Milton students connect with people of ideas, vision, accomplishment
Numerous endowed lectures at Milton bring renowned individuals to Milton often. In addition, faculty invite accomplished academicians, writers, and researchers to come; they enrich the exchange of ideas among students and faculty. After speaking to large groups in Kellner or the Fitzgibbons Convocation Center, the guests mingle with students for more intimate and informal conversation in the relaxed environment of Straus. Just this year, for instance, students have been challenged, inspired and entertained by the following visitors:

February 16 Jean Kilbourne is the Sam Talbot speaker. Jean Kilbourne is a nationally acclaimed speaker on alcohol and tobacco advertising and the image of women in advertising. She has published numerous books and films and speaks both nationally and internationally.
February 2, Professor Fred Lawrence, B.U. School of Law and parent of Miriam ’02 and Noah ’05, spoke with students about hate crimes and the law.

January 19, Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum ‘90, finalist for the 2004 National Book Award for Fiction, spoke to Class I and II students during Wednesday’s assembly in King Theatre .

January 12, James McBride, author of The Color of Water and award-winning writer, composer and saxophonist, visited Milton as the 2005 Dr. Martin Luther King Speaker.

January 5, Patrick Guerriero, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, spoke to at Milton, as the guest of the Academy’s Young Republicans and GASP (Gay and Straight People’s Alliance).
December 15, Ray Kurzweil, one of the nation’s leading inventors, authors and futurists, delivered the 2004 science lecture, “What the Future Will Bring,” in the Fitzgibbons Convocation Center. Ray is the father of Amy Kurzweil (Class I) and Ethan Kurzweil ’97.

December 8, Photographer Greg Halpern, author of Harvard Works Because We Do spoke to students. He was sponsored at Milton by the student club, Common Ground.

November 17, Jill Lepore, Harvard University professor and historian, recently shared with students aspects of her research about an alleged conspiracy of enslaved Americans in New York City in 1741; she presented the Henry Heyburn Lecture of 2004 to students in Classes I and II.
November 3, Junot Diaz, author of Drown, a collection of short stories published in 1996, visited Milton Academy to speak with Classes I and II. His work has appeared in many publications, including Story, The Paris Review, Glimmer Train, Best American Short Stories of 1996, 1997, 1999, and 2000, and The New Yorker.

October 6, Linda Biehl spoke with students as the 2004 Margo Johnson lecturer. Mrs. Biehl stood shoulder to shoulder with Ntobeko Peni, a South African man who played a role in the death of her daughter, American Fulbright scholar Amy Biehl, in 1993. The Biehl family offered forgiveness to those responsible for their daughter’s death and created a foundation in her honor and to carry her work forward. The foundation funds educational, environmental, health education and other programs for South African youth. Mrs. Biehl urged the power of reconciliation to heal the wounds of apartheid and race hatred in South Africa.

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