When Peggy Byers Wood ’49 stopped by Head of School Alixe Callen ’88’s office this month, she didn’t just bring stories, she brought history itself. In her hands was a remarkable photograph from Milton Academy Girls’ School’s 1949 Graduation, showing Peggy and her girls’ school classmates with former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, that year’s speaker.

Peggy, a Milton “lifer” and former Trustee, filled the room with memories of her time in the girls’ school—from singing hymns in the chapel to connections with beloved classmates, leaders who served in student government, athletics, and school publications. She also shared a touching story about her lifelong friend Lucy “Chips” Withington, whose family name still graces the Withington Room next to Forbes Dining Hall. Peggy’s family ties to Milton ran deep: her father, Randolph K. Byers, served as the school doctor.

“Veterans Day is a good day to consider those who have gone before us from these same dorms, halls, paths, and fields to the far corners of the world, fighting for a cause in which they believed,” said U.S. Navy veteran Jonas P. Akins ’97 when he returned to Milton this month to serve as the 2025 Veterans’ Day speaker. 

Now a history teacher and football and golf coach at Choate Rosemary Hall, Akins previously served as a naval intelligence officer, with deployments abroad on the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier and a year in Baghdad. Speaking to students, faculty, and his mother, Caroline (Bonnet) Akins ‘59, whom he warmly acknowledged during his remarks,  Akins invited the community to think about the many forms that meaningful service can take. “I hope that by sharing a few of my experiences, I might convince you to at least consider a term of service to others, to pursue something more than your own happiness. Something bigger than yourself,” he said. 

Avaneesh Siruvuri ’26 traces his passion for economics back to middle school, when his father opened an investment account to help him learn about money. “Through this experience of dealing with what felt like my own money, I began to gain a deep interest in understanding the fundamentals of our money system,” he explained. “I will never forget making my first dollar on a ten-dollar investment.”

That early curiosity has since grown into a commitment to expanding financial literacy among students in India and at Milton, a passion he recently discussed during an appearance on CNN-News18 (an independent Indian news network licensed by CNN International).

During trips to India to visit family, Avaneesh realized that many young people he met lacked access to financial education. “When I asked questions about the Indian economy or how banks work, I was often met with vague or non-specific answers,” he recalled. “It seemed to me that much of the financial decision-making was influenced by the media or outdated methods.” To help address that gap, he launched an economics discussion group that meets in person and online to explore interdisciplinary topics in economics and decision-making. 

In the first of the year’s school-wide celebrations, Milton’s entire K–12 community gathered for a vibrant assembly honoring Hispanic and Latinx culture.

The program began with remarks from members of the student Latinx Association, who helped open the celebration in recognition of Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month—an annual observance from September 15 to October 15 that highlights the contributions and achievements of Hispanic and Latino Americans.

The History and Social Sciences Department recognized students’ outstanding research in U.S. History at the Bisbee Tea and Social Science Forum.

The Bisbee Prize was established to honor Ethan Wyatt Bisbee, a former history faculty member and department chair who retired in 1993 after 40 years of teaching. The Prize was endowed in 2005 through a gift by John Warren, formerly of the history department, and his wife, Laura Warren ’78, former head of Robbins House. Mr. Bisbee passed away in 2021. In 2023, the department added the Social Science Forum to recognize outstanding work in the social sciences.

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.”

“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.