Opening News Online

Energized and ready to go, Milton welcomes new and returning families for a great school year. News you can use is plentiful as School opens, beginning with our welcoming 10 new, talented members of the faculty. They bring broad experience and plenty of enthusiasm to teaching and learning to Milton.

Assistant athletic directors assume new positions
Among the new faces, ready to help manage Milton’s large and layered athletics program, are Sue Landau and Paul Cannata, new assistant athletic directors.

Prior to her arrival at Milton Sue was at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, where she taught physical education and coached field hockey and women’s lacrosse. Her teams won nearly 20 championships; she was named coach of the year by New 8 and NEWMAC—20 times in total for her two sports—and was named Northeast Regional Coach of the Year in 1995. Sue says that she was drawn Milton in part because she was aware of Milton’s reputation, both academic and athletic; she is a Winsor School alumna.

Sue had not originally intended to work in athletics. “I was pursuing psychology and counseling work at Connecticut College,” Sue says. “It turns out that coaching is about understanding people and their motivation, too.” Athletic director Mike Kinnealey is particularly happy to welcome Sue, who will help make the Milton program even stronger – providing the best options and opportunities for Milton students. In addition to her administrative work for the program, Sue will coach field hockey and girls’ lacrosse, and teach Project Adventure and Fitness Concepts. (Watch for a longer profile of Sue coming in the fall Milton Magazine.)

In addition to his role as assistant athletic director, Paul Cannata will be Milton’s varsity
hockey coach. After six years as assistant coach at Northeastern University (1997–2002), Paul last year founded a small ice surface hockey rink in Norwood, MA and provided a hockey training curriculum for male and female players, mite to collegiate. During recent summers Paul served as an assistant coach and head coach of US National teams competing in international tournaments. During the summer of 2001 he was an assistant with the US National 17 team which competed in
Fussen, Germany. During the summer of 2002 he served as head coach of the US National 16 team which won a gold medal in Prague, Czech Republic. Paul has also been a mainstay in the Massachusetts Satellite Training Program as a coach and director of several of state select programs. This past summer he was an assistant coach of the Mass Select 17 Team that won a gold medal at the USA National 17 Festival in St. Cloud, MN.

Prior to his Northeastern coaching role, Paul was the head coach at UMass Boston and North Adams State (1992-1993) and assistant coach at American International College (1990-1992). Paul has published articles, made presentations, implemented specialized skill training sessions and created numerous training videos during his coaching and teaching career.

Milton Academy welcomes Sue and Paul and looks forward to their contributions toward preparing Milton athletes for the competitive Independent School League play this winter.

Middle School Principal implements study recommendations
Mark Stanek, who was most recently Middle School Dean of Students at The Athenian School in Danville, California, has arrived at Milton and is eager to meet Middle School parents and students and begin work on a specialized Middle School program for Milton Academy seventh and eighth graders. Mark’s arrival begins the implementation of recommendations from the faculty Middle School Study Committee, which included: smaller class sizes; a revised schedule; a discrete Middle School faculty; and a division principal. With a number of faculty, Mark will lead the effort to design the implementation of these recommendations, and to design a distinct intellectually and developmentally appropriate Middle School program.

Flik is Milton’s new dining service
A committee of faculty, administrators and students spent last spring involved in the time-consuming project of evaluating five food service contractors interested in providing Milton’s dining services. Their thorough review included on-campus meetings and presentations as well as site visits and discussions with other schools about their experiences with the finalist firms. At the close of their work, the Dining Selection Committee recommended Flik Independent Schools by Chartwells. Flik arrived at Milton this August, and the company brings Milton exciting advantages, including higher quality meals that will be particularly evident at dinner and on weekends. In addition Flik brings: the availability of a staff nutritionist, advisors and chefs focused on providing foods from ethnic, international and regional food traditions, and excellent catering services. We hope that your Milton student (or students) reports back favorably. Few things are more important than good food to teenagers, and to adults as well.

New house heads represent significant dormitory experience
Greeting students at the doors of three Milton houses this September are new house heads, all of whom had been dorm faculty in the houses where they’ve assumed leadership roles. Students in those houses know them well. Heather Sugrue of the mathematics department will welcome students at Hallowell House. Heather has lived in Hallowell for two years, and before coming to Milton she was on the faculty at St. Paul’s School where she also taught math, coached basketball and crew and headed a girl’s dorm. At Wolcott House, Wells Hansen now heads the house, having moved from his well-known position on the hall with Class IV boys – their special mentor. Wells has been a member of the classics department at Milton since 1993, and before living in Wolcott with the freshmen boys, he lived in Faulkner House. Chris Hales has assumed the house head role in Forbes House. Chris has lived in Forbes since he came to Milton in 1999. Chris teaches computer programming, coaches varsity wrestling and manages the academic computer center. Chris’s family has been an active part of Forbes House life for four years. Each of these house heads was chosen by a separate committee, and each of the committees included the dean of students, a former house head, two current house heads, one faculty staff member from the house in consideration, and two students from the house. Lukie Wells, dean of students, is very excited about the strong experience and fresh energy these new members of the team bring to residential life at Milton.

New spaces ready for action
Milton’s architectural master plan – the first phase has reconfigured the center of campus – focuses on providing spaces that fully support the excellence of our daily academic and extracurricular life. Patience with interim locations and plenty of rerouting will be rewarded this fall, as new uses of a renovated Wigg begin, use of Warren expands, and the opening of the student-faculty center draws close (end of September is the projected date). The “new” Wigg includes student activities offices, faculty lounge and work room, student mail room, a restored “big Wigg” meeting room and dramatic space, the head of school’s office and numerous classrooms. As you return to School, construction will begin on the two dormitories, west of Hallowell House. They will be complete and ready for students next fall. This year faculty will be talking about how the design of a renovated science building will best support an advanced science curriculum, and how Ware Hall should be renovated to meet the high standards of the other classroom building renovations.

Enrollment changes at Milton Academy
In April 2001, the Milton Academy Board of Trustees voted the decision to restore Milton to its historical identity and traditions – to rebalance the numbers of boarding and day students at parity, and at the same time enrich the quality of the School experience for all students. In the Upper School, this decision adds 70 students to our current total of boarding students and decreases day students by the same number. Overall School size (K–12) stays the same.
This spring (2004) we will admit those additional boarding students, in accordance with an enrollment plan recently approved by the board. According to the enrollment plan, the decrease in day students comes primarily from reducing the numbers of students moving from the Milton Academy Middle School into Grade 9. Openings for new day students at Grade 9 will remain roughly equivalent to the number available over the past several years (approximately 40). Grade 10 is no longer an entry point for day students.

The Middle School, according to the plan, is smaller and potentially reconfigured. This year Milton will admit 10 students into Grade 7 for the fall of 2004 (typically this number has been closer to 20 students). After the 2004 admission season, the Grade 7 entry point will be closed.

We will also admit 10 students into Grade 6. The Grade 6 entry point will remain, for 10 students each year.

This year, the Middle School, Lower School and Upper School principals will lead faculty in an energetic examination of the Grade 6 experience. We will utilize our own history and current research about adolescent learning, personal and intellectual development and curriculum to ensure that the strengths of the current Milton Academy program continue, particularly in developing leadership skills, and are enhanced. At the conclusion of the study, the principals’ committee will make a recommendation regarding the optimum structural configuration for Grade 6: as a part of the Middle School, the Lower School, or as an independent transitional year.

Now, an online bookstore for Milton paraphernalia
Whether or not you have the opportunity to peruse the shelves of Milton’s bookstore in the newly renovated Warren Hall, you can now browse online and choose your own Milton gear. Go to the bookstore from the Web site home page; don’t be without your own orange and blue.