Dear parents,

Suddenly school is around the corner, and we’re all gearing up for the start of something new. I look forward to welcoming back our returning students in a few weeks and hearing about summer work and adventures. I want to extend a special welcome to the parents of new students, for whom “gearing up for the start of something new” is a larger proposition. This letter is especially for you.[More]

Milton's Student Advising System (FAQ)
What is an advisor?
An advisor is a faculty member who helps oversee and guide your child's overall experience at Milton, and serves as the main communication link between you and the School, on matters that relate to your child. Each faculty member typically advises six to eight students. Boarding students' advisors usually live in, or are closely associated with a student's house. Students in Classes IV - I often have the same advisor for all their Milton years. Middle school students have one advisor in Classes VI and V, and a different advisor for Classes IV - I. [More]

Meet Milton Academy's New CIO
This summer, Milton Academy welcomed Jane Sulkin as the new chief information officer within the ATS department. Jane brings to Milton a wealth of Information Technology experience. Over the past nine years, Jane has served as a member of the Information Technology Services department at Harvard Law School. During the last five years of her time at Harvard, she led the department as its director, managing a staff of 28 IT professionals and supporting the technology needs of a community consisting of 120 faculty, 550 staff, and 1,900 students. She also earned a Master’s Degree in Education with a concentration in Technology in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.[More]

Heather Flewelling Named First Director of Student Multicultural Affairs
Throughout the country, school leaders are struggling with the best way to create, nourish and benefit from communities rich in ethnic, racial, religious, socio-economic and sexual diversity. Enjoying the texture that so many perspectives can bring, while acknowledging and addressing any systemic issues that bar students and other community members from feeling as though “they belong” is no easy task in any environment.

Heather Flewelling, a trained social worker, is comfortingly matter of fact about her passion for her work, which focuses on diversity. A 10-year veteran of Brown University, where she oversaw community service programs that worked with high school students, and a veteran, too, of Milton Academy’s health center counseling office, Heather has been named director of student multicultural programs at Milton. [More]

Marijke Alsbach, Interim Athletic Director at Milton Academy
Marijke Alsbach, the well-loved, successful teacher and coach with a 22-year history at Milton has stepped into the position of Milton’s athletic director on an interim basis. Marijke has coached field hockey, volleyball, tennis and golf. Many, but not all of her teams have been girls’ teams. Girls’ teams at Milton have a remarkable 12-year success record. Soccer, field hockey, ice hockey, basketball, volleyball, squash, track and tennis, in particular, have frequently earned top league standing, along with division and even national championships. Mike Kinnealey, formerly the athletic director at Milton, has taken the position of assistant director of admissions and director of financial aid at Belmont Hill School. [More]

From the Middle School Principal
Dear Parents of Grade 8 students,

Summer is winding down and we will welcome your child back to Milton Academy shortly. This year will be an exciting one. The renovations to Ware Hall are nearly complete and I am eager for the eighth grade to own and enjoy the new space. We have already written about a number of changes that we are implementing this year in the Middle School. One involves student orientation.[More]

Middle School Parents:
Your Own Site is at Hand
Just for you, a new section of www.milton.edu brings news and information about the life and times of Middle School students at Milton Academy, including messages from Mark Stanek, middle school principal.

Find what you need to know here (www.milton.edu/middleschool/index.html) and give us feedback and advice about the way you’d like to use this site by completing our online feedback form.

From the Parents' Association
Ah, balance! It’s what we all want to achieve in our daily lives. A mix of work, fun, companionship, idle time, and solitude. But how? And how to teach our students to value balance when academic, social and other demands seem paramount? The Milton Academy Parents’ Association is planning a series of speakers for the 2004-05 academic year with just that challenge in mind. In the fall, we’ll hear from a panel of school staff members who work to keep a healthy balance in our students’ lives and, later in the year, from noted author and educator Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot.

We invite you all to join us at our first meeting of the school year on Wednesday, September 22nd at 7:30 p.m. in Straus Library. Head of School Robin Robertson will speak, giving us her thoughts on the coming year.

What is the Milton Academy Parents’ Association?
Many schools have an association of parents; some are more active than others. At Milton, the Parents’ Association is dedicated to fostering greater communication, offering opportunities for parents to meet one another, and supporting the efforts of faculty, staff and administration to make Milton a positive learning environment for each of our children. [More]

Parents’ Weekend 2004
Parents’ Weekend, scheduled for October 22-23, is a busy, fun time on campus and we hope you’re planning to attend. If you will be traveling to Milton, the Parents’ Association has acquired a special discount rate of $104.00 per night at the Holiday Inn on Route 28 in Randolph, a little more than three miles from campus. To enjoy this special rate, you must reserve your room by September 22nd. If you’d like to take advantage of this offer, kindly e-mail Susan Littlefield slittlef03@aol.com. She will provide you with the special code you will need to receive the discount when calling the Randolph Holiday Inn directly at 781-961-1000.

Contact Us
If you’re reading this, you’ve already found one way to stay connected to Milton and to the Parents’ Association! This newsletter, Centre Connections, is published five times each year to help keep parents informed about what’s happening on campus. [More]

Q. What types of information and resources might I find on the Milton Academy website?

A. The Milton Academy website offers parents, as well as numerous other constituents, a vast array of information relevant to their child’s academic and social life. For example,

• the website maintains a calendar updated daily with campus events.
  
  
• the Academy’s online presence provides up-to-date news and information regarding events taking place on and around campus. The most current news can be found on Milton Academy’s homepage, but one may also visit the News section to view archived news relevant to the School.
  
  
• the Student portion of our site allows a glimpse into the daily lives of our students. Visitors may obtain information ranging from clubs and organizations students may join to what their day to day routine may be.
  
  
• the Athletics section provides schedules of all Milton Academy sports, directions to away games, and facts pertaining to our students’ extracurricular activities.
  
  
• Milton Academy, through its website, attempts to keep you informed and involved. This online newsletter is just one of the many avenues Milton utilizes to keep you abreast of what may be happening within the Milton community. The Parents’ Association webpage also serves as a reference to how one may become more involved.
  
  
• parents are encouraged to visit the Academics section of our site to view the curriculum from each of our academic departments.
  
  
• our Admission webpage offers visitors the opportunity to take a virtual tour of Milton Academy’s campus, meet some of our students, and investigate the admission process.
  

If you have any suggestions as to how to improve the website or information you feel is missing, please complete the feedback form.

New views, inside and out
New houses will greet their first residents
Perhaps you’ll be walking on a pathway that borders newly-seeded grass and earthy beds that await bushes, but the residences begun last year at this time are opening for students’ return, beginning September 8. As Dean of Students Lucretia Wells wrote to the families whose children will live in the new houses, “seeing the plans we looked at last spring come to life is exciting.” Walking down the quad, passing through Hallowell and noticing the evolution of a distinct residential community there is also a thrill.[More]

2003–2004
A Year in Review

Click here to journey back 12 months from today and revisit a few highlights from Milton Academy's 2003-2004 academic year.

Acknowledging the juggling act: orientation helps teens succeed
Learning everything you want and need to know about the Milton community doesn’t happen in a day, which is why, during a few Saturdays near the start of School, new student orientation introduces topics that we value to the students who are a valued addition to our community. Orientation sessions focus on:

September 11
Academics: how to mage time, study smarter and use the Academic Skills Center—it’s for all students, not just those having “trouble,” and students can find faculty and student experts to help in any subject.

October 2
Diversity: the session will help students think about their cultural selves, as well as why we think what we think about others; sometimes we base our ideas on other’s experience, not our own.

October 30
Relationships: the School acknowledges that relationships are central to teenagers’ live, and this session will address topics such as decision-making and friendship.

The October 30 schedule concludes with the annual Swap-It dance, for which students dress in garb newly purchased from the Lower School’s grand-scale yard sale and fund-raiser.

Fall Tryouts - Athletics
Students interested in trying out for fall sports must report to preseason sessions beginning Tuesday, September 7. Athletes from every sport must report to the Athletic and Convocation Center building at 9:30am on September 7 for an all athlete meeting. The remainder of the preseason schedule will be broken down into sessions as follows:

Tuesday, September 7
9:30 a.m. – All Athlete Meeting
10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – First Session
1 p.m. – 4 p.m. – Second Session
7:30 p.m. – 9 p.m. – Third Session

Wednesday, September 8
9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. – First Session
2 p.m. – 4 p.m. – Second Session
7:30 p.m. – 9 p.m. – Third Session

Thursday, September 9
8 a.m. – 10 a.m. – First Session
3 p.m. – 6 p.m. – Second Session

Saturday, September 11
Scrimmage – TBD by sport

If you have any questions regarding tryout dates and times, please contact Milton Academy’s athletic department at (617) 898-2252.

Fall Auditions - Drama
Auditions for the Fall Play (Seussical) will be held September 13, 14 and 15.

The student-directed one act plays will hold auditions September 20, 21 and 22. If you have any questions regarding drama tryouts, please contact David Peck at david_peck@milton.edu.

Help Us Make Music:
Pianos Needed
Residents of the new dorms for girls and boys are interested in hearing from families who may have a no-longer-needed piano, in great working condition and reasonably pretty to behold (after all, it will be the centerpiece of our new home). We hope to fill the new West Campus dorms with rhythm and soul. If you think that your piano is the right match for one of our two new lounges, and you’re willing to donate it, please contact André Heard, assistant dean for residential life, at andre_heard@milton.edu.

What would you like to see in future issues of Centre Connection?

Use the feedback form to tell us what you think.

The Numbers Are In
The Parents’ Fund had a fantastic year finishing at $734,075 ($165,189 are gifts to the Annual Fund as part of the Class I 2004 Parent Gift) and 70 percent participation. This includes 77 percent participation from the Lower School! Individual class statistics are listed below. This success could not have happened without the hard work of all of our Parents’ Fund volunteers including Chairs Jeff ’70 and Cecilia Garrity, Lower School Chair, Ned Pride ’76, and Special Gifts Committee Chair, Rick Bendetson.

Fall is Just Around the Corner!
The upcoming school year is a great time to get involved in the Milton community. As a Parents’ Fund representative you can make connections via phone or email with other Milton families from home, or call from a Milton phonathon in the spring or fall. The time commitment is flexible, and the goal is to reach all fellow parents to personally ask for their support of the Milton Annual Fund. Fall phonathon dates are listed below so please mark your calendars. If you are interested in attending a phonathon or would like to be a volunteer for the Parents’ Fund, please call or email Hilary Wirtz in the Development Office at 617-898-2386 or hilary_wirtz@milton.edu with any questions.

Fall 2004 Parents’ Fund Phonathon Dates

Wednesday, November 10 – 6:30 p.m.
Monday, December 13 – 6:30 p.m.

Class I 2004:
A Record Setting Year
When the final numbers were tallied on June 30, Class I 2004 families had raised $1.7 million in gifts and pledges to support the re-creation of the Science Building and a total of $7.2 million to support institutional priorities including the Annual Fund, the construction of two new dormitories and financial aid.

Twenty-five Class I parents volunteered their time as members of the Class I 2004 Parent Gift Committee, under the leadership of Chairs Tom and Judy Bullitt. Their phone calls, letters and personal touches made this campaign a success. Thank you.

Get Involved in Class I 2005
Parents of students in the Class of 2005 are invited to join the Class I 2005 Parent Gift Committee. To learn more about being a Class I volunteer, please contact Hilary Wirtz at (617) 898-2386 or hilary_wirtz@milton.edu.