The Scene at 8:00 a.m.
What Happens at Milton Assemblies?

Does live orchestral music start your Monday mornings? Walking past the violin section on the way to your bleacher seats is not unlikely at Milton, nor is an appearance of the jazz combo, a presentation of an athletic award, a snatch of a play, or an exhortation to join a community service project. On Monday mornings, students sit by class in the Fitzgibbons Convocation Center while Upper School Principal Hugh Silbaugh helps everyone focus on the week ahead. Most times Hugh starts by thanking the folks who made the weekend special: cross country runners who hosted a tournament, guitarists and poets who performed at the beatnik café, the cast of the Class IV play, or students who helped with the Special Olympics, for instance. Hugh then uses the other precious moments (the assembly is 15 minutes long) to address imminent, School-wide issues: Are exams upon us? Should we feel thankful? What does Veteran’s Day mean? What’s great about fall? We’re not all Red Sox fans, but wasn’t that fun? Why is this attitude or behavior harmful to the community? After centering the crowd on the business of teaching and learning, and making sure to reflect the life of the School as students and faculty feel it, he sends us off to a busy Monday.

Tuesday mornings (and either Thursday or Friday as well) students meet as single classes: Class I in Straus, Class II in Wigg, Class III in King Theatre; Class IV in the Schwarz Student Center. Students run these assemblies, and the Class Deans as well as the faculty advisors are always there. Students from clubs, teams and activity groups make announcements, in a number of formats: straightforward, skit or performance. Birthdays, athletic and artistic achievements along with academic awards earn kudos at this time; and if a discipline issue or class-wide concern needs discussion, it happens here. According to dean of students Lukie Wells, “these assemblies build class identity, spirit and empathy. At least twice each week for all their Milton years, students, their deans and class advisors sit in each other’s presence, and experience the life of the class across time. The assemblies can’t help but strengthen the bonds students develop.”

Once each week, students meet, in a formal sense, with their faculty advisors. Boarding students generally meet Tuesday evenings, in the houses. Day students use the assembly period on Wednesday morning, in spaces all over campus where an advisor can sit with his or her advisees for a conversation: classrooms, offices, or a corner of the Schwartz Center. Sometimes the topics for these meetings are community issues the faculty feels are best taken up in small groups. Typical topics also include logistics, like reminders to sign up for SAT II’s, or to turn in course choices for the coming year. During many advisor meetings, however, advisors and advisees just talk about life at School – what’s great, what’s not, and how to understand or negotiate various experiences.

Another once-a-week assembly is the one that gathers two classes together. Classes I and II meet together on Fridays, Classes III and IV meet together on Thursdays — both in King Theatre, both run by the student co-head monitors. These assemblies conduct much of the same business but they also include two favorite features. One feature is performance: Milton’s numerous a capella groups use this forum, but so do dancers or informal student bands. Imagining a more enthusiastic audience would be hard. A second feature is a weekend focus. In case students have missed wall posters, email announcements and between-class conversations, these end of the week assemblies “advertise” upcoming athletic, social, and service events where all are welcome.

The daily assemblies at Milton jump-start the day. They work to connect students to each other, the faculty, the life of the School, and our culture and world — one dose at a time, consistently, week in and week out. Assemblies taken as a whole reflect the excitement and intensity of Milton life, as well as its inherent humor and warmth.

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