Author: Magazine Editor

When George Luo ’18 wrote his first screenplay at the end of his freshman year at Milton, he rounded up about 20 people who said they’d be interested in helping him make the film. Over that summer, interest fizzled, and George never made the movie—which is OK, he jokes, because “it was probably the worst screenplay of all time.” A few more attempts failed; it was hard to manage the process alone. So, during Class III, George and some friends founded the Hollywood Filmmaking Club, which has lent structure to film projects, he says. Last year, the club, which includes actors and students interested in directing and writing, worked together to make George’s film, Under the Wound, which was accepted in several film festivals. Over Columbus Day weekend in 2017, six members of the club went to New York City, where the 20-minute drama was an official selection of the All American High School Film Festival, an event that honors the best of high-school films from across the country. “It’s a big festival,” says performing arts faculty member Shane Fuller, who advises the club. “It was cool to see the students taking on the project as their own and doing all the work. They did all the scheduling, filming, casting, lighting and editing. The film itself is terrific. The attention to detail is really great.” Under the Wound explores...

Milton students mentored middle- and elementary-school students at HUBweek’s Girl Hackathon, a Boston event that encourages young girls to develop a love of computer programming and coding. Jessica Wang ’18, Charlotte Moremen ’19, Amaya Sangurima-Jimenez ’19, and Jen Zhao ’19 served as hackathon mentors. It’s not a competition; it’s a chance for girls to explore the possibilities of coding in a collaborative and supportive setting, and to be proud of their creations, says mathematics faculty member Emily Pries. “The girls from Milton pushed the teams to think about different methods,” says Emily. “They identified the challenges the teams faced and helped them think about where in the code they could find solutions. “It was a chance for the younger girls to show off. There were some fun glitches that are part of the process in demonstrating what they built,” she adds. Girls’ interest in programming continues to rise at Milton. This year, a group of Upper School girls are mentoring students in the Middle School, which now teaches coding at all grade levels. “It’s really exciting to see,” says Emily, who started teaching at Milton this year. “Having coding in the geometry classes is a good way to show what coding actually looks like, which is something creative and collaborative and driven by what you envision, instead of something out of a textbook.” What’s exciting about girls learning programming...

Clocking in at a minute over four hours, Chris Mehlman ’18 placed third out of 650 riders in the Vermont 50, a grueling 50-mile mountain bike race that involves an elevation climb of 9,000 feet. To put his amazing finish into context, the top two riders are well-known veteran winners on the mountain bike race circuit. Chris says he started mountain biking in fifth grade, but didn’t start racing until his Class III year. He started with races in the New England High School Cycling Association. This led him to Back Bay Cycling Club (B2C2), a competitive cycling team based in Boston, where he has a coach. “What I enjoy about biking is that it’s a big challenge both mentally and physically,” says Chris. “The training is hard, but I love having goals and something to drive me on. I also love how scientific biking is; it’s a nerdy sport. There is a lot of complex data in the training.” Chris says the Vermont 50 is such a popular race, the 650 spots fill up in five minutes once the registration opens online. Another Milton Academy community member, Middle School Principal Will Crissman, an avid biker, finished third in his division. As Chris starts the college search process, he is also thinking about his biking options for the future. There is collegiate cycling, but Chris says he “might want...