May 15, 2025
Milton Academy offers its students a tremendous gift: to try myriad new activities and creative pursuits without pressure or fear, said Nicole Acheampong ’13, the speaker at the 46th annual Laurence S. Persky Memorial Awards. The awards honor the best work in student publications each school year.
“I had a lot of hobbies that I took very seriously,” Acheampong said of her time as a Milton student. “I’ve loved dance since I was young and I performed in the dance concert every year, took a dance elective, and was a member of Milton’s first-ever step team—and I did all of that even though I knew I wasn’t that good at dance or step. I did one of the school plays, in which I had the role of an unnamed old lady, who had maybe two lines. I sang in the gospel choir, and was very happy to sing as part of a crowd—definitely not as a soloist.
“I was OK with not excelling at these hobbies,” she continued. “That was one of my early instincts. If there was a creative activity that I admired, that I wanted to immerse myself in and try out, I did it. Not for the sake of being the best at it, but simply so that I could love it up close.”
May 13, 2025
“Get comfortable being uncomfortable.” That was one of the many powerful lessons Tonantzin Carmona ’08 shared as part of the 2025 DEIJ Speaker series, where she addressed the Milton community with warmth, humor, and unflinching honesty about her unique journey from Chicago to Milton, and then to the halls of the White House.
Carmona, the youngest and first Latina to serve as special assistant to the president for economic policy on the White House National Economic Council, delivered a deeply personal and motivating talk about her life, her work, and the values that have guided her along the way. She is currently a fellow at the Brookings Institution focusing on wealth inequality, financial technologies, and policy implementation.
Carmona was born and raised in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, which she describes as “ one filled with some of the hardest-working people I’ve ever met. Inspiring people who had left their home countries to try to live out the American dream, to try to do amazing things for their families.”
This neighborhood also had its challenges, including inequities and public safety issues. “ Because of that, I was always home, and I was always reading. I was learning about the world through books because I wasn’t allowed to leave my house. I think it was that which sparked my curiosity, and I absorbed as much as I possibly could,” she said.
May 12, 2025
“Wicked Sketchy,” Milton’s annual sketch-comedy performance, opens Thursday, May 15, in King Theatre. The show, a community favorite, features hilarious, student-written sketches and is hosted by the Upper School Performing Arts Department. Don’t miss this great opportunity to laugh with friends! Performances run Thursday, May 15 at 2:20 p.m. and Friday and Saturday, May 16 and 17, at 7 p.m.
Apr 24, 2025
The amazing true story of astronomer Henrietta Leavitt will come to life in the Performing Arts Department’s production of Silent Sky. The play, which tells the story of Leavitt’s groundbreaking discoveries at the turn of the last century, was written by Lauren Gunderson. Leavitt navigated the challenges of being a woman in the male-dominated science community while developing ways to accurately calculate distances in space—her discoveries ultimately shaped a better understanding of the scale and expansion of the universe.
The show opens in Milton’s Studio Theatre on Wednesday, April 30 with a 2 p.m. matinee, followed by performances Thursday, May 1 and Friday, May 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Apr 16, 2025
Milton Academy has announced that the school’s 2025 Graduation speaker is longtime journalist and author Alison Fitzgerald Kodjak, Class of 1987.
Currently assistant managing editor for national news at ProPublica, Kodjak is an award-winning journalist whose work has spanned three decades and all media. She started out reporting at The Patriot Ledger, a daily newspaper in Quincy, Massachusetts, and went on to work at The Associated Press and Bloomberg News before becoming an on-air correspondent at NPR. Kodjak has worked on several documentary films with Frontline and ABC News, including the Emmy-winning Grand Knighthawk: Infiltrating the KKK, which streams on Hulu.
Apr 15, 2025
“Learn how to tell your story, not just the story you tell other people, but what is the story you tell yourself about what you can do in your own head? What do you tell yourself you’re capable of?” Robb Chavis ’94 asked Milton students earlier this month. “What dreams do you tell yourself are too big? What happens when you’re telling your own story and reality doesn’t match? Don’t buy into the stories that other people tell about you. Don’t let history write your story for you.”
Chavis returned to campus as part of the 2025 DEIJ Speaker Series. A Humanitas Prize-winning and Emmy-nominated writer and producer, he is best known for his work on the acclaimed ABC sitcom Black-ish.
Mar 19, 2025
During her time at Milton, Jamie Mittelman ’06 was a triple varsity athlete, in soccer, skiing, and track and field. Today, she is making a difference in sports with Flame Bearers, a media company she founded in 2020 that elevates the voices and stories of female athletes.
SAGE (Students Advocating for Gender Equity) invited Mittelman to speak at an assembly for Women’s History Month.
“What’s different is we’re not doing sports reporting,” she said. “We’re not focusing on who’s going to play who. We’re focusing on issues that everyone can relate to, like, pay equity, racial justice, disability bias, and being a mom. The reason is these are not sports stories. These are human interest stories.”
Mar 19, 2025
Milton has a new Chief Advancement Officer: Kelly DeGregorio. Following a highly competitive national search, Ms. DeGregorio will join the Milton community on April 22.
“Kelly is joining Milton at an exciting time,” states Head of School Alixe Callen ‘88. “We’re embarking on our strategic planning process and, in today’s competitive landscape, it’s critical that Milton is supported with the resources we need to maintain our position as a leader among independent schools.”
Mar 11, 2025
Acclaimed novelist and Pulitzer Prize finalist Rebecca Makkai encouraged Milton Academy students to embrace reading as a powerful way to study history and engage with the past.
“So that you can deeply understand,” she explained, “here’s what people were thinking. Here’s what they were going through. Here is what they got wrong. Here’s why they got it wrong.”
Makkai, author of The Great Believers and I Have Some Questions for You, spent two days on campus as this semester’s Bingham Visiting Writer. She visited creative writing classes, workshopped student writing, and shared insights into her creative process during an Upper School assembly.
Feb 11, 2025
Young people should commit to deep learning and understanding—even as artificial-intelligence tools deliver efficiency and make information more accessible, renowned mathematician and social entrepreneur Po-Shen Loh told the Milton community. Loh visited Milton to share ideas about how we can continue to “Dare to be true” in the era of ever-evolving AI. AI tools must be combined with critical thinking, curiosity, and ethics in order to have effective and positive impacts in the world, he said.
“Even today, I keep learning. I keep coming up with new experiences,” Loh told audiences in the Hobbs Commons of the new Farokhzad Mathematics Center. “You can’t figure out what interests you unless you’re always learning new things.”
Loh is a math professor at Carnegie Mellon University and served as the national coach of the USA International Mathematical Olympiad team from 2013 to 2023. He was once a member of this team, along with Milton grad Paul Valiant ’01. In 1999, Loh received a silver medal in the Olympiad while Valiant won gold.
Loh spent a day at Milton speaking with students in the morning and an audience of students, faculty, alumni, and families in the evening. He visited classes in the Mathematics and Computer Science departments and spent time with Middle School faculty and students, as well as the school’s College Counseling Office and AI working group.
Jan 16, 2025
Full Circle Moment: In 1986—the year the United States first observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday, Lamont Gordon ’87 was a student listening to Milton’s first-ever MLK speaker. On Tuesday, Gordon returned to campus as Milton’s 2025 MLK speaker.
That 1986 assembly left quite an impression on Gordon. The speaker that year was Reverend Charles R. Stith. According to Gordon, “Over the last 30 years or so, Stith has been a pretty major figure in promoting economic and political development in Africa, both as an investor and as U. S. ambassador to Tanzania in the late 1990s. In 1986, when Stith was invited to speak at Milton, he was a minister and community leader in Boston who had recently founded a nonprofit organization called ONE, Organization for a New Equality.”
Gordon was so moved and inspired by this assembly that later that year, he and a classmate reached out to Reverend Stith to ask if they could do their senior project at ONE. Reverend Stith accepted their proposal. For their senior project, they conducted research, analyzed data, participated in focus groups, and contributed to the organization’s work in tangible ways. “It was one of the best experiences that I had at Milton. As I reflect back on that time, I’m reminded of the pivotal role that Milton played in my personal and intellectual development. It was a time when I was beginning to figure out who I was, my place in the world, my values, and what was important to me,” he said.
Jan 9, 2025
Our community celebrates a half century of fine art on the Milton Academy campus with the 50th anniversary of the Nesto Gallery!
The Nesto opened on January 10, 1975, and has since brought scores of professional artists from New England and beyond to the gallery, offering the community access to accomplished works of painting, photography, sculpture, and much more. The gallery’s presence on campus also enriches Milton’s visual arts program, giving students opportunities to meet and learn from a diverse range of talented creators.
This year’s gallery schedule culminates in a special event involving all of the gallery directors and chairs since Nesto opened. Past directors will curate an exhibition, which opens with a reception on April 24 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The 50 Years of the Nesto Gallery exhibition will remain open until Reunion weekend and close with a reception on June 14 from 1:30 to 3 p.m.
Dec 17, 2024
As a 10-year-old with the dream of serving on the nation’s highest court, Edna Etienne-Dupie ’25 caught the attention of some high-profile Massachusetts lawmakers. She delivered a speech at a campaign event for former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, and was soon invited to speak at Walsh’s inauguration.
“I mainly talked about the importance of voting and spoke about how I wanted to be a United States Supreme Court justice,” Edna said. “I have no idea if that’s my career plan now, but I’ll think about it. The clerk of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), Maura Doyle, was watching, and after I spoke, she invited me to intern there for two weeks. It was absolutely incredible. I loved it.”
And so Edna’s public-service career began—before she started middle school. Today, as a high school senior, she is a member of a state advisory board aiming to help some of the most at-risk young people in Massachusetts.
Dec 16, 2024
The new Farokzhad Mathematics Center has created a hub of inquiry and analysis for Upper and Middle School students. Earlier this fall, Milton celebrated the building’s opening with a ribbon cutting and gathering. Visit our math center page to view photos and speeches from the event and learn about the state-of-the-art space.
Nov 19, 2024
Solid preparation is the key to success in high-stakes situations, Army veteran Dan Kim ’09 told Upper School students during this year’s Veterans Day assembly.
“All kinds of things can go wrong, all sorts of bad things. But that’s why you train,” Kim said. “You study, you plan and you prepare ahead of time. And when it’s time to execute, it’s time to stop worrying about the unknown and the hypotheticals. It’s time to rely on your preparations, your own abilities to rise to the challenge. Focus on the problem at hand that actually exists instead of all the could- be problems at this point. What will be will be and worrying about the outcome is not going to change anything. Things are stressful enough without having to borrow from the future. So when it’s time to execute, meet the moment with confidence, focus without worrying about the possibilities, and smile.”
After graduating from Milton and moving out of Norris House in 2009, Kim went to Wake Forest University on an Army ROTC scholarship. Upon his graduation from Wake Forest, he went on to serve as an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) officer. “What that officially means is that I led some of the Army for their tactical and technical explosives experts in missions to render safe explosive hazards across all operational environments, provided expert support to numerous military and civilian groups on explosive threats and mitigating,” he said.
Nov 19, 2024
The Milton Academy community is mourning the loss of Susan Barclay, a life-changing educator who devoted 47 years to teaching in Milton’s Saturday Course. Susan passed away last month at the age of 66.
Susan was one of the first faculty members of the program, which invites area public-school students to Milton for exciting enrichment classes. Her inspiring “Blood and Guts” anatomy and physiology class was famous among Saturday Course attendees, many of whom went on to pursue the sciences in higher education and careers in medicine. Her colleagues, friends, and students remember Susan for her quick wit and dedication to teaching—she made sure that her signature class would continue after she left the program, training colleagues to teach it.
Saturday Course Director Kristan Burke recalls Susan’s warm friendship and care for her students. “She loved teaching—she adored the Saturday Course as much as we adored her,” Kristan says. “She was witty and exuberant about life—so much fun to be with. She will be forever embedded in the roots of the program.”
Nov 18, 2024
A pivotal first-person account of slavery in the United States lay dormant in Australia for a century and a half until a literary scholar’s curiosity led him to it. The scholar, Jonathan D.S. Schroeder ’99, returned to Milton this month as a Heyburn Lecturer and shared his amazing journey toward resurfacing John Swanson Jacobs’s story.
“Who was John Jacobs?” asked Schroeder, the editor of Jacobs’ The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots, published in full this year by the University of Chicago Press. “At the very least, he was the brother of Harriet Jacobs and an ally and friend of Frederick Douglass, two of the most important Black writers of the 19th century.”
Jacobs was born into slavery in North Carolina and was enslaved for 24 years before he escaped in 1839 and joined a whaling voyage, during which he taught himself to read and write. From there, he traveled extensively, returning to the U.S. to participate in the abolitionist movement before striking out again as a sailor and citizen of the world.
Schroeder rediscovered Jacobs’s narrative through an internet search in 2016 while he was reading a biography of Harriet—whose book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was a groundbreaking work and the first published account of slavery written by a formerly enslaved Black woman in the United States. He learned that Harriet’s son Joseph and her brother, John, had gone to Australia, where The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots first appeared in a Sydney newspaper in 1855.
Nov 12, 2024
Join the Performing Arts Department for its production of Something Rotten, which opens Thursday, November 14 in King Theatre. The hilarious musical, which made its Broadway debut in 2015, chronicles the misadventures of a pair of brothers vying for acclaim in the Shakespeare-dominated theater world of London in the late 16th Century.
Milton’s production of Something Rotten has three showings: Thursday, November 14, at 1:30 p.m.; Friday, November 15, at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday, November 16, at 7 p.m.
Sep 6, 2024
Every new school year at Milton Academy is filled with promise and opportunities for growth.
Speakers at this year’s Convocation—the Upper School’s official kick-off to the academic year—encouraged students to take chances, support one another, and explore the unknown. Co-head monitors JP Giglio ’25 and Ariam Gebresilassie ’25 talked about their journeys from their first days at Milton to the start of their senior year. Both said they grew in their confidence and sense of belonging because they felt embraced by the Milton community.
Aug 19, 2024
Class IV Follies: Dreaming Wide Awake
Milton Academy Performing Arts invites actors, singers, musicians, dancers and those interested in tech theatre from Class IV to join the Class IV Follies. The Follies is an annual tradition where Class IV performers and crew come together to create a unique showcase of their talents for the entire Milton community. No experience is necessary and all interested students will be featured. This year’s Follies, Dreaming Wide Awake, will incorporate dream-themed scenes and songs handpicked for each performer. Behind the scenes, tech crew members will be designing, building, and painting the sets and props to create an equally fantastical world.
Jul 10, 2024
¡Cuidado, NYT Games app! There’s some friendly competition coming from Milton.
Harnessing emerging artificial intelligence tools and his self-taught coding skills, Milton Academy faculty member Mark Connolly has developed a suite of games to help students sharpen their language learning and have fun.
Mark, who teaches Spanish in the Modern Languages Department, created several word games inspired by the New York Times’ popular Spelling Bee game. “La abeja astuta” challenges users to assemble Spanish vocabulary words from seven available letters, while “Conexiones” offers a jumble of words that connect to one another in groups of four. These games, along with others Mark created, are available on Milton’s Spanish-language site, La Voz.
Jun 27, 2024
For the third year in a row, Milton Magazine received Gold in the Circle of Excellence Awards from the Council for the Advancement of Schools and Education (CASE). The award, in the independent/international school alumni magazine category, recognizes the magazine’s 2023 issues, which covered a year of leadership transition at Milton.
“This is a first-rate magazine that stands above other entries for the quality of its design, use of art and illustration, smart organization, and professional writing,” the judges remarked.
The spring and fall 2023 issues featured outgoing school leader Todd Bland and new Head of School Alixe Callen ’88, respectively. The issues were built around the themes of legacy and innovation and highlighted not just the achievements of these two respected administrators but stories about Milton people across generations and disciplines.
May 15, 2024
The Keyes Seminar Day, a lively day of speaking engagements for Upper School students, has been one of Milton’s most important traditions since 1977. It is named in honor of its founder, former faculty member Peter Keyes, a legendary promoter of student interest in political process as well as public and governmental affairs and service. In the Milton spirit of developing students’ confidence and competence to live by our motto, “Dare to be true,” Seminar Day brings to campus people who have made compelling choices. They are leaders making a difference in the world. Luminaries in the fields of science, public policy, technology, media, and beyond spent the 2024 Keyes Seminar Day sharing insights and ideas from their lives and careers.
May 14, 2024
Llewellyn “Llew” Smith ’72 returned to campus in April as part of the 2024 DEIJ Speaker Series. Llew is a leading filmmaker in the documentary industry who explores how misunderstandings in race, science, and history continue to perpetuate social and racial inequities. He has been the recipient of the Peabody, the duPont, and other honors. In 2021, Black Public Media named Llew one of the Top 40 Game Changers in public media over the last 40 years.
May 10, 2024
Capping off a nearly perfect year of competition, the Milton Academy math team finished first in the New England Math League (NEML). Milton was just one point shy of perfection, scoring 179 out of 180 possible points across six contests.
Milton’s math competitors bested dozens of public and private schools for the championship—the runners-up scored 172 and 160 points.
“We have a lot of really talented and intelligent people here,” said Vickie Mao ’26. “It’s very fun but we take it seriously, and it’s a good way to challenge yourself.”
May 1, 2024
A “trailblazer in raising the voices of the Pan Asian community,” veteran Milton Academy teacher Vivian WuWong was honored last month at the Asian American Footsteps Conference (AAFC). The AAFC Advisory Group announced the establishment of the Vivian WuWong Pan-Asian Student Leadership Award. The inaugural award will be presented in 2025 to a “student or students that have made a positive impact on the Pan-Asian community at their school or the local, regional, or national level.” The honor recognizes all that Vivian has done to develop programs for Asian American and Asian international students and faculty.
Ms. WuWong, a member of the History and Social Sciences Department, has taught at Milton for 32 years and will retire next month. An engaging teacher and lifelong advocate for underrepresented communities, Ms. WuWong’s work in organizing began when she was an undergraduate at Stanford University, where she and her peers in the Asian American Student Association established Stanford’s Asian American Activities Center and its first Asian American History course.
Apr 16, 2024
On April 2, Farah Pandith ’86 spent the day with our K–12 community as part of the 2024 DEIJ Speaker Series. Farah is an author, foreign policy strategist, and former diplomat. As a world-leading expert and pioneer in countering violent extremism, she is a frequent media commentator, and we were thrilled to welcome her back to Centre Street to share her insight and expertise with students.
Classes she took as a Milton student sparked her interest in world issues and ultimately led to her career in foreign policy, she shared during a “Fireside Chat” moderated by student leaders in the Upper and Middle Schools. “Seeds that are planted when you are very young help you to think about the world in a different way,” said Farah as she reflected on learning about ancient Egyptian history as a fourth-grader at Milton.
Throughout the assembly, Farah spoke about the importance of diplomacy, self-advocacy, public speaking, digital hygiene, the “us vs. them” ideology, knowing where you get your facts from, the difference between facts and opinions, and more. She shared, “If you leave today with nothing else, the bottom line is that you should never want to be duped. You should never let anybody tell you what to think and who you are.”
Apr 10, 2024
Milton Academy was a big part of the plan Jake Thibeault ’22 made for his own future.
The plan: Work hard, get into Milton, play hockey at Milton, work hard at Milton, get into college, play hockey in college, and so forth. Thibeault learned about the school when his older brother attended; he saw how driven Milton students were about their passions and, he said, “I knew it was going to take a lot to get there, but I knew I wanted to be part of this community. I put my mind to it and decided that this was the journey I was going to take.”
Accustomed to achieving his goals through a combination of determination and grit, Thibeault was well on his way in September 2021, when a collision on the ice during a pre-season club tournament changed everything. He awoke in the hospital two days later, with his parents and brother Drew ’19 by his side. He had suffered a spinal cord injury that caused paralysis; a doctor told the lifelong athlete that he may never walk again.
“I turned to him and said, ‘Doc, I am going to fight this,’” Thibeault said. “I’m going to war with it. I’m still at war with it.”
Mar 21, 2024
Fans of college basketball have two former Milton Mustangs to look out for as March Madness kicks off this week.
Cormac Ryan, a senior guard for the North Carolina Tar Heels, set a career record earlier this month, scoring 31 points in UNC’s win against Duke to clinch the ACC title. No. 1-seeded UNC takes on Wagner Thursday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Division I basketball tournament. Ryan was a captain at Notre Dame before transferring to UNC this year.
Casey Simmons, a sophomore forward for the Yale Bulldogs, is in his first year playing for Yale. The Bulldogs face off against Auburn on Friday. Simmons was rated the No. 1 player in Massachusetts as a four-star recruit out of Milton, and was one of the top prospects in New England. He transferred to Yale from Northwestern this year.
Mar 7, 2024
He’s in two of the films nominated for Best Picture at this weekend’s Academy Awards—as well a movie still in theaters across the country—but you won’t catch Mike Malvesti on the red carpet.
You’ll catch him, instead, quietly working to keep Milton Academy beautiful and safe.
Malvesti, a member of the Facilities Services team, has found his niche as a film and television actor, a side job that has had him rubbing shoulders with some of Hollywood’s most esteemed stars. There he is in American Fiction, playing a police officer; in The Holdovers, hawking Christmas trees to Paul Giamatti; in The Town, playing the guard of an armored car that Ben Affleck targeted for a heist; in “Madame Web” as a trucker. Malvesti also scored a recurring role on the HBO series Julia* as Benny, Julia Childs’ cameraman. You might have seen him in popular commercials, as a detective in Boston Strangler, or going toe-to-toe with Rosamund Pike in I Care a Lot.
Feb 9, 2024
Ben Rhodes-Kropf ’24 has a message from his father. In order to receive it, he’ll have to travel to Spain.
That’s because his dad left the message through Trace, an app Rhodes-Kropf and classmate Benjamin Siegel ‘24 developed throughout their junior and senior years at Milton. The location-based service combines the functions of a messaging app with the thrill of an in-person treasure hunt, allowing users to “leave a Trace” wherever they are in the world. Messages for other Trace users (or their future selves) are delivered only when the recipient is physically close to the location where the message—in video form—was recorded.
Frustrated by the passive nature of existing social media, which users can idly scroll through for hours on end, Siegel and Rhodes-Kropf set out to create a different kind of messaging service that would foster more-meaningful connections and inspire users to travel near and far.
Jan 30, 2024
Nobody’s perfect—unless you’re talking about the Milton Academy math team.
Milton’s math competitors have maintained a perfect score through months of competing at the New England Math League (NEML) this academic year. Currently, the school sits atop the NEML rankings, which includes both private and public schools. Math contests give students opportunities outside of the classroom to flex their analytical muscles while proudly representing Milton.
“We have a lot of good mathematicians on our team this year,” said Devan Agrawal ’25. “One thing that’s nice about the NEML is that you don’t have to learn a lot of new concepts. You have to practice critical thinking and creative problem solving, and I think Milton Academy students in general already shine with that.”
Jan 26, 2024
“The future” can mean different things to teens: It could describe next weekend, or spring break, or college, or even a potential career path.
One group of Milton students takes a decidedly long view that includes making sure that they (and others) are prepared financially for all the possibilities—college and housing costs, budgeting, building credit, saving, investing, retirement, and financial stability for their families.
And planning for this future? The sooner you start, the better. The students’ passion for helping their peers and other young people achieve financial literacy has taken them from Milton to the Apple App Store and even the Massachusetts State House.
To help young people learn financial literacy and investment principles, Hugo Eechaute ’24 created StockSense. The free app, aimed at users ages 15 to 21, teaches the basics through fun, easily accessible games. He’s gotten the app off the ground with the help of some Milton peers, including Simon Farruqui ’25, the COO of StockSense, and Isabella Alba ’26, its CFO.
Jan 17, 2024
This year’s Graduation speaker is actor and educator Jason Bowen, Milton Academy Class of 2000. Born and raised in Boston, Bowen has performed on Broadway, television, and film. Bowen’s notable and previous credits include The Play That Goes Wrong (Broadway), Law & Order: SVU (NBC), Blue Bloods (CBS), The Upside (STX/Amazon), and Mother/Android (Miramax/Hulu). In 2012, Boston Magazine awarded Bowen “Best Actor” honors in its annual “Best of Boston” issue.
Jan 9, 2024
Great coaches, like great teachers, can have a life-changing positive impact on a young person. Milton Academy coaches focus not only on athletic excellence but the development of players as students and community members.
One such coach is Chris Kane, head coach of Milton’s boys’ varsity soccer team, who has built a culture of development, positivity, inclusivity, and family—with great results. Coach Kane was named by the New England Soccer Journal as the Boys’ Prep Coach of the Year in its 2023 champions issue. He “did a masterful job preparing his squad throughout a season that resulted in a NEPSAC Class A championship, an Independent School League title, and a record of 19–1–2,” the journal wrote. Since 2011, his first year as head coach, Kane’s Mustangs have won four ISL championships and two NEPSAC Class A championships, had five undefeated regular seasons, and qualified for the Class A tournament every single year.
Dec 14, 2023
Luke Witkowski ’24 knows a thing or two about balance.
For one thing, he’s a figure skater, which requires a tremendous amount of balance—not to mention strength, dedication, and precision. For another, he’s managing a competitive skating career while navigating a busy senior year at Milton. Preparing for competition at his level is a massive time commitment; he trains about five hours a day, five days per week.
“I sleep very well at night with all the run-throughs I do during the day,” he said.
Luke finished in the top four in the U.S. Pairs Final last month. He and his partner, Sofia Jarmoc, won first in the short program and third in the long program, qualifying them to compete in the Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships in January.
Dec 7, 2023
Every year at this time, the best teams in independent school hockey descend upon the rinks of Milton and Nobles for a chance to claim the coveted championship titles of the Flood-Marr Tournament and the Harrington Invitational Tournament.
Harrington Tournament schedule and results
Flood-Marr Tournament schedule and results
Dec 4, 2023
This past weekend, members of Milton’s Robotics Team joined schools from across the United States and Canada to compete in the fifth annual WAVE tournament, a three-day Vex competition hosted by Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts.
“With almost eighty teams, it is a truly competitive tournament, which sets it far apart from other events we have attended this year, so far,” says Hailey Coval (I). “It demands hard work, long hours, effort, commitment, creativity, practice, and talents.”
Nov 28, 2023
This year, the History and Social Science Department hosted Dr. Ilyon Woo P’25 for the Henry R. Heyburn ’39 Lecture in History. The department tried a new model for the lecture; Dr. Woo spoke to American history students in an assembly November 9 and then visited individual classes to dive further into the content of her work as part of an in-house field trip. During the assembly, she shared her journey as a historical researcher and storyteller, from her early struggles to her New York Times best-selling book, Master Slave Husband Wife. On November 28, the Times named Master Slave Husband Wife one of its 10 Best Books of 2023.
Oct 24, 2023
Milton film students traveled to New York City for the All-American High School Film Festival, where two students, Yevgeniya Regent ’24 and Luke Witkowski ’24, had films accepted and shown. Yevgeniya’s documentary, “Prayer of the Birds” made it to the Best of Fest showing and was nominated for Best International Film and Best Documentary.
Yevgeniya has earned accolades at several festivals for “Prayer of the Birds,” winning Best Picture and the Audience Choice Award at the Williston Northampton Film Festival and Best Film About a Social Issue in the Student World Impact Film Festival. The documentary chronicles the experience of a young Ukrainian refugee—Yevgeniya’s sister—as she adjusts to life in a new country. Luke’s film, “Bloodshed,” won Best Editing at the Williston Northampton Film Festival.
Oct 23, 2023
Milton’s Robotics Team dominated at its first tournament of the 2023–2024 season, with one of its four robots placing first overall and first in skills out of more than 30 competitors. The 17 Milton students who competed at Saturday’s Massachusetts STEM Week VEX Robotics Competition “showed amazing sportsmanship,” celebrating the success of their peers and excitedly planning for their next tournament in November, said Chris Hales, chair of the Computer Science Department and Robotics Team coach. Two Milton’s robots finished sixth and seventh on the skills list.
Milton robot 1898A finished as tournament champion and skills champion, double-qualifying for the Southern New England Regional Championship and placing 58th on the world skills ranking.
Oct 12, 2023
Milton’s K–12 community welcomed Larry Spotted Crow Mann, an Indigenous speaker, writer, artist, and advocate, for its all-school programming Tuesday in recognition of Indigenous People’s Day.
Mr. Mann, a member of the Nipmuc Tribe of Massachusetts, shared music, language, games, and storytelling with students, as well as some of the history of the people who have lived in the region since well before European settlers arrived. He told students the preservation of traditions and cultures—in the face of systematic oppression—is a testament to the endurance and resilience of Indigenous peoples, who have passed down stories and practices through generations.
“Everything starts with a story,” said Mr. Mann. “We have a language that did not disappear because our grandparents, and their grandparents, and so on, made sure that we still have our words.”
Oct 3, 2023
The Board of Trustees on Friday officially installed Dr. Alixe Callen ’88 as Milton Academy’s 13th head of school.
In a ceremony attended by the entire K–12 community, Board members, faculty and students from all three academic divisions celebrated Dr. Callen’s installation. In her remarks, Dr. Callen emphasized her belief in Milton and schools in general as powerful drivers of good in the world. Thirty-five years after her own graduation from Milton, she said, “I feel like I’ve come home.”
“I have known since I was a kindergartener, just like you here in the front row, that I would be a teacher and that I would spend my life in schools,” Dr. Callen said. “My belief in the power of community started here at Milton, and it’s been a theme in my life and my work ever since. I have long believed that the most important work of schools is to teach students to be active, contributing, inclusive members of their communities.”
Sep 25, 2023
Outside of the Art and Media Center, Michael Alfano has installed five of his surrealist sculptures in his exhibition titled Mind Made Visible. Mr. Alfano states: “I am sculptor and clay, both shaping and being shaped.” These sculptures will be on display through June of 2024.
In the Nesto Gallery—on the lower level of the Art and Media Center—painter Eric Koeppel presents his show, Landscape Painting in the American Tradition. Mr. Koeppel states: “In the act of painting, I have sought to discover that highest knowledge of Beauty, poetic and philosophical, that has been the common thread between all of the great masters of Art.” This exhibit runs in the Gallery through November 2.
Sep 20, 2023
Milton has begun offering more “plant-powered” meals in Forbes Dining Hall, thanks to the advocacy of the student Sustainability Board and in partnership with Aramark, the school’s Dining Services vendor.
Melanie Forney ’24, Gus Vogel ’25, and Juni Brewster ’25 worked for the past year to expand the dining hall’s plant-based offerings, said Linnea Engstrom, a Science Department faculty member and Milton’s sustainability coordinator. Historically, the dining hall has offered a plant-powered meal during Earth Week.
“Eating less meat has a large impact on the environment,” Engstrom said. “The livestock sector is one of the leading causes of deforestation and there are a large number of resources needed to raise meat, both through land use in growing crops for the livestock to eat and drinking water for them. There is also livestock waste, which can pollute water sources.”
Sep 12, 2023
Sharing messages celebrating strength in supportive communities, this year’s Convocation speakers challenged Milton students to “Dare to be true” to one another and the world at large.
Convocation marks the beginning of the academic year for the Upper School. Students heard remarks from Head of School Dr. Alixe Callen ’88, Director of Restorative Justice Suzanne DeBuhr, co-Head Monitors Katherine Risden ’24 and Chris Amodeo ’24, and Principal Dr. Monica Benton Palmer.
Dr. Callen recalled starting at Milton as a sophomore: Coming from a small school in her New York hometown where she had been a standout student, she struggled initially. The other girls in Goodwin House already had strong bonds with one another and classes were much more challenging. Once she opened up and shared her vulnerability, the support she received from fellow students and her teachers helped immeasurably, she said.
“What saved me in those beginning months were the people, faculty, staff, and friends who watched out for me,” Dr. Callen said. “When I opened myself up to help and support from the community, when I admitted things were hard, when I allowed myself to cry, things got better. And that’s the power of community. My belief in the power of community started here at Milton, and it’s been a theme in my life and my work ever since.”
Aug 29, 2023
Class IV Follies: Monsters Among Us
Milton Academy Performing Arts invites actors, singers, dancers, musicians, and those interested in tech theatre from Class IV to join the Class IV Follies. The Follies is an annual tradition where Class IV performers and crew come together to create a unique showcase of their talents for the entire Milton community. No experience is necessary and all interested students will be featured. This year’s Follies, Monsters Among Us, will incorporate monster-themed scenes and songs handpicked for each performer. Behind the scenes, tech crew members will be designing, building, and painting the sets and props to create an equally monstrous world.
Jun 21, 2023
For the second year in a row, Milton Magazine, Milton Academy’s alumni publication, received a Gold award in the Circle of Excellence from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).
The award recognizes Milton Magazine’s spring and fall 2022 issues. The Circle of Excellence celebrates “exceptional achievement in advancement services, alumni relations, communications, fundraising, and marketing,” according to CASE. “These are the creative, inspiring projects that impact institutions and their communities—and transform lives around the globe.”
CASE judges noted: “Milton Magazine is a well-designed and well-written magazine. With its elegant design and smart writing, this magazine has all the hallmarks of a commercial publication. The variety of art and illustration, including the use of charts, boxes, numbers, and pull quotes, adds an extra level of interest and depth to the content. The feature stories written by the editor and associate editor were particularly enjoyable, providing insightful and engaging content that is sure to captivate readers.”
Milton Magazine was also a finalist for the 2023 Robert Sibley Magazine of the Year Award.
Jun 5, 2023
A lifelong love for writing and storytelling, stoked by English classes at Milton, propelled Neha Wadekar ’07 into a career in freelance journalism, she told students at the recent 44th Annual Laurence S. Persky Memorial Awards.
“I joined Milton in seventh grade, and I remember coming back for my revisit day and Ms. Simon was teaching Pride and Prejudice,” Ms. Wadekar recalled at the ceremony, which honors the best in student-published writing and artwork. “I was blown away by the level of back and forth discussion that the students were having about the meaning of the novel and the specific intentions of certain passages and the construction of particular sentences.”
Jun 1, 2023
This year’s Graduation speaker is John Avlon, Milton Academy Class of 1991. John is an award-winning journalist and author of six books, including Lincoln & the Fight for Peace and Washington’s Farewell. He is a CNN senior political analyst and anchor, known for his “Reality Check” segments across the network. Previously, he was the editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast and chief speechwriter for the mayor of New York City during the attacks of September 11, 2001. He lives in New York with his wife, Margaret Hoover, and their two children, Jack and Toula Lou.
