A Day in the Life of the Schwarz Student Center
What Happens in the Hub?

Life in the Schwarz Student Center begins well before classes and extends well beyond. Early morning finds clusters of students gathered at high-top tables on the main floor, huddled over books or notes, sometimes calculators in hand, discussing a question or working on a problem set. At the midmorning break between classes—recess—students from every corner of campus pour in, seeking out friends, classmates, teammates, for “business” or a few moments of pure socialization among backpacks, bulletin boards and lacrosse sticks. You can count on seeing Academic Dean David Ball standing midstream in the happy maelstrom, coffee cup in hand, bantering with students who have plenty of ideas and opinions to share. At lunchtime, students on the lower level, at the door leading out toward Forbes dining hall, man tables that shout their wares: tickets for the upcoming dance concert; pizza fund raisers for AIDS initiatives; student-made jewelry to support orphans in Tibet. Students at the Centre Street level check email at the various kiosks, connecting with teachers and checking on the status of assignments. Throughout the day, during “frees,” students play foosball, grab bagels around tables, and confer at clusters of chairs that overlook the quad. The atmosphere quiets down in the late afternoon; students move through on their way to team practices, play tryouts, concert rehearsals and athletic competitions, stopping for instant energy in the form of granola bars and smoothies, and yes, French fries, from the snack bar. Guitar strummers and their fans locate near the front windows, overlooking Centre Street. Meanwhile, on the level one floor above, editorial boards hunker down in The Milton Measure office, or in the den of the Magus-Mabus, brainstorming ideas and making assignments. The Student Activities Office “lives” right in the middle of the Student Centre. Hope Rupley, student activities director, mixes with students—especially the crew who work with her (Student Activities Association) to put together small and large events on the weekends, from watching the Patriots games on the big-screen TV with pizza to staging a winter carnival or a casino night. Banners advertising the upcoming Onyx dance and “Senior Showcase” circle the wall above and around the windows. At the center, cascading from the peak of the three-story ceiling to just above students on the lowest level, is the amazing sculpture by Sarah Sze ’89, “The Edge of One of Many Circles,” a gift of Lisa and Richard Perry ’73 with Tracy Pun Palandjian ’89.

Dedicated to Rae and Marshall Schwarz ’54, the beloved Student Center gathers people together and provides the locus and the opportunity for shared projects, both serious and frivolous. Students have shaped the building to fit the needs of a busy community. The Schwarz Student Center is both literally and figuratively at the center of Milton student life.

Hope Rupley
Director of Student Activities

Hope Rupley affects every student’s Milton experience. “I just want to make students’ experiences here positive, to help them make connections that last, to serve the greatest number of people possible, in different ways.”

Most students know that Hope is the agent behind the social activities of all kinds—large and small, spectacular and simple—that liven their lives outside of class. From her lookout, a glassed office perched in the center of the nonstop Schwarz Student Center, she says, “You can tell plenty by observing, and we’re so available to students right here. It’s easy for them to be in and out and for us to get to them.”

Week in and week out, Hope and her team of Student Activities Association (SAA) members design and run gatherings—vans to movies or shopping, Boston ventures, showcase campus events, parties, or simple snacks and big-screen TV viewing, some bound to appeal to students.

In the past, SAA members were all elected. Hope has built lots of responsibility into their roles, so while the heads are still elected each year, she set up an alternative to election several years ago for building her working group. Anyone can apply; candidates go through an interview process; and then Hope and the senior leaders choose the new members. You need to want to do the job to get it. SAA members run weekly meetings; they delegate tasks and follow up; they attend most events; and—a major responsibility—they bring ideas to the group. Members’ “homework,” as Hope puts it, is to ferret out ideas from conversations on the fields, in the hallways, in the common rooms, or over lunch.

What’s new and well reviewed in the weekend world at Milton? Oktoberfest, with live bands, booths and food got top billing, as did a holiday party with extremely popular cider muffins and glass mugs to paint and take home; a trip to Boston’s Improv Asylum with faculty member Peter Parisi; and the Jewish Student Union’s (JSU) Bar Mitzvah dance. Old favorites continue to build prestige and appeal, too: A Capella Night (college groups that include Milton alums); the hypnotist’s visit; and the well-loved Beatnik Café, a student-led open-mike night with a laid-back, coffeehouse feel.

Hope has learned that simple things really work: TV and snacks; free movie passes or free dinners off campus; a van to the Ice Cream Smith in Milton Lower Mills; film and discussion groups (with snacks, of course). “Students learn,” Hope says, “that if an idea is reasonable, we give it a shot, and most requests are reasonable.”

Erin E. Hoodlet

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