ALUMNI/AE
ALUMNI EDUCATORS
TONY MCKINLEY ’98
Finding a True Calling in Service to Others Tony McKinley ’98 discovered Millbrook by way of the Boys Club near his childhood home in Flushing, Queens. Founded in the late 19th century on New York’s Lower East Side, the Boys Club provides inner-city boys with a safe place to learn, grow, and be productive. Boys Clubs were established in many New York City neighborhoods, and they continue to offer stable social hubs for young people. The Independent School Placement (ISP) program began in the 1950s as a way to expose Boys Club kids to the academic rigor and social opportunities that independent day and boarding schools can offer. A counselor at the Boys Club encouraged Tony to take the ISP test, and, aware of an opportunity to miss a day of school, Tony agreed. He did well on the test and followed through with visits to several independent schools, including Millbrook, the closest to his home in New York City. Tony chose Millbrook and arrived in the fall of 1994. Though just a train ride away, Millbrook was a different world from the hustle and bustle of Tony’s Queens neighborhood. It was far from a seamless transition. Along with the strain of living away from home and his friends for the first time, Tony struggled with the isolation and singularity of being the only Black student in his class. Feeling uncertain about his place at Millbrook, a heart-to-heart conversation with his older brother early in his junior year inspired Tony to reconsider and seize the opportunities that Millbrook presented. He returned to campus with a different mindset and built relationships with faculty members, who became pivotal to his success at school.
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• SUMMER 2021
• P aul Stellato with Tony McKinley
Along with Tony’s maturation as a high school junior, attention from Seth Eilberg, math teacher and basketball coach, and Bob Simonds, Tony’s advisor, made the difference. “Those relationships were impactful in saying that I should give [Millbrook] another try,” Tony recalls. Other elements of life at boarding school also began to fall into place. Diversity initiatives brought students to campus with whom Tony had more in common, and the growing success of the basketball team created a tight-knit community within the community. Among many other lifelong connections, Tony recalls Jon Downs ’98 as a “dear, dear friend,” with whom he spent all