for Milton’s Middle School. “As someone who went to [Milton’s] Middle School, I remembered learning about several life skills, such as study methods, basic psychology, and self-care in our 360 class. I felt that financial literacy was no different than any of these essential life skills,” he says. Siruvuri worked with the Middle School administration to develop the program, which covers fundamental concepts such as how to save and spend money and how banks work.

Remembering Marisol Maura (1937–2025)

Soledad Maura ’86 shares the sad news that her mother, Marisol Maura, passed away on November 24, 2025. Marisol was a deeply valued teacher of Spanish at Milton Academy for 26 years.

Soledad writes: “She shaped the lives of many students, and her life, in turn, was shaped from an early age by her own education. She grew up in Madrid, where she attended the British Institute and the Irlandesas school for girls. Both cemented her love of the English language. She was a leader and one of the few students in her class to pursue a professional life and a university degree. After working at the news agency Europa Press, she studied at Madrid’s Universidad Complutense, where her professors, including Jack Cressey White, OBE, and Kenneth S. Lynn, further inspired her love of English and American literature.

Marisol discovered the poetry of Emily Dickinson, whose work became a lifelong passion and the subject of her doctoral dissertation. She was eventually offered two competing fellowships to complete her research, one at the University of Cambridge, the other in Massachusetts. Longing to see the land of Dickinson’s poetry, she set off for the United States.

Marisol began her career as a professor of Spanish literature and history at Middlebury College. From there, she joined the Milton faculty in 1976. At Milton, she became chair of the Modern Languages Department, was awarded the Jessie Bancroft Cox Chair and the Talbot Baker Award, and was honored with the University of Chicago’s recognition of Outstanding High School Teacher. She was a pioneer in intercultural programs and international education, and was instrumental in founding and leading Milton’s Spanish exchange with the Colegio Estudio in Madrid (currently in partnership with the Colegio del Pilar). She was also the co-editor of the 2002 book Azulejo (Wayside), a study guide for the Spanish AP Literature course Milton had recently launched.

Over the years, she was able to spend time in Spain, either directing the Milton exchange or teaching at the Colegio Estudio or at the New York University and Middlebury programs.

Upon her retirement in 2002, her colleague George Fernald wrote in Milton Magazine: “She is a passionate lover of literature, and her knowledge of the English, American, and French classics has helped her students… she has taught both the classics and contemporary masterpieces with a depth and scope that show great respect for the potential of her students… Her warm smile and cheerful ‘¡Hola!’ have often brightened our days.”

Marisol’s former colleague Ana Colbert remembers, “Her students didn’t only learn about literature and language in her classes. They learned about life, and how to overcome hurdles with serenity and elegance. She was exceptionally observant, and took stock of situations quickly and accurately.”

Over the years, many of her students kept in touch about their pursuit of degrees in Spanish or their own careers in education, or other fields that allowed them to use their Spanish, including immigration law.

In 2001, shortly before she retired, Marisol was diagnosed with inclusion body myositis. For nearly 25 years, she adapted to the physically disabling consequences of her rare illness, for which there is still no cure.

Her mind remained as sharp as ever, and she kept up with childhood friendships that had lasted over 80 years, as well as close relationships with family, former colleagues, and students from around the world. All will miss her very much indeed and remember her vibrant intelligence, her extraordinary memory, and her warmth.

Soledad hopes to honor her memory and continue sharing her passion for languages and literature in her own role as V-Nee Yeh ’81 Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature at Williams College (V-Nee Yeh, coincidentally, graduated from Milton in 1977). She describes her mother as the embodiment of humanistic values, and an inspirational and beloved parent and teacher to whom she owes everything.