How Students Build Faith in Their Own Ability
Fostering independent learning

Parents Day is already upon us, a moment that gives us all a chance to reflect on how our children are approaching their courses and the other demands of life at Milton Academy.  Every one of them is confronting new challenges: more independent and creative inquiry into how the world works; discussions that probe for greater depth and complexity; papers that demand more sophisticated analysis and clearer evidence. At this point, we need to focus on effort, attitude and effective study habits. These will determine how fully our students will be able to maximize the potential for growth and learning in each course.
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Experience Milton at Parents' Weekend

Milton invites you to share in the experience of your child's school life at Parents’ Weekend this Friday, October 16 and Saturday October 17. Meet with individual teachers, talk with advisors, attend classes, and learn about Milton’s programs and policies. You will have a chance to meet Head of School Todd Bland, view presentations about off-campus opportunities for your child, and participate in an open forum on the college process. The weekend also includes a performance by the Class IV Jazz Combo, a wine and cheese reception open to all parents, and athletic games against BB&N. Click on the link below to download a printable PDF of the schedule of events.
[View Schedule]

What you didn’t realize about the Student-Faculty Directory

The online 2009–2010 Milton Academy Student-Faculty Directory gives the community new accuracy, new usability, and prudent conservation both of dollars and paper.

You can expect this directory to give you added functionality: You can search the data; organize or narrow the data; and view different formats.

Because you’re not always near your computer and need a copy of the printed directory—in the kitchen, in the car, in the office—you can print exactly the pages that you need and have them at your fingertips.

In addition, you can expect the online directory to give you the information you have always valued: photographs of faculty, staff and students aligned with contact information; easy-to-find important numbers; valuable and diverse indexes.

[View Demo]

Social Entrepreneur in Class II
Jackson Tse establishes learning center in Laos
Jackson Tse, Class II has already founded a non-profit organization.  Last summer, with two other students in Hong Kong, Jackson established the “English and Computer Learning Centre in Choumthong School,”  and it helps Laotian students.  Jackson and two of his friends worked directly with government officials and private sector community leaders in Laos to plan the center.  They raised funds not only to establish the center but also to equip it with computers, learning software, utensils and books.
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Joseph Reynolds (II) Talks About His New Appreciation of Each Nickel and Dime
Principal Sarah Wehle invited students to speak about themselves and their ideas at Monday morning assemblies. Joseph Reynolds, Class II, was quick to take up her offer.  While everyone in the Milton community was reading Barbara Ehrenriech’s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America this summer, Joseph was on the telephone with people who populated the pages of her book.
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Assel and Nick, On Stage with Todd
What did they say?
Head monitors’ and head of school’s speeches speak to students
Convocation is as formal a ritual as any at Milton: boys and girls in “chapel dress,”  flags, processionals and official openings. Convocation opens the academic year. This year the new head of school offered his first words to the assembled Upper School. Students listened, taking a first measure of their new leader. Milton’s head monitors are center stage at this event as well: their tone-setting messages, directed toward students, are both pragmatic and idealistic.  Their speeches are windows into life and success at Milton, from a senior’s point of view, and they’re just plain good advice.

Nick Jacob, head monitor, Newton Massachusetts, advises us, “Yes, Dare to be true”; be yourself.
Read Nick.

Assel Tuleubayeva, head monitor, Almaty, Kazakhstan, reminds us, “Never underestimate yourself. We each contribute something different to the whole.”
Read Assel.

Todd Bland, head of school, joins Assel and Nick in singling out “unity, kindness and trust.”
Read Mr. Bland.

Milton Administers PSAT Testing
Each year, all Class II students (and all Class III students who have repeated a year during high school) take the PSAT. Although the results of this test are not reported to colleges, the test allows students to have a practice experience before taking the SAT. The test also allows high scorers to compete in the National Merit Scholarship competition.  Unlike the SAT, the PSAT is only administered on two days each year, and each participating school must choose one of the two test dates to give the test.  We have elected to administer the test on Saturday, October 17. Students will need to arrive at the Fitzgibbons Convocation Center at 7:45 a.m., and the testing will end at roughly 11 a.m.  We have announced these times to all students taking the test, and we have urged any students who anticipate a conflict to speak with Academic Dean David Ball.

Campus Safety Offers "Crash Prevention" Course
Milton Academy Campus Safety Department, in cooperation with HubInternational Insurance, is making available a half-day course developed to increase students’ driving skills, particularly their ability to avoid accidents and to deal with hazardous conditions. The “Crash Prevention” course, offered by the firm In Control, was developed through analysis of the most common accident types and most dangerous driving situations. The program’s instructors provide training for police, fire and other emergency personnel. Their clients include any drivers who are interested in the hands-on training directed toward building a set of skills and attitudes that increase a driver’s safety.
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Meet Dr. Elihu Selter
Talking to Elihu Selter is easy. He’ll tell you that quality comes from a family who placed great importance on listening. Growing up with a psychiatrist father, Elihu’s family did dream-analysis around the dinner table. As early as high school he became lay-therapist for his friends. All of that lead him to a profession where he says he has the “privilege of forming a relationship with people that helps them explore parts of themselves and their lives that they haven’t before.”
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The Wild Outfits Are Only Part of the Fun

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.

A tradition for nearly 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 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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Class Day: The Right Plan for Every Class

The first days of school are fraught with mixed emotions: Class IV students are nervous about navigating campus; Class III is excited not to be the youngest Upper School-ers; Class II students are worried about balancing a year of challenging academics; and Class I is perhaps feeling bittersweet about beginning their last year together. Class Day, a vital part of Milton’s opening of School tradition, is dedicated to helping students handle all those emotions and have fun with classmates who are feeling similarly.
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The Season For Spooks and Frights: Class IV Students Present Lady Dracula

Halloween, October’s full harvest moon, and the recent rash of vampires in books and on screen seem to have inspired this year’s Class IV Play. Lady Dracula, written by Tim Kelly, introduces a next chapter in the tale of the famous blood-thirsty Count.

We meet the lovely but wicked Mina Alucard, one of Count Dracula’s many victims, living near a newly formed boarding school outside of New York City. The school’s property is haunted land situated next to an old graveyard.
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An Unlikely Pair Makes for a Likely Hit
Milton Presents Archy and Mehitabel
Archy is a sensitive cockroach who spends his evenings writing poetry; Mehitabel, a street-savvy alley cat who claims to have been Cleopatra in a past life. They are a pair of unlikely friends facing the grit and temptations of city living. Darlene Anastas, performing arts faculty member and director of this year’s musical, describes their story as “charming. The story is about friendship, through the good and the bad, which is how friendships go.”
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On Girls' Varsity Soccer, 2009
Becki Pearce-Probst, Class I

“For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack”

I participate in a fall sport: soccer. For me, a senior, Milton is a place where I can not only flourish and grow academically, but also where I can compete and develop athletically. I am a member of the varsity girls’ soccer team; we have formed strong bonds and great memories that are just a small, yet important aspect of our lives at Milton.
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Fall Athletic Updates

Click on the links below to view scores and game summaries of Milton's varsity squads.

Boys' Soccer
Girls' Soccer
Boys' Cross Country
Girls' Cross Country
Field Hockey
Football

Sign me up!