The Big Take-Aways:
What life lessons have you learned so far?
Torrey
Flexibility of mind and thought are extremely important.
Collaboration with a very diverse group of stakeholders can be as hard as it is important. My skill set with that situation came from my days in Hathaway House. To make progress, you have to question how you’ve acted before, and how you will act in the future.
From Milton, many things have stayed with me—a sense of the importance of social justice, my interest in things that are complex and interdisciplinary, the need to challenge myself and commit to a high standard of work.
“Dare to be true” especially stays with me—that simple idea that, day after day, means so much. It’s helped me to grow so much over the years.
Cyrus
Working abroad in the developing world is really important. From that I always get new ideas, new ways of looking at things. It’s a reality check for me; it always helps with perspective.
The other thing is not taking yourself too seriously. You have to be able to laugh at yourself.
Sarah
Preventative care is cost effective. Dollars spent on environmental, legal or public health issues that help people avoid or deal with chronic illness improve quality of life, and they save many multiples of those dollars that would be spent on acute care and further disruption of a family’s ability to survive.
Liz
There’s a certain randomness that enters into the way things work out: Call it what you want to—luck, serendipity. Sometimes everything comes down to timing and the relationships you’ve built as you’ve gone along.
Community involvement is pivotal for me; it’s what brings it all home. I get real motivation from working at the relationship-building level. Am I an extrovert? When I have to be, I am.
I think we tend to idealize situations: the personal goals that will be met, etc. “That sounds great,” we think. “I want to do ‘x.’” And we have already idealized what “x” is. No matter what you think something’s going to be like, it’s going to be different. And that’s okay.
Even when you achieve some personal goals, it’s still hard, it’s still not finished, there’s no end point, and it’s always evolving. There’s no “I’m finally here.” The fact that things keep changing makes you aware of why you saw what you saw, and did what you did, and what is ahead.
One thing I got from Milton doesn’t translate directly to any single outcome. I learned how to read, properly and well, for pleasure and enjoyment, and for learning. It was an excellent gift. It was a key part of any career success I’ve had. To get and do what you want, you have to have solid communication skills. That has taken me so much further than knowledge of forestry. That’s the great failing of science, isn’t it? Communication?
Ian
People coming of age now are accustomed to getting a lot of information quickly. I’m curious to see how that might spread to other aspects of work—will younger generations be less inclined to attack something that seems like it’s going to take a long time? I’ve noticed that working with people who are even 10 or 15 years older than me, they’re much more patient with projects. They take much more time dissecting something. Even with that small generation gap, I’m much more accustomed to instant gratification and constantly moving on to the next thing. I’ve learned, especially from [working on The Greening of Southie], that in order to do my best work, I have to take the time and be more patient.
Lydon
Sitting down in class for an intense 50 minutes, to focus on a text together, and on the intellectual puzzles it represents, is such great preparation. I remember many special discussions, and at our school, like at Milton, teachers will sit down with students and apply the same intellectual processes to things happening in the community as they happen.
Caroline
The people you work with are critically important; they can make a work experience, regardless of whether you are at a nonprofit or a huge firm, either positive or negative.
Neo
You need to think out of the box in medicine. You need to believe that anything is possible, that your ideas can be put into action, that “this” is a cause you should pursue. That point of view is fundamental to who I am right now. Milton really fosters that, because it wants you to be who you are. It fosters introspection; it provokes you to ask questions about who you are and then answer your own questions.
Michael
Reason can scare your dreams away. The more passion you put into your dream—the more you nurture it and fill it full of juice—the more others will believe in it too. I can say, “I want to open a scuba shop in St. Barths,” and the guy next to me might say, “Sure, me too.” But then I tell him I want to create a hot-air balloon, made entirely of recycled materials, gassed on biofuels, and fly that balloon to Brazil to tutor AIDS orphans. Now I have the guy’s attention, and he may just want to participate.
As long as your idea is synergistic, as long as you’re creating value for the world, you can do whatever you want. Milton is great at nurturing the individual and celebrating the unconventional. I’m thankful that I have this foundation, because the belief that we are free to be ourselves is so empowering.
Tod
At Milton, the thing I liked least was having to learn how to write. It turns out that knowing how to write well—and to read—is one of the most valuable capabilities I could have. I have to read and then write technical memos that make some very complex technologies accessible to the layperson. The ability to read and write well is even more important now that there’s so much focus on climate change. I have to sift through the science and the politics and pull together my own point of view, and then communicate it.
It’s amazing how complex the energy world is. My friends ask me what they should read to get up to speed. I tell them, “I can give you 20 books to read, not two.”
Alex
Having an open mind and being willing to give something a shot is so important. Going outside of your comfort zone, I’ve found, always pays off in a big way. It certainly has for me. I’ve embraced that—taking a risk, doing something I’m not completely comfortable with—and it has brought me to where I am now, and I’m so grateful for that.
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