Alumna Eliza Byard Tackles Bullying and GLBT Issues

Dr. Eliza Byard ’86 spoke to students about biased bullying of GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) students and how her organization is working with schools to address and change the problem. She is the executive director of the GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, a national education organization working to ensure safe schools for all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.

Eliza says schools have a curriculum, and also a “hidden” curriculum, “the set of unarticulated and often unacknowledged things that get communicated to the student through the everyday experience in the school, often as much by what isn’t said or how it’s said or the content of what is said.”

Eliza stressed that bullying is a “dynamic within a community that affects every participant”—the bully, the target and the bystanders. “Everyone in that dynamic needs help and support, and everyone needs some form of intervention.”

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Isabel Chun ’14 Illustrates a New Children’s Book

Isabel Chun (III) has illustrated her first, published children’s book. Her childhood love of painting ultimately led her to this project. Isabel’s vivid and colorful illustrations appear in The Kwik Adventures of Baxter Brave and Tommy the Salami, the story of a young boy who sets off with his dog from the high-rise buildings of Hong Kong for an around-the-world adventure. Traversing four chapters—The Desert, The Ocean, The Jungle and The Mountains—the duo encounter storms, beautiful landscapes, and a variety of animals that help them along the way.

“My favorite chapter to work on was The Jungle, but my favorite illustration is the starry sky that appears in the desert chapter,” says Isabel.

The book contains nearly 100 illustrations, each artfully created by Isabel’s hand. Each illustration was formed in two parts: an ink drawing, which provided the outline, and a watercolor element that filled in the color and texture. Isabel scanned both portions into a computer and merged the two in Photoshop, creating vibrant images that reflect a child’s sense of whimsy.

“The part I most enjoyed was combining the watercolor and ink and seeing the result. The most challenging part of the process was learning how to tell a story through art. This was my first experience with this challenge, and I had to figure out what perspectives would appeal to children.”

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Sailor Russell Clarida ’15 Competes in the World Championships

Over winter break, Russell Clarida (IV) traveled to the east coast of New Zealand for the Optimist World Championships, where he competed against over 200 sailors from around the world. An Optimist is an eight-foot, single-handed sailing dinghy intended for use by sailors ages 15 and under.

Russell arrived two weeks before the competition to acclimate himself to the conditions of the South Pacific Ocean. He and four other sailors comprised the United States national team, representing the top American sailors of their age group. Russell is the 2011 North American Champion, a title he claimed over the summer in California.

Racing days at the Worlds are intense; the sailors compete in three races every day, crowding at the start and then racing out and around the markers before heading to the finish. Each race lasts about an hour and 15 minutes.

“The racing was tough,” says Russell. “The sun was really strong and the wind came from a different direction every day.” Despite the challenging conditions, Russell placed 27th out of 210 sailors.

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Fulfilling Dr. King’s Dream: A Charge From Alumna Heather McGhee

Heather McGhee ’97 works every day to address economic inequality. As the 2012 Martin Luther King, Jr. Speaker, she urged students to think about difficult economic issues. “If Dr. King were alive, he would be calling on people—particularly young people—to address economic justice in this country.”

Ms. McGhee is a director at Demos, a multi-issue national organization that combines research, policy and advocacy to influence public debate and catalyze change.

Acknowledging that the economy is a “daunting topic,” she enlisted seven student volunteers to help her demonstrate—through a moving human graph at the front of the audience—the disparity between rich and poor in the United States today. Each student held a sign representing a household income bracket. By taking steps forward or backward they gave life-size representation to movement among income brackets over time. The lowest income bracket saw the largest economic growth from 1947 to 1979. Between 1979 and 2009, this growth slowed dramatically, or stopped completely, for four of the five income quintiles.The top quintile, especially U.S. millionaires, saw spectacular growth in the same time.

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Milton Senior Honored at YoungArts Week

Hannah Grace (I) is representing Milton Academy as a finalist in YoungArts Week 2012. She is one of 152 students chosen from among 5,000 applicants representing the visual, literary and performing arts to participate in this unique event, taking place in Miami this week.

Hannah submitted a collection of six poems, written both in her Creative Writing class at Milton and during a summer program at Kenyon College.

“I was so excited to get the phone call telling me I was going to YoungArts,” says Hannah. “I am looking forward to meeting all the other students who won.”

This is not the first formal recognition of Hannah’s poetry. Last year, she won a silver medal for her work in the prestigious Scholastic Art and Writing Awards—the country’s oldest awards program for creative teenagers. She says her favorite poet is Billy Collins because “you can read his poems in different ways, and he uses great words.”

YoungArts is the core program of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. At the event, students will have the opportunity to win cash awards and the chance to become a Presidential Scholar in the Arts.

 

Milton Boys' Hockey Take to Ice at Fenway Park

On the hallowed grounds of Fenway Park, Milton Academy’s boys’ hockey team faced off against Noble and Greenough as part of Frozen Fenway 2012, a regional showcase of high school and collegiate hockey teams. 

With temperatures dipping into the low 20s, Mustang fans cheered from the stands as the sun slipped down behind the Green Monster. Milton’s Jimmy Haddad (II) scored in the second period and Jon Franco (I) scored on a power play in the third, but the game went to Nobles 6-2. A great afternoon of hockey on the Red Sox stomping grounds.

View photos of the game.

Milton's Jazz Combo Performs at International Conference

The Jazz Education Network (JEN) has invited Milton Academy’s Advanced Jazz Combo to perform at this year’s JEN Conference on Friday, January 6 and Saturday, January 7. Milton’s musicians will travel to Louisville, Kentucky, to attend the two-day conference and play alongside some of the best school combos from around the world.

“The Jazz Combo will present a musical tribute to JEN's first legends of jazz education—Jamey Aebersold, David Baker, Jerry Coker and Dan Haerle—by performing their compositions,” says jazz faculty member Bob Sinicrope. “The students will also attend many clinics and performances during their time at the conference.”

The expected attendance at the conference is 3,000 people from all corners of the globe. The Jazz Education Network’s mission is to “build the jazz arts community by advancing education, promoting performance, and developing new audiences.”

A Christmas Carol, tenderly reshaped for the 21st century

If you dare update a classic, or alter a beloved tradition, you need to tread carefully. Jesse Kornbluth ’64 put aside any fears and tackled the classic of all Christmas tales. He contemporized a 19th century story that meant much to him when he was a Milton student.

According to Jesse, Milton was “staunchly traditional” in the early ’60s. He and his classmates addressed faculty as “sir” and sipped tea in real china after football games. His favorite tradition was a reading of A Christmas Carol in Straus Library by headmaster Arthur Bliss Perry the night before students went home for the holiday break.

“Mr. Perry entered and took his seat. And then he became Charles Dickens. He read without accent and without drama. He didn’t play up the sentiment. He simply delivered—as he had each December for 14 years and would for two more—the greatest Christmas story since the original one. I got shivers. Maybe shed a tear. It was that remarkable an experience.”

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First Person Plural: Filmmaker Deann Borshay Liem Shares Her Story

Students filled King Theatre on Wednesday morning to hear from Korean-born filmmaker Deann Borshay Liem. Milton’s thirteenth speaker in the Hong Kong Distinguished Lecture Series, Ms. Liem told her story as a Korean child adopted by an American family. Unique to her story, however, she “came to America both literally and metaphorically walking in another girl’s shoes.”

In 1966, eight-year-old Deann was sent as an adopted orphan to the United States, but she made the trip under another child’s identity; Deann’s passport and documentation said that her name was Cha Jung Hee, the name of another child at the orphanage. She was sent to America—told to keep her true identity hidden from her adoptive parents—wearing the clothing that the Borshay family had sent for Cha Jung Hee.

“Having grown up as someone I wasn’t, I never fully embraced my adoptive family or my role in it. Though they are warm, wonderful people, I was never able to fully accept their love for me,” she says.

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Proving Their Mettle in the Model United Nations

Julia Iansiti (III) and Alastair Bastian (III) are Model United Nations partners who balance each other out. “We work very well together,” says Julia. “We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.” The two have participated in various Model UN conferences and competitions, either individually or as a pair, earning much recognition for their work.

Earlier this month, they won Outstanding Delegate Team at the Princeton Model United Nations Conference, where over 1,200 students competed.

“The Princeton conference is one of the most elite, geared toward experienced Model UN students, usually juniors and seniors,” says history faculty member Alan Gluck, who accompanied the students to Princeton. “As sophomores, Julia and Alastair competing in this event was very unusual, and their work was very impressive.”

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Nesto Gallery Alive with the Kinetic Sculptures of Anne Lilly

Sculptor Anne Lilly uses carefully engineered motion to shift and manipulate our perception of time and space. Constructing precise and interactive sculptures, which move in fluid and mesmeric ways, she elicits connections between external physical space and the viewer’s private, psychological domain.

“Each piece utilizes the direct touch of the viewer to impart energy and initiate movement,” Ms. Lilly describes. “I fabricate the work in stainless steel. Stainless is a cold, hard, impersonal material, and I like pressing these qualities against the warm and sensuous response of the work.”

Anne Lilly has created public artworks for the City of Boston, and in 2010 she was nominated for the Foster Prize of Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art. Her work was included in the 2007 DeCordova Annual Exhibition and is held in corporate and private collections internationally.

Cate McQuaid of the Boston Globe writes, “Anne Lilly’s captivating stainless steel sculptures…are so intricately engineered they appear to do magic. Tall rods rising from cylinders planted on gears rush toward each other, bowing, then fall away in one fluid motion. Rotating grills look like they’ll collide, then they miraculously pass. The movement of each sparely designed piece is full of grace and surprise.”  

Ms. Lilly’s Nesto Gallery exhibit, Nimbus: Recent Sculptures, opened on December 6 and continues through January 20.

Milton's Musicians are Ready for Winter

A long-standing tradition this time each year, Milton Academy's Winter Concerts prove to be a welcomed gift on these chilly, short December days. Orchestras and vocal groups have been busy in Kellner these past weeks preparing for two performances scheduled for Friday, December 9 and Sunday, December 11 in King Theatre.

Beginning at 7:30 p.m., Friday's concert features the Gospel Choir, Chamber Singers, Glee Club and the School's four a capella groups. Highlights include the Abendlied of Josef Rheinberger and Shalom Rav of Ben Steinberg, both sung by the Chamber Singers. The Glee Club will sing several selections, including a chorus from Gluck's operan Orfeo and an arrangement of the American Spiritual, Go Down Moses.

On Sunday at 4 p.m., Milton's two orchestras take the stage. The Chamber Orchestra performs works of Handel, Mozart, Haydn and the premiere of an orchestral transcription of Clare Grundman's Concertante for Alto Sax and band. The soloist will be Kate Ballinger (I). The full orchestra will play works of Chesnakov, Joplin, Tchaikovsky, Verdi and Holst. Watch orchestra rehearsal.

The music department will host a silent auction at both events to defray the cost of the Chamber Singers/Chamber Orchestra tour of Poland and Germany in 2012. If you have any questions, please contact Music Department Chair Don Dregalla at don_dregalla@milton.edu.

Students are the jury: Talbot Speaker challenges assumptions

On Wednesday morning, Brett Sokolow asked students to serve as a jury. He challenged students’ notions of what constitutes sexual assault by presenting a case, and asking them for how they would rule. Mr. Sokolow is a risk management consultant and higher education attorney, with long experience.

Mr. Sokolow outlined the facts from a groundbreaking case that occurred on a college campus 14 years ago. He then invited students to ask questions about the encounter between “Amy” and “Todd.” After this discussion, the students indicated by a show of hands their reading of the defendant’s guilt or innocence. Only then did Mr. Sokolow share the actual verdict. The students were mainly divided on the case, a common outcome, Mr. Sokolow says, when he speaks on college campuses nationwide. He said he hoped the students would continue the conversation among themselves throughout the day. In fact, the conversation did continue, across campus, over the days since the speaker’s challenge.

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Class IV Presents: The Haunting of Will Shakespeare

The Class IV Play, a long-standing performing arts tradition at Milton, is an all-inclusive and beloved class project. Faculty member Pam McArdle directs this year’s production, The Haunting of Will Shakespeare—a fanciful take on how a young Shakespeare became a playwright.

"This play offers a blend of light-hearted comedy along with a touch of Shakespeare," says Ms. McArdle. "It is age-appropriate for Class IV students, yet sophisticated and funny enough to challenge the actors."

View photos of the performance.

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Milton Alumni Compete with Nobles Off the Field

As Milton's Mustangs suited up to take on the Nobles teams, alumni from both schools were in a heated battle to show their spirit off the field. Milton and Nobles alumni from the Class of 1998 through the Class of 2011 competed for the highest number of gifts to the respective Annual Funds by game day.

Click here to see the final score.

“What words will you choose to live by?”
Stephen Elliott ’99 is this year’s Veterans’ Day Speaker

After reminiscing about Milton faculty and life in Goodwin House, Stephen Elliott ’99 urged students at the Veterans' Day Assembly to consider a future in public service.

“For me, Veterans’ Day is a time to reflect on the words I will choose to live by, and how I will commit service to others,” said Stephen. “If you permit me, I ask you as well: What words will you choose to live by, and how will you commit service to others?”

Having studied engineering and computer science at Yale, Stephen became a commissioned Naval officer in 2004 and served on the USS HENRY M. JACKSON, a ballistic missile submarine based out of Bangor, Washington. He told students how a recruiting poster hanging in the hallway of his engineering school planted the seed of his joining the military, which was not his goal going into college. His final decision was based on what the military represented to him, even though some military traditions went against his own personal beliefs.

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Crossing the Finish Line with Their Best Season in 15 Years

Milton's girls' cross country team capped off a winning season with a second place finish at the 2011 ISL Championships at Brooks School. The Mustangs entered the final race with their best record in 15 years (12-2).

"Though nerves were on edge, Victoria Lee (I) and Danielle Frederick (I) navigated the 3.1 miles with ease, finishing fourth and fifth out of a field of 90 girls,” said Head Coach Scott Huntoon. “Maddie Warwick (III) finished third for the team and had one of her best races of the season. She began the race in the top 20 and steadily advanced to capture 11th place.”

Scott says Lindsay Atkeson (II) pushed through fatigue to cross the finish line in 18th place.

“In her first ISL Championship, she gave our team a critical edge over third place Middlesex,” says Scott.

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Ellen Sukharevsky (II) is Following the Squids From Space
The squids in space returned to Earth on the final two space shuttle voyages, but the experiments on the unique Hawaiian bobtail squid continue. Ellen Sukharevsky (II) is playing an important role. Over the summer, Ellen returned to the Space Life Science Laboratory, a NASA facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, to assist scientists. 

“My favorite part was taking care of the squid in their tanks. I did that every morning—cleaning the tanks and checking to see if babies hatched,” says Ellen. “The timing of hatching is important, because the experiments have to be done right when they are born.”

Ellen was comfortable working in a professional lab, performing a variety of scientific experiments and recording data. “The most challenging part of working in the lab was the technology, which didn’t always cooperate!” says Ellen.

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Milton Presents The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S. That’s what Milton’s fall musical promises to be.

The Tony Award-winning comedy The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee chronicles six overachievers in the throes of puberty, as they vie for the spelling championship of a lifetime. For this quirky and charming cast of outsiders, the spelling bee is the one place where they can stand out and fit in at the same time. Competition, as they prove, can bring out the best and the worst in people.

Milton’s production of the play is co-directed by performing arts faculty members Kelli Edwards and Robert Saint Laurence ’07.

“This show is smaller than our last musical [Chicago],” Kelli says, “but we’ve realized that doesn’t make it any less difficult or complex.” 

View photos of the performance.

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Balla Tounkara and his Kora Bring West Africa to Milton

French students and world music aficionados are in for a treat this Thursday when Balla Tounkara, a griot and master kora player from Mali, visits Milton to perform and work with students.

In West African tradition, a griot is a member of a caste who maintains an oral record of tribal history in the form of music, poetry and storytelling. The kora is a traditional 21-string bridge harp unique to West Africa.

Modern Languages faculty member Laurence Huughe says Mr. Tounkara’s visit “reflects our commitment in the French program to also focus our studies on French culture and language outside of France.”

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A New Look for the Mustangs

Last spring, Head of School Todd Bland appointed a committee and charged the group with developing a new and consistent identity for Milton athletics. The committee is now happy to introduce the design that Mr. Bland has approved as the School's official athletics logo. All of Milton's athletic wear, formal and informal, from this point forward, will use the new design. Clothing and products that use designs from within this logo group will soon be available in the School bookstore, as well.

A student vote in the 1982–1983 school year triggered adoption of the Mustang as Milton Academy's mascot. Before that time, Milton teams had been known only as "orange and blue." Use of the Mustang as part of our teams' identity grew, and teams adopted various, disparate graphics and images. To develop a single, strong institutional athletics identity, a group that included the athletics department, administrators, faculty, the student activities office and the communication office began to meet and to work with a design team.

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Artist Chandra Dieppa Ortiz Shows “Four Voices” in the Nesto Gallery

The walls of the Nesto Gallery will soon be ablaze with bright colors, rich texture, and the stories that artist Chandra Dieppa Ortiz has to share. Through inter-related series of paintings, mixed media collage and assemblage, Ms. Ortiz explores the historical and contemporary use of storytelling. Employing musical forms such as jazz, blues and hip-hop she creates complex, rhythmic compositions, where fragments, symbols and images play against textured surfaces.

“I explore issues of race, class, gender and culture in the hopes of creating a dialogue between communities and generations by visualizing cultural armor,” Ms. Ortiz says. “I believe that ‘cultural armor’ protects by using love, humor, faith, music, stories and the telling of home truths to empower and inspire each generation.”

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Tony Award-Winner Ben Vereen Comes to Milton

Mr. Ben Vereen—acclaimed performer and humanitarian—joined Milton students on campus this week, in class and in performance. The Tony Award-winning actor, with roles in features such as Roots, Pippin, Wicked, Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Muppets, Grey's Anatomy and Law and Order, has entertained audiences around the world. His talent on the stage is coupled with his focus on improving access to arts and services among people around the United States. For his humanitarian contributions, he has received numerous awards including Israel’s Cultural and Humanitarian Awards, three NAACP Image Awards, an Eleanor Roosevelt Humanitarian Award and a Victory Award.

Swap-It: Where to Get Your Bargain Finery This Fall

A sparkly pair of leggings, a faux fur shawl, and a hat worthy of a Dr. Seuss character. Sounds crazy? It’s a student’s typical basketful of goodies, proudly compiled from Swap-It, Milton’s much-loved annual yard sale.

Swap-It represents not only a chance to find rare and hip t-shirts—it is the source for outfits that ordinarily would be just figments of imagination. The much-anticipated Swap-It dance relies on creative purchasing and layering of very affordable finery from the Swap-It “racks.” The Swap-It dance is the place to see and be seen, and to show off your colorful, bargain apparel.

A tradition for over 60 years, Milton’s K–8 families are hard at work organizing the enormous sale of quality treasures—outerwear and sports gear, books and games, furniture, home accessories and designer clothing—that also happen to have been used and donated by families in the Milton community. Teams of parents accept, sort, price and organize thousands of donations that pour in during the days before the sale, then manage the crowds and the cashiering.

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Documentary Filmmaker Ian Cheney ’98 Shows Us The City Dark

A city skyline at night is an impressive spectacle, but the millions of twinkling lights we’re accustomed to obscure the natural starlight above. In his new documentary, The City Dark, filmmaker Ian Cheney ’98 explores this light pollution and asks: What do we lose when we lose our connection to the night?

“Not long after moving to New York from rural Maine, I heard a surprising statistic: for the first time in the history of the planet, more people were living in cities than in the countryside,” says Ian. “That global shift from rural to urban mirrored my own shift from spending much of my childhood under dark night skies to an adulthood in cities. Surely, I thought, I'm not the only person missing the stars.”

The film covers a wide geographical area—exploring the threat of killer asteroids in Hawaii and tracking hatching turtles along the Florida coast—and features stunning astrophotography and a cast of eclectic scientists, philosophers, historians and lighting designers. Ian says making the documentary was a great learning experience.

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Author, cultural critic and correspondent Touré ’89 publishes Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness?

What does being black today mean? Is there an authentic black experience? What does it mean to be “acting white”? Author and television correspondent Touré ’89 asked these probing, philosophical and emotional questions of 105 prominent African-American artists, politicians, academics, journalists and religious leaders. He wove their answers with his own thoughts and experiences in his book Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness?

A recent New York Times book review said of Touré’s new book, “This is one of the most acutely observed accounts of what it is like to be young, black and middle-class in contemporary America. … a performance carried through with unsparing honesty, in a distinctive voice that is often humorous, occasionally wary and defensive, but always intensely engaging.”

“I began the book when Obama’s victory was clear, a moment that made me say, ‘Something has changed in this country,’” says Touré. “I’d always thought, as many blacks did, that it was impossible for a black person to become president. So I decided to explore where race is now, because things had clearly changed from when I was a teenager. The possibilities for black people are different—the nature of racism is different.”

Not one to shy from controversy, Touré argues in the book that there is no one right way to be black. He wants to broaden the concept of black identity, asserting the idea that “blackness” is anything an African-American wants it to be. He gives voice to the generations of blacks growing up post-Civil Rights, looking forward into the twenty-first century.

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Bienvenidos a la Academia Milton!

If you hear more Spanish being spoken in the halls this month, it’s because Milton is hosting 16 students from Colegio el Pilar as part of the annual eight-week Spanish Exchange program. The first four weeks of the program took place in June, when Milton students traveled with faculty member Tracy Crews to Spain. Paired with Spanish counterparts, Milton students stayed in local homes and attended classes at El Pilar, a private school in Madrid. Now the roles are reversed, and Milton families are hosting the Madrileños into October.

“When the Milton students visit Spain, they experience full Spanish immersion, speaking no English,” explains Ms. Crews. “When the Spanish students visit, they speak a combination of both languages so that the Spanish students can work on their English and Milton students can continue their work in Spanish.”

Osaremen Okolo (II) is paired with Patricia Garrido, who describes her first visit to the United States as “fantastic.” Osaremen, who stayed with Patricia’s family in Madrid, hopes to return to Spain next summer.

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A fun and spirited Class Day

Super heroes, chefs, FBI agents, angels and cartoon characters burst onto “center stage” last Friday, as Class I students opened one of Milton’s favorite traditions: senior walk-in.  The seniors dress for success, and their class leaders launch the year by setting the themes seniors have chosen for the School.  Once the cacophony of the class entrance dies down, the speakers, Class I councilors Henry Green and Phoebe Bodkin, particularly welcome freshmen (Class IV).  They share sage advice about their views of the best ways to make the most of Milton and how to share one’s self with the School.  The seniors’ spectacle launches another fun Milton tradition, Class Day, where all four classes participate in activities on and off campus.

This year, School head monitors Molly Gilmore and Tom Schnoor, chose viewing Waiting For Superman as a summer activity for all students and faculty.  That prepared everyone for the next item of the day, small group discussions about the documentary. Waiting For Superman is a compelling commentary on the state of American education; it follows several urban public school students and their families as they hope lottery results will deliver the crucial opportunity of a slot in a charter school system.

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Wendy Seligman Lewis Exhibit Opens at the Nesto Gallery

Wendy Seligman Lewis has been intrigued, over the course of her career, by the demands and revelations of self-portraiture. The artist who concentrates on self-portraits must observe the self intensely, both as object and subject. The Nesto exhibit, selected from among her other works, covers nearly 40 years of the artist's self-portraits, revealing her strength, vulnerability, experience, reflection, intensity and repose. Ultimately, these portraits are about the process of aging.

An opening reception for the show is scheduled on Tuesday, September 20, from 5:30–7 p.m. in the lower level of the Art and Media Center. The exhibit is open weekdays, 8:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m., until October 19.

The Nesto Gallery opened in 1972. The gallery brings in artists from the New England area whose work enriches and broadens the School's collective perspective. Eight exhibitions take place a year, two of which are student exhibitions. Each year one exhibition, planned on a rotating basis, includes either graduates, members of the Milton community or a local artist.

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Service is Popular at Milton

Over 400 students, or two-thirds of the Upper School student body, devoted time to community service last year. During Wednesday’s assembly, student volunteers encouraged their peers to join them this year, as they shared their experiences of working with disabled adults, spending time with the elderly, and tutoring local elementary school students.

Nearly 250 students perform weekly service each year, and many more partake in multi-annual events such as sorting food at the Greater Boston Food Bank, organizing the Red Cross Blood Drive, and coordinating holiday giving. Collectively last year, students spent 7,780 hours at over 30 sites in the Milton and Boston area.

Six students were honored at the assembly for committing the most hours of service. Soerny Cruz (I) and Kitty Lan (II) earned the top two spots with 60 hours and 56 hours respectively.

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They're Arriving. Who Are They?

Rain has not dampened the happy buzz on campus as new students arrive for registration, orientation and a campus-wide scavenger hunt.  Milton’s admission committee selected this class from among 1032 applications last year.   This week, 164 new students begin School; 107 are boarding students and 57 are day students.

Milton’s new students hail from 21 states and 14 countries—places as geographically and culturally diverse as New England, California, Nebraska, Texas, the Bahamas, China, Japan, Jordan and Switzerland.  At least 18 languages are spoken in students’ homes, including French, Kasakh, Korean, and Arabic.

These students are unique, interesting and opinionated individuals. Their backgrounds and interests are rich, varied and intriguing. One student is a football player who knits hats for orphans. Another is a hockey goalie and she is also a sculptor. A third is a nationally ranked Irish step dancer, and another was the editor of his school’s daily online news Web site. One home-schooled student started an all-girls robotic team in her hometown because the boys’ team excluded girls from competing.

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Summer Learning Experiences Enrich Faculty

Faculty return to campus renewed and reinvigorated after the summer, but for many, summer was not all fun in the sun. Many faculty use the valuable time for professional development. 

For instance, academic dean and math faculty member Jackie Bonenfant attended a four-day conference at the Harvard Graduate School of Education called the "Future of Learning."  It featured Howard Gardner, David Perkins, and a host of other researchers and practitioners.  The focus of the conference was how three major societal changes—mind/brain research, the digital revolution, and globalization—will shape the future of teaching and learning. 

“Howard Gardner outlined ‘Five Minds for the Future’ that we should foster: the disciplined mind, the synthesizing mind, the creating mind, the respectful mind, and the ethical mind,” says Jackie.  “As he said, ‘The world will not be saved by high test scores… .  More than ever, a laser-like focus is needed on the kinds of human beings we are raising and the kinds of societies—indeed, in a global era, the kind of world society—that we are fashioning.’”

English faculty member Tarim Chung immersed himself in postmodern literature based on a syllabus from a graduate course at Harvard. This included among others, Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past, Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, Nabokov’s Speak, Memory and Woolf’s To the Lighthouse.

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My Summer? Playing Basketball in Russia

Ikemefuna “Ike” Ngwudo ’13 was one of 20 high school basketball players selected nationwide to play on a USA Basketball team for a two-week exchange program in Russia this summer. During the trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg, the student-athletes learned about Russian culture, attended basketball clinics, and played games with local athletes.

“The trip was an amazing experience,” said Ike. “It was exciting to visit all the historical sights and to meet so many Russian basketball players, including members of their national team.”

Ike says he learned a lot about the sport during their drills and games, where the teams were always a combination of Russian and American players.

“Americans play more athletic games, and the Russians play more skill-based games,” said Ike. “The Russian players like to move faster. They are less fancy in their moves, but they are more refined in technique. They get the job done.”

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Harvard-bound Yuleissy Ramirez ’11 is National Squash Champion

Squash standout Yuleissy Ramirez ’11 was the under-19 champion at the National Urban Individual Championships, which took place in June at Williams College.

“It was very exciting,” said Yuleissy, who played for the SquashBusters team. “In the final match, I won the first two games and felt confident. I lost the next two games, and it can be hard to come back after that. I went back on the court telling myself I wasn’t going to lose.”

Yuleissy won that final game 11-4 and captured the championship. Chris Kane, her former squash coach at Milton, isn’t surprised: “She has incredible belief in herself and she knows how to dig in and work hard. She is a fun player to watch.”

Yuleissy began playing for SquashBusters when she was in sixth grade. Based in Boston and Cambridge, the nonprofit organization was the first urban youth enrichment program to combine squash, academics and community service. Yuleissy was initially drawn to the social and community service aspects of the program; when she came to Milton in her Class IV year, her athletic talent was obvious and she played on the varsity team.

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Alumnus Appointed Music Director of Boston Landmarks Orchestra

Alumnus Christopher Wilkins ’74 recently became the music director of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra, which performs orchestral music in significant architectural, historical and geographical settings throughout the Boston area. Founded in 2001, the Orchestra’s mission is to perform exceptional orchestral concerts, free to the public.

Christopher was appointed to his new position earlier this spring after a nationwide search. Last summer he assisted the Orchestra when founder and conductor, Charles Ansbacher, fell ill. Christopher led the Orchestra during a memorable concert at Fenway Park, where he conducted Beethoven’s Ode to Joy from atop the bullpen. The event also reunited Christopher with Milton classmate and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick ’74, who narrated a story accompanied by the Orchestra.

At Milton, Christopher was an accomplished oboist and a member of numerous music ensembles. “I must have played Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring at least 300 times,” he laughs. “It ended up being my thing, and I played it with the choir at all kinds of events in the Apthorp Chapel.”

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Hockey Standout Rob O'Gara (I) Drafted by Boston Bruins

Before his junior year, Long Island native Rob O’Gara (I) made a decision to transfer to Milton Academy.  That decision led him to new academic and athletic opportunities, and for the School’s hockey team, Rob was a great addition. The defenseman helped the team win the NEPSAC Championship this past winter, and this month Rob was selected 151st in the fifth round of the NHL entry draft by the Boston Bruins.

“It’s a surreal experience and I still feel like I’m on cloud nine,” said Rob. “It’s such an honor to be chosen and see all the hard work come to fruition.”

Hockey coach Paul Cannata said Rob’s being drafted was anticipated as a number of teams followed him and indicated their interest in the 6'2" blue-liner during the season. Still, Rob said that seeing his name appear on the screen, while watching the draft picks online with his father at home in Massapequa, New York, was an exciting moment.

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Alumnus Economist Wins Communicator of the Year

Austan Goolsbee ’87, who chairs President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, was recently awarded a title that connects with his Milton years. Austan was named the 2011 Communicator of the Year by the National Forensics League (NFL). Austan received the award at the league’s national speech and debate tournament, where he also served as a guest judge.

In 1987, faculty member Debbie Simon was one of Austan’s speech coaches—the year he became the National Champion in International Extemporaneous Speaking. He finished second in Original Oratory. The Milton Academy team, which also included Upper School Principal David Ball ’88 and performing arts faculty member Patrice Jean-Baptiste ’88, won the national championship.

The Communicator of the Year award is given to someone who directly draws upon speech training as part of his or her career. “When Austan accepted the award, he spoke about how invaluable that training has been,” said Debbie. Austan told the audience that when he was a student, the speech team held a fundraiser in which its members had to keep talking for 24 hours straight.

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Class of 2011 Sets a Record to Match

The Class of 2011 broke a record this year: 100 percent of them gave to the Annual Fund before graduation. Their participation puts them in a class of one. They made Milton history. The seniors were grateful, already, for their Milton experience. Why not help achieve record setting giving as well? Please give to the Annual Fund by June 30 to help strengthen the Milton essentials: exceptional academics; passionate faculty; broad opportunities; and talented classmates who are often lifetime friends.

While the Class of 2011 has left the quad, the Class of 2012, and students to come, are counting on you, and on your support. Please use the power of a gift to protect and extend the Milton essentials.

Make a gift online.