Milton Magazine Spring 2016

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ta ble of contents

Features

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Hungry? Here’s One Solution Helson Taveras ’14 and Israel Moorer ’16 teamed up to develop a digital solution at Columbia for an insidious trend: food insecurity on college campuses.

10 Scrutinize Every Detail Dmitri Cavander ’87 uses cutting edge and ancient media.

A group creative director for Apple, he is also a well-known professional painter.

14 The Big (Green) Room A devotee of “spaces that affect us collectively,” Ophelia Wilkins ’97 is helping San Francisco International Airport reach its “hairy, audacious goals,” and become the best airport in the world.

Across the Quad

One Perfect Season, 36 In Sight

22 Buffering the Consumer from Hard Work John Tucker ’96 co-founded a company that solves a problem many men share. Perhaps you, too, want to look good without spending energy on shopping for clothes.

Two Classy Teams

Dare: The Campaign for Milton

46 Faculty Perspective What Did You Say Your

38 Classroom

New Job Is?

The Milton Incubator for Advanced

48 Messages

Programmers 52 Alumni Authors 39 On Centre 55 Class Notes 42 Head of School The Discipline Behind

60 Post Script

Changing Wisely

As Frailty Approaches,

by Todd B. Bland

a Disruptive Notion for Tender Care

18 Taking Risks and Keeping Cool Visit one of her Brooklyn shops, or fly first class on JetBlue — two of many ways to try Blue Marble ice cream, by cool Jennie Dundas ’89 and her company.

43 Sports

by Mary Procter ’59

Editor Cathleen Everett Associate Editors Erin Berg Liz Matson Design Stoltze Design

26 Counting on You, Day and Night

Photography Michael Dwyer John Gillooly Akintola Hanif Glenn Matsumura Evan Scales Nicki Sebastian Photography Matthew Septimus Ilene Squires Trunk Club Greg White

When you’re at work, after work — the look and feel of life for boarding faculty and their families at Milton today.

34 Building on Virtual Connections On the ground at El Pilar School in Madrid, K–5 faculty connect ideas and people to advance Lower School curriculum.

TOP LEFT

Painting Dusk in Marybank by Dmitri Cavander

Milton Magazine is published twice a year by Milton Academy. Editorial and business offices are located at Milton Academy, where change-ofaddress notifications should be sent.

As an institution committed to diversity, Milton Academy welcomes the opportunity to admit academically qualified students of any gender, race, color, handicapped status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, national or ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally available to its students. It does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, handicapped status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship programs, and athletic or other school-administered activities.

Printed on recycled paper.

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Photo by Evan Scales M I LT O N M A G A Z I N E

milton.edu

/MiltonAcademy1798

@Milton_Academy @miltonacademy

The Trends Issue No more cogs in the wheel: Today, we are responsible for creating a meaningful life and adapting it minute by minute, as the future unfolds. We each need a vigorous, fearless imagination, acute social awareness, and the personal drive to build on a set of skills. Milton Magazine looks at alumni who have chosen to integrate their passion and capabilities with contemporary tools and trends to craft their lives.

Still and always, Milton relies on families who are committed to living and teaching on campus, with students. What is the look and feel of a boarding school faculty member’s life in 2016?

a c r o s s t h e q u a d

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M I LT O N M A G A Z I N E

milton.edu

/MiltonAcademy1798

@Milton_Academy @miltonacademy

Let Us Snap Your Style!

And they did. During a break between classes, on a game day, in the depths of winter, Milton students shared the looks that make them feel good. Predictably, denim makes a solid showing, along with khakis — but so does so-called “elevated activewear,” neat and comfortable pants, tees and jackets that work for class and field, and tout the Milton logo. On their feet: Converse and Vans, iconic L. L. Bean boots, work boots unlaced just so, and classic black high boots topped by socks. Plaid is the rage and “groutfit” is the Milton name for the gray sweat ensemble. Backpacks, chunky sweatshirts, hats, hoodies and vests, belts and scarves are highly distinctive choices. Paired with their smiles, these styles are hard to beat.

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M I LT O N M A G A Z I N E

style one

H E L S O N TAV E R A S ’ 1 4 A N D I S R A E L M O O R E R ’ 1 6

Hungry? Here’s One Solution Helson Taveras ’14 and Israel Moorer ’16 Helson Taveras, a sophomore at Columbia University, strides along West 116th, the heart of campus, passing students whose lives he has already helped to change. At an institution with a $9.6 billion endowment, students are hungry, and Swipes is a solution.

Last spring, Helson and his friend Julio Henriquez

Helson for programming resources daily. Within a week,

watched classmates turn to Facebook to connect with other

Israel was fluent in CSS. He learned two frameworks,

students who had extra meals on their meal plans, asking

in two different languages, in two weeks. Coding for up to

for an opportunity — coordinating times and locations —

eight hours a day, Israel was hooked, and focused.

to be “swiped” into a campus dining hall.

The two were well aware that financial aid packages often don’t cover meal plans. “Julio said to me, ‘We can

dependable. And Helson was at work on a project he

make this exchange easier, faster, more efficient. This

describes as a “10,000 by 10,000 piece puzzle.” Besides

would make a perfect app,’” says Helson. That was July.

the tight timeline, the app’s biggest challenge was a

They agreed to launch when students returned in

technical one: getting push notifications on your phone.

September. That gave them six weeks.

Helson is a skilled programmer and was confident

a notification to people on campus. If they can’t get the

that the app would need a simple, cool user interface and

notification, the app is useless.”

For that he turned to Israel Moorer ’16, a Milton senior

For three weeks he struggled with a persistent error message. He learned a new language, spent days going

and a friend from Wolcott House. Spending the summer at

through thousands of lines of code, repeatedly ran through

home in Minneapolis, in the studio apartment he shared

the program execution. He was stuck.

with his mother, Israel was very much in need of a project.

Israel had no programming experience, but he connected with the mission.

“At home, I suffer from food insecurity,” says Israel.

“Helson didn’t need to pitch me. Hunger is a personal issue for me, and someone had just given me the Helson Taveras ’14; photo

by Akintola Hanif

“We’re creating a peer-to-peer notification system,” says Helson. “When you request a swipe, you’re sending

about tackling the back-end work. He knew, however, landing page.

LEFT

In the meantime, Helson and Julio enlisted friends — designers and programmers — whose commitment was

“My parents saw me struggling, and my dad (who has no programming experience) asked me to walk him through it,” says Helson. “His response was, ‘It seems like something’s wrong with your configuration,’ which is the most basic, obvious, unhelpful thing he could have said.” Out of options, Helson followed his father’s advice

opportunity to do something about it. I didn’t look much

and took a step back. He considered how he was setting

further than that.”

up all the pieces. Lightning struck within 20 minutes.

Israel taught himself HTML in two days. He texted

“That was very humbling,” Helson laughs.

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solutions to food insecurity on campus, but that takes time.

“Every step, every click between a user and that meal is a deterrent.

Understanding the urgency helps me as a front-end developer.”

I think we’re at least two years ahead of seeing substantial administrative change.”

The number of students who contacted Helson and Julio, from Columbia and elsewhere, surprised them, as did the media coverage. In less than three months from launching, the success of Swipes was national news.

Student journalists at Cornell and University of Virginia requested interviews, as did USA TODAY, Forbes magazine and Rolling Stone.

“With Swipes, we’re helping people feed other people,

Once the app functioned, the Swipes team needed

and that’s good news,” says Helson. “The media’s interest

messaging partners. After all, the program relies not only

in sharing that good news feels incredible, personally and

on students needing swipes, but also on those willing

for Swipes. When we’re confident, on every level, with

to give them. Fortuitously, the Columbia College Student

the way Swipes works, we can begin applying the program

Council (CCSC), in partnership with the student group

to other schools.” They’ve already moved on that goal. As

First-Generation, Low-Income Partnership (FLIP), had

of February, Barnard students are able to give and receive

named addressing food insecurity on campus as a priority.

meals through the app.

Those groups had the resources to spread the word about Because the app simply connects two individuals who have a Columbia.edu email address, the creators

Photo © Matthew Septimus

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Columbia undergrads — a n introduction to programming.

“I’ve also learned there’s no way for me to remember

didn’t have to work their solution through the university’s

what’s going on in my life at any given moment. Calendar

administration or face any bureaucratic red tape.

management is CRITICAL.”

“Policy change will take years longer than any progress

ABOVE

“Through this process, I found out I like teaching people,” says Helson, who held a workshop for about 50

Swipes, campuswide.

Through Almaworks — a startup accelerator at

we can make using technology,” says Helson. “Students

Columbia — Helson and Israel joined a dozen other

across the country tell us their schools are discussing

startups from Columbia, UPenn, Harvard and Princeton,

M I LT O N M A G A Z I N E

getswipes.com

/getswipes

pitching in a daylong meeting to investors and venture capitalists. Beyond gaining experience presenting to a room like that and the chance to collaborate with those players, they earned honest feedback and good advice on how to grow the user base and consider next steps.

For his part, Israel has met “incredible people,” he says, “like Milton trustee Erick Tseng ’97 from Facebook, Paul Sagan and Paul English [co-founder of Kayak.com and Blade]. Moving from a conversation with VCs on a Saturday in New York to a history class at Milton on a Monday morning is challenging. Switching focus takes energy, and continually renewing my investment.”

Launching a startup with a tangible humanitarian outcome, Helson has become a full-stack developer — a title that wasn’t on his résumé at the start of the summer and is now. Facility with not only server work, but also website design and application functionality has earned

and location check-in; it might include access to campus

ABOVE

him that credential.

food events and not just dining halls. Perhaps it supports

Israel Moorer ’16; photo

by John Gillooly

The whole project has felt “weirdly empathic” for

a campus-wide Emergency Meal Fund initiative. The team

Israel. “I understand the thought process of a hungry

is also wrestling with long-term financial sustainability.

person trying to use the app,” he says. “Every step,

Going nonprofit feels untenable, and becoming for-profit

every click between a user and that meal is a deterrent.

feels exploitative. Locating corporate meal sponsors might

Understanding the urgency helps me as a front-end

solve the problem.

developer. Design-wise, we focus on simplicity. Food isn’t

“The idea of being a disruptor isn’t very appealing

complicated. Our goal is connecting hungry students

to me,” Helson says. “That word makes me picture

with food in the most efficient way possible.”

walking into a room, throwing things, and tipping over

Swipes is quickly approaching 1,000 users — one-third

tables. That’s not my goal. Ideally, we’re looking for a

signed up to give swipes. The app has helped exchange

win-win, and we do believe that technology is the best

over 200 meal swipes.

way to get there.”

The Swipes team is already focused on next steps.

Version 2.0 might include a social feature, ratings option,

by Erin Berg

How It Works

request

connect

share

Students can open the app and send a request to get a meal swipe at any of the dining halls: John Jay, Ferris, or JJs.

The app will connect users to a Swiper, someone who agreed to share swipes on the app and accepted your request. Users will get a picture of each other and a message.

Both students simply step up to the dining hall cashier and ask to share a swipe.

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st y le t wo

D M I T R I C AVA N D E R ’ 8 7

Scrutinize Every Detail Dmitri Cavander ’87 In the artist’s statement that accompanied Dmitri Cavander’s solo show at Soprafina Gallery in Boston last fall, he says, “I believe that a painting can communicate experience in ways that other mediums can’t. I also believe that we understand the visual language and what someone is communicating with paint without necessarily learning it.”

Dmitri has painted since childhood, professionally since

he’d apply his writing skills and aesthetic sensibilities in

his early 20s, and he points out that “When you are

environmental science, and worked for the Tellus Institute.

working on a painting, you almost don’t know what you

Before committing to a graduate degree in environmental

are communicating — what is emerging and what will

science, he paused for a year to test whether painting, full

ultimately appear in the final piece — because you are pretty

time, was really what he wanted to do. It was a great year;

focused on the immediate concerns of just trying to wrestle

his work got stronger and he next contemplated getting an

the brushes and oil paints to hopefully do what you want.”

M.F.A. to pursue a career as an art teacher. That career

His paintings are of observations of the world. “I choose

choice had its own potential downsides, his friends advised.

to paint people, places and things that are meaningful

As he considered enrolling in an M.F.A. program, a

to me,” he writes, “and the choice is based on a feeling that

painter friend told him about freelancing as a web designer

I apprehended something resonant. I try to trust that

to finance her painting habit. In the mid-90s, as the web

sensation since it is somewhat rare.”

gained momentum and impact, Dmitri put himself on a

Painting in his San Francisco studio late at night and early in the morning brackets nearly each of Dmitri’s

course to learn everything he could about what it meant to design for the web. It turned out that his art training

“workdays.” These workdays play out in Cupertino, California, at Apple, where Dmitri is group creative director. Dmitri and his team render web experiences that communicate with a particular user very deliberately and as efficiently as possible. Those web experiences are orchestrated to deliver outcomes, for the user and for Apple.

Admittedly, once a painting or a web experience is “finished,” each draws its primary power from visually engaging a viewer, or a user. The creative processes leading O P P O S I T E PAG E

to these finished works seem markedly different, though.

clockwise from top: Mirror, Window, Amagansett; Around 5:30, Amagansett; photo by Glenn Matsumura

How do these immersive and demanding occupations get

RIGHT

Very Steep Hill

along with one another in Dmitri’s life?

Looking backward, connecting the dots that lead to what he’s doing now does make sense, Dmitri says, “but it was not a linear pathway.” Academically, he concentrated in English and fine arts. After graduating from UC Berkeley, he thought

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massive change not only for the company,” says Dmitri, “but

“Feeling about in the dark,” Dmitri points out, is part of both processes. In both cases, simply persisting, being disciplined and working methodically eventually yields a direction.

“You need to trust that process.”

for the world. The notion of a personal computer coincided with my school years, but the idea that everyone would have an incredibly powerful computer in his pocket was beyond the scope of imagination then.”

Regardless of having a new home on the other coast, a new baby, and a new tech job at an explosive Internet moment, Dmitri kept painting. “I was just disciplined. I set up my schedule and stuck to it, like you would about going to the gym,” he explains. What about sleep? “After about a year and a half of sleep deprivation, I learned to get over my anxiety about too little sleep. I just decided I had to keep going.”

In a number of ways, his two preoccupations feed off

and expertise in communications was relevant, and in four

one another. Both require developing a visual language,

months he was “ready.” “Web design, especially at that

finding a way to communicate visually. Doing this involves a

time, was a mix of things that I had done previously and

host of parallel design considerations as well — uses of color,

cared about,” Dmitri says. Ultimately, in the early 2000s,

shape, line and light. “There’s lots of continuity in what’s

he became a creative director working on the Volkswagen

happening in my brain in this sphere, moving from painting

account at Arnold Worldwide. Arnold’s 2005 Volkswagen

to web design,” Dmitri explains.

website drew national attention and awards. Apple, seeking a creative director for their website, “somehow” knew about

through something in its earliest stages, “feeling about

his work, as Dmitri says, and invited him to consider the

in the dark,” Dmitri points out, is part of both processes.

job. A second request from Apple some six months later

In both cases, simply persisting, being disciplined and

found Dmitri ready to make the move with his family to

working methodically eventually yields a direction. “You

California. “I loved the prospect of working with a design-

need to trust that process,” he says.

centric company that was making products I loved using, ABOVE

Sheep’s Path in Marybank (left) and A Pretty Steep Hill

12

The frustrating, muddling experience of working

clearly positioned on the cusp of so much development.”

One week after Dmitri started at Apple, Steve Jobs announced the iPhone (January 2007), “which triggered a

M I LT O N M A G A Z I N E

dcavander.com @dcavander

Dmitri’s portfolio is broader than the website. It includes the Apple Store app for the iPhone and iPad, and all digital signage in Apple’s retail stores. Creating all the experiences for these platforms is a highly collaborative effort. Dmitri’s

role is to oversee and provide creative direction to art

of connectedness. Figuring out a web page so that it is

ABOVE

directors, who are primarily concerned with what the site

experienced optimally by someone else is both a puzzle

looks like; to a user experience team that focuses on how

and, when it works well, a surprise. In any case, “it has

Last View (left) and Balcony

content is structured; and to a creative technology team, who

always felt like fun,” Dmitri says, “not work.”

create the prototypes that bring the digital experiences to life. Other peers are involved in the interactive world as well,

Certain experiences he had at Milton and at Berkeley have particular relevance to the work he is now doing:

such as front-end developers, producers, writers. As they

that is, being asked to read a text very carefully, take a

work, Dmitri explains, “we look at things we are making

point of view about what was written, then express that

along the way; we examine and scrutinize every detail. We

clearly — in writing, and in other ways. “I learned how to

want everything to have been considered.”

He has tried to leverage that approach in his painting.

listen well, how to be empathetic — to understand how something would be experienced by someone else.” It’s

He claims that prior to coming to Apple, he may have been

important, Dmitri explains, for him to hear what other

more willing to accept a painting as being done when

smart people are saying, to observe well, to pay as much

perhaps it wasn’t; now, he scrutinizes his own paintings

attention as he can to the world around him.

more closely — which isn’t to say that everything has

Dmitri resists being prodded to name any particular

to be perfect, more that everything has to have been

thing about his life’s work that makes him proud. “I

considered. Creativity in the art and the web worlds requires

love working with such an incredible mix of people from

a willingness “to discard something that seems pretty

diverse backgrounds who are so creative and smart.

good, because you know it’s not right, and you have to do

That’s a big part of why work is fun. And I feel lucky

something else.” In the web world, his enemy is time — how

to be connected to a company that’s designing beautiful

quickly things are evolving. “Sometimes we look back on

and useful things.”

work that we only recently finished, and it already looks

He finds it harder to explain why he loves painting.

dated. It’s very difficult to make work that stands the test

It’s a bit mysterious, he contends. “It still surprises

of time well,” he says.

me a lot,” Dmitri says, “when something appears

“When I am painting, I’m very present in that moment,

before me on the canvas, and particularly if I think it

that feeling of deep observation. In some ways it’s a

looks okay. Most of the time, painting is frustrating and

meditation. It connects to what’s around you in a deep way.

difficult, but every once in a while, something works,

I’ve come to love that feeling.”

and I really like that.”

You could make the case that Dmitri’s attraction to developing interactivity on the web is part of that experience

by Cathleen Everett

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style three

OPHELIA WILKINS ’97

The Big (Green) Room Ophelia Wilkins ’97 “I have always loved making things, craft-y sorts of things,” Ophelia says, “clothes, furniture, pottery — I was really into ceramics at Milton, for instance.” Slight and strong, both understated and definitively stylish in a textured black-on-black dress (“I wish I’d made it, but I didn’t,” she says), Ophelia explains how and why every detail matters in what she’s “making” today.

An architect with the firm Kuth Ranieri in San Francisco, Ophelia is working on creating a space where ideas

no matter how challenging, and is absolutely achievable.

SFO gained status as a sustainability industry leader

will ignite, and moving nine companies of designers

in part with the breakthrough renovations of Terminal 2

and contractors to work together, literally, and achieve an

(2011) and upgrades to boarding area A and the east wing of

outrageous goal. Designing and executing a new Terminal 1

Terminal 3. SFO wants travelers to shift their perceptions

(T1), these collaborators will move San Francisco

about spending time in an airport from painful to pleasant.

International Airport (SFO) steps closer toward being “the

Many travelers do admit exactly that: They’re surprisingly

cleanest, greenest and most sustainable airport in the world.”

upbeat about their preflight, or between-flight time at

Not an airy sound bite, that mission drives a clearheaded business plan rooted in a pervasive culture at SFO. Just last June, a summit of airport commissioners

SFO — t he eating, shopping, working, thinking, people watching, noticing the art.

“For an architect,” Ophelia says, SFO is a “wonderful

and sustainability thought leaders named four “Big

client.” She likes the aspirations, the openness to

Hairy Audacious Goals” that the group considered key

experimentation, the risk-brings-reward culture. “The

implementation steps. Reaching for number one (the best

airport leadership has an uncompromising quality

airport in the world by any metric) will require “reaching

standard,” she says, and they know that “the quality of

zero”: the airport will achieve net zero energy, net zero

the design that goes into the airport directly affects the

carbon emissions, and zero waste by 2020. Another

revenues it generates.”

“audacious” step commits SFO to model, educate, engage and influence all of its publics in sustainability.

From the Airport Commission (an appointed city

A highly popular history of architecture course at Brown University triggered Ophelia’s interest in architecture. She was a “philosophically oriented, literature

entity) and the airport director, John Martin, through

and computer science major” there. During the summer

employees, tenants, airlines and the San Francisco public,

before senior year, she tested her emergent interest in

everyone believes that the vision is worth every effort,

architecture at Harvard’s Career Discovery Program,

“Buildings have the greatest potential to negatively affect their environment, and the same capability to benefit it. Done well, with the values of the relevant communities in mind, with an awareness of the surrounding fabric, they can provide an asset unlike any other.�

before wrapping her life around pursuing a career in the

efficiency. Buildings have the greatest potential to negatively

field. The projects that summer “united a certain research

affect their environment, and the same capability to benefit

orientation I liked to bring to things — learning about the

it. Done well, with the values of the relevant communities

site, environmental factors, people, program — and finding

in mind, with an awareness of the surrounding fabric, they

a solution, not necessarily a direct response, but something

can provide an asset unlike any other.”

that complements what the building is trying to achieve in

Her relationship with Robin Chiang continued for 14 years, through grad school at MIT and a Rose Architectural

its space.”

Fellowship. Last spring, Ophelia transitioned to Kuth Ranieri, a Local Business Entity (LBE) that is partnering with the international firm Gensler on T1 and other major

“There are ten different professional languages going on at once, and I can only speak one at a time,” says Ophelia. “It’s the architect’s job to know what you don’t know, ask the right questions, and get all these parties talking to each other.”

projects at SFO. SFO’s earlier success with Terminal 2 gave rise to confident, bold, expansive and expensive plans for the next five years. As it renovates and builds at a brisk pace, the Airport Commission has doubled down on three measurable outcomes: enhancing customer experience; generating revenue; and developing a coherent character to the whole campus, based on the airport’s values.

T1, a $1.7 billion project within SFO’s $4.4 billion capital plan, “is an absolutely enormous project,” Ophelia says, “with incredibly ambitious goals. So this terminal will be the first foray into a major undertaking.”

After college, in San Francisco, looking for a job in user interface perhaps, she serendipitously ended up with a position at Robin Chiang & Company, a local architectural

as the SFO Big Room. Ophelia is managing the design

firm focused on BART, the San Francisco Muni (municipal

implementation of the Big Room, an “enabling project” as

railway) and SFO.

she calls it: a 30,000-square-foot space that will come to

Ophelia has focused on “buildings and spaces that affect us collectively.” She says she “dislikes waste; loves

16

Ideas for Terminal 1, which today services Delta and Southwest, will be born in a massive work area known

M I LT O N M A G A Z I N E

kuthranieri.com

/KuthRanieri

life inside a massive hangar.

The T1 project specs require that all the companies

@KuthRanieri @kuth_ranieri

on the design team work under one roof, on the airport

positioned to wrestle with big questions raised by T1’s

ABOVE

campus. The Big Room accommodates 196 workstations.

programming directives.

Renderings: Juno Song / Kuth Ranieri Architects

More importantly, it must create spaces that inspire a raft of

Ophelia sees the Big Room as a microcosm of the

designers to work together. “We are one big team,” the Big

values that will characterize T1, and translating

PREVIOUS SPREAD

Room design presentation asserts, “without big egos, but

the design intent into construction requires mediating a

Photo by Glenn Matsumura

we want to highlight the diversity of thought and variety of

fire hose of questions and decisions on every scale. Meeting

experiences each of us brings to the table.”

A hybrid between an on-site mobile trailer and a highly

the requirements of San Francisco’s stringent codes and regulations makes identifying the right materials and

productive beehive of professionals bent on achieving

finishes, such as carpeting, very challenging. The many

something brand new, the Big Room foments gritty intensity

players executing this enormous project — designers,

for five years, and then its job will be done. To succeed, it

contractors, subcontractors, bidders — have different

needs to provide various work environments — open-ended,

agendas and work styles. “Clarifying” — making operational

private, visually communicative, inclusive, convening.

decisions — and organizing the project’s moving parts to

People with vastly different work styles need conditions

make progress against a deadline are daily fare. “There are

that enable their best work. The tone of the Big Room should

ten different professional languages going on at once, and

be at once visually uplifting and seriously practical. Stages

I can only speak one at a time,” says Ophelia. “It’s the

of the creative process need to be visible and inspirational,

architect’s job to know what you don’t know, ask the right

accessible for staff and for VIP visitors.

questions, and get all these parties talking to each other.”

In November, the design team wrapped up the T1

“I’ve landed in a role that suits me well at this point,”

stakeholder involvement component of the programming

Ophelia says. “I am very interested in barrier-breaking,

phase. They analyzed the input of 35 different stakeholder

innovative green building, and through this SFO work

groups and translated that expansive data into the Basis of

I have grown, professionally. I believe in the T1 project,

Design — a culminating and mutually accepted statement

and if I stick with it, I’ll be able to work on one of the

of program intent. The Basis of Design is the foundation for

sustainability aspects of one of the most ambitious airport

the next phase: schematic design, which began in December.

Move-in date for the Big Room is February; by then Ophelia will have executed all the details of space,

terminals in the world. California is a really interesting place to be practicing architecture today,” she says. “It’s literally changing the marketplace.”

furnishings, and finishes in this highly functional conclave.

The design companies will be physically and intellectually

by Cathleen Everett

SPRING 2016

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style four

JENNIE DUNDAS ’89

Taking Risks and Keeping Cool Jennie Dundas ’89 Making ice cream can be messy, albeit delicious, work. Jennie Dundas ’89 is dressed for a production day — jeans, sneakers, and a pink sweatshirt with the hood pulled up over a required hairnet. Large bags of organic sugar, tubs of pure maple syrup, and boxes of organic pecans line the walls. On this day, 44,000 mini-cups will be filled with four different seasonal flavors of ice cream for JetBlue’s first-class service. Jennie, CEO and co-founder of Blue Marble Ice Cream, based in Brooklyn, is at the production facility in Rhode Island to make sure it goes smoothly — tasting the first batches, hunting for missing raspberry sorbet cups, and contacting her team back in New York to confirm numbers and details. She is a petite person of calm and focused energy.

“She’s a hell of a salesperson, let me tell you,” says Tom

pace. When we won ‘best new ice cream’ in New York City,

Island, where Blue Marble produces their wholesale

it was really exciting and surprising, because neither of

products. “There’s no scrimping with her, only the best

us had any business experience,” says Jennie. “I worked

ingredients. She won’t compromise on quality, on nothing.

at Brigham’s in high school and I loved ice cream, but I

Absolutely nothing.”

never took a business class. My last math class was Honors

Blue Marble, New York City’s only certified organic

Calculus at Milton! I had no idea what an Excel spreadsheet

ice cream, started on a whim in 2007, when Jennie’s close

was. My dad offered to pay for a basic accounting class, but

friend, Alexis Gallivan, noticed there were no ice cream

I didn’t take him up on it, and that was a mistake.”

parlors in their Brooklyn neighborhood and thought the two of them should open one.

Theater was Jennie’s domain. She became a professional actor at the age of 10, after a Boston-based play she was

“Something about it sounded right to me, and we started

appearing in moved to Broadway. Working in television

talking about a concept — all natural, consciously sourced

and movies, she juggled the life of actor and student during

ingredients,” says Jennie. “The idea of sourcing and telling

her Milton years. After majoring in theater at Brown

people where ingredients come from wasn’t nearly as

University, she moved to New York to continue her

common as it is today. And no one in the New York market

successful acting career. Even as Blue Marble was getting

was doing that with ice cream.”

off the ground, she was acting.

They opened their first store on Atlantic Avenue in late 2007. Seven months later they opened a second location in

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Prospect Heights. “We shot out of the gun at such a rapid

Bucci, whose family owns Warwick Ice Cream in Rhode

M I LT O N M A G A Z I N E

bluemarbleicecream.com

/bluemarbleicecream

“As an entrepreneur, I use all my performing arts skills.

You have to be a team player and know how to present

@bluemarblebk @bluemarblebk

SPRING 2016

19

yourself and your product. You have to fight the odds and

a certain critical volume. Again, a business education would

take risks in spite of the statistics that say you won’t succeed.

have helped. But then, I don’t know if we would have taken

You have to think on your feet and come up with creative

the same risks.”

solutions at the drop of a hat. You have to inspire people.

You have to keep your cool, because so much goes wrong.”

What could go wrong? A newly hired bookkeeper turned out to be a scam artist. A shipping company didn’t

brand development. In addition to the stores and wholesale, Blue Marble sets up shop at outdoor markets and caters

loss. A Blue Marble truck filled with base mix blew up on

private events.

RIGHT Photos by Nicki Sebastian Photography (top, right and bottom, left) and Ilene Squires (bottom, right)

20

“I feel like I’m doing air traffic control, taking a bird’s-

two of her employees got safely out of the vehicle. This

eye-view of the whole business and looking at what I

incident shook Jennie to the core because she realized that

can tweak to make it run more smoothly. I’ve been

the business was more than ice cream. “I felt responsible

fortunate to have had key advisors over the years, people

for people’s lives,” says Jennie.

who really know what they’re doing. But someone can

While opening stores, working long hours, and

PREVIOUS SPREAD Photos by Ilene Squires

at the computer, working on numbers, logistics, sales and

keep the ice cream at the right temperature — a $60,000 the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway just moments after

ABOVE AND

Today, Jennie spends most of her time at the main office, located in their small plant in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. She’s

tell you something over and over, and you are not going

learning the ice cream business, Jennie met a Rwandan

to understand it until you experience it. We had a couple

woman in a theater workshop who thought an ice cream

of years in which we lost money, and it wasn’t until that

store in her hometown would do wonders. From that

happened that I fully understood how to fix that. We are

conversation, Jennie and Alexis ended up working with

successful because we achieved a certain magic with our

a group of women in Butare, Rwanda, to build Inzozi

product and our brand. Our look, our feel and our story

Nziza (Sweet Dreams), the town’s first-ever ice cream

is all real, but, ultimately, if you don’t have your numbers

shop. Today, Alexis runs Blue Marble Dreams, their non-

straight, none of that matters.”

profit offshoot, and is focused on the next store, in Haiti.

Last Thanksgiving, the New York Daily News named

Jennie runs the ice cream business, which expanded into

Blue Marble as the best vanilla ice cream to “go with your

wholesale in 2011.

pie” and described the vanilla as “textbook perfection.”

“Around when I had my son, we realized we didn’t want

“We have a lot more competitors now, and we still are

to scoop ice cream from behind a counter for the rest of

able to stay at number one. With all our hard knocks and

our lives,” says Jennie. “But going wholesale is like starting

challenges, we still found success and are doing something

a completely new business. The economics of wholesale

original. That feels like a huge accomplishment.”

differ significantly from the economics of retail. Achieving any profitability can take a while, because you must reach

M I LT O N M A G A Z I N E

by Liz Matson

“We are successful because we achieved a certain magic with our product and our brand. Our look, our feel and our story is all real, but, ultimately, if you don’t have your numbers straight, none of that matters.”

SPRING 2016

21

style five

JOHN TUCKER ’96

Buffering the Consumer from Hard Work John Tucker ’96 In 2009, Trunk Club launched online. Its mission: create a better way for men to shop for clothes. Trunk Club wanted to make it easier for men to show up at work and on weekends looking good, especially if they had little time and even less inclination to shop. An early player in a burgeoning field, “Trunk Club was a problem solver when it launched, which accounts for its early success,” says John Tucker, co-founder and vice president of member experience.

Trunk Club isn’t a designer-to-customer direct sales

After a short survey (How do you dress for work? How

company. Nor is it a digital version of the mall stores,

do you like your shirts to fit?), you’re connected with a

rendering a quick view of every denim work shirt on

personal stylist. Once he or she has learned more about you

the market.

As John puts it, “It’s a consumer brand that’s known as an easy way for men who like to look great to build

and how you like to dress, the stylist mediates the range of choices in Trunk Club’s inventory, and builds a group of “best clothes for your size, style, and preferences.” Ideally,

a wardrobe that works for them.” If you suffer the pain

the stylist’s trunk meets your needs, and perhaps tests your

of shopping for clothes — feel overwhelmed, that you’d

willingness to be won over by a couple of things outside

rather spend time on almost anything else, that no

what you thought you wanted, or a price point higher than

matter what you spend you still don’t seem to have what

you expected. You preview the trunk online, receive it

you need — Trunk Club has you in its sights. If a pleasant,

at home, try things on with a critic of your choice, put

efficient personal stylist could help you build a closet that

what you like in your closet, close up the trunk, and return

works, at no charge, would that get your attention?

what you don’t want. Shipping both ways is free and you

Unlike shopping, trunkclub.com feels easy and rational.

can arrange for the package to be picked up.

“We help make sense of a universe of items, rather than what stores do, which is to lay out all the merchandise and let the customer figure it out.”

John’s close friend Brian Spaly is Trunk Club’s CEO, and Trunk Club is Brian’s second menswear startup. When the opportunity arose to run a small business with a somewhat different model than Trunk Club, he, John and others researched several ideas. They came to the realization that putting together their own sales team — people who wanted to build a consumer brand — and building a sales culture was what they needed to do to fulfill their vision.

“Once we had that, a head of sales and stylists who could build relationships with people, we could become a trusted advisor and go-to provider for men,” John says.

Like many companies in its genre, Trunk Club now offers “the club as well as the trunk,” as the website describes it. Clubhouses, where customers can make appointments for one-to-one shopping in a more

“We help make sense of a universe of items, rather than what stores do, which is to lay out all the merchandise and let

comfortable setting than department store fitting rooms,

the customer figure it out. We create value by buffering

are in Chicago, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles

you from the work of finding and buying what you need,

and New York.

and making it easier to dress well. Our customer gets the

John describes himself as “the voice of the customer” at Trunk Club. He’s primarily focused on the tech team,

benefits of highly personal attention without the cost.”

Simple, personal, seamless, positive experiences — for

designing and evaluating the user experience, continually

customers interested in buying clothes: That’s the ideal

improving service as the business gets more complicated.

Trunk Club brand. It’s a retail business, a customer-service-

He is also “an accountable person” for any client’s less-

based retail business, and “creating a retail business is

than-perfect encounter, diagnosing it, resolving it, detecting

hard,” John notes. “It’s capital-intensive and labor-intensive.”

trends and eliminating the root causes for the future.

The name of the game is talent. “As in any service business,

John spent ten years in technology and design consulting at Sapient and IDEO before helping to start Trunk Club.

“I learned a lot about business as a consultant, but I got

24

“Our inventory is designed to allow stylists to curate sets of items relevant to our customers’ needs,” John says.

our ability to compete is directly tied to our ability to attract, train, motivate and inspire awesome people.”

Stylists, for instance, not only need to derive joy from

frustrated being just another outsider giving advice. I

spending time with people, make them feel good about

was looking to work on a consumer problem I completely

figuring out their wardrobe; they must also be highly

understood in an environment where I would have a

motivated, driven salespeople. They may work with a

direct impact on the company’s results.”

customer in a relaxed, fun atmosphere, but career progress

M I LT O N M A G A Z I N E

trunkclub.com

/trunkclub

@TrunkClub @trunkclub

is based on sales results. Senior stylists are sales directors,

organizers, concierges to take care of things for them.”

accountable for their team. They recruit both for clients

Nordstrom acquired Trunk Club in August 2014.

and for would-be stylists strategically from their own

Trunk Club extends Nordstrom’s product line and shares

networks. “Stylists come from across the board,” John

Nordstrom’s well-known ethos of customer service.

says, “from sales, marketing, fashion, practicing law,

Trunk Club gains Nordstrom expertise in core operations,

right out of college, and after years of work experience.”

and access to Nordstrom’s extensive inventory, which

The market’s insatiable demand for the best engineers, designers and product managers makes recruiting the right tech professionals an abiding challenge for every

Trunk Club’s startup years demanded a high-tension

says, “but Chicago’s tech community has grown a lot

solving short-term problems to avoid running out of money,

over the last five years, and Trunk Club will attract people

and sustaining this deep optimism for what you think your

who really want to make an impact on the business,”

company can be, what we were trying to build.”

At six years old, Trunk Club is not a tiny startup anymore,

know about. When they ultimately move on, they will have

and it’s not yet a household name. Retail is a market with

developed relationships with a great team, new personal

tons of competition. “Now,” John says, “the most important

and professional skills, and understand intimately what

focus is identifying people who are better at what they do

From a sofa in one of the clubhouse’s chic sitting/

than we are, who are super-skilled, and developing a great career opportunity for them — helping them do the things

changing rooms, John points to the similarly loft-style

they do well. It takes a lot of dedicated team members

building across Chicago’s West Ohio Street, where

who want to build something lasting, together. It also takes

150 people other than the sales and inventory staff

learning how to use feedback and make changes, being

steam ahead: engineering, product design, the creativity

as self-aware as you can be and caring deeply about your

team — v ideographers, photographers, copywriters —

co-workers. My job now is to figure out how we can use

merchandising, analytics, finance. All told, roughly 1,000

our time most effectively as a team to create a net value

people work for Trunk Club.

experience for customers.”

Trunk Club capitalized on the meteoric growth of

Photos courtesy Trunk Club

last fall. balancing act, as John describes it: “putting out the fires,

the customer experience is.”

PREVIOUS SPREAD

facilitated Trunk Club’s launching for women, as it did

business. “Techies are often drawn to the coasts,” John

John says. “They’ll be building a consumer brand people

ABOVE AND

John’s passion for Trunk Club’s mission burns bright.

consumers’ expectations for speed, convenience and

He sees the moment-to-moment changes in retail and

service, which continues to rachet up, and on the public’s

e-commerce as both exciting and scary. “I’m hopeful,” he

willingness to “outsource,” as John puts it. “People

says, “that we can set the bar for personal service in retail.”

had relied on a tax guy, a lawyer, a decorator, a personal trainer, perhaps. Now they rely on nutritionists,

by Cathleen Everett

SPRING 2016

25

at milton

P H O T O S B Y J O H N G I L L O O LY

Counting on You, Day and Night The Look and Feel of a Boarding Faculty Member’s Life in 2016 “There’s something remarkable about getting to know a teenage boy over four years,” says Joshua Emmott, Wolcott House head, “to see him as a full person so completely that when life’s key questions come up, it’s natural for him to knock on my door and say ‘I just don’t see how it all connects.’” This year is Joshua’s twelfth — in the history department, and in Wolcott House. “I started on the fourth floor and have lived on every floor,” he says. “This is my third year as house head.”

Fortunately, some adults seek out a career that allows them to build deep and lasting relationships with teenagers.

Joshua and his wife, Anne Austin, remember dorm staff at their respective boarding schools as some of their most important role models. That partially explains why they sought out a boarding school in Boston for Joshua’s teaching career. Their two little girls were born during the family’s Wolcott years; Madeline (8) and Ingrid (4) consider the Wolcott boys — “the big boys” as they call them — as close friends. Rachel Klein-Ash (Robbins House) says that she discovered “this thing called boarding school” only as she finished grad school. “Oh,” she thought, “so that’s the way to get and stay in touch with kids, to really develop relationships.” That was in 1995. She arrived at Milton in 1996, met and married her husband James, and now their family, including children Elly (8) and Bennett (6), is at the center of life in Robbins House. When he was a novice in Robbins House, Miles Bailey promised his wife, Susie, that she would be amazed at what these Class IV girls would be like “four years from now.” Susie was. Now Miles heads

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M I LT O N M A G A Z I N E

milton.edu

/MiltonAcademy1798

@Milton_Academy @miltonacademy

SPRING 2016

27

t i t l e t k , c on t.

Norris House. He, Susie and their daughter, Kate (3), “think

keep their antennae on what’s happening in their advisees’

it’s great to see kids we know so well in every venue that’s

lives; they stay connected — to students and their parents

meaningful to them: a play, an assembly, a football game, a

as well — g uiding when and how it’s appropriate. They

presentation, a house meeting.”

help new kids understand Milton’s culture — t hat takes

Joshua Emmott teaches history (U.S. History; United

about two weeks to take hold, according to Joshua. Thriving

States in the Modern World II; History of the Middle East;

at Milton, most students say, depends on being open

and History of Globalization and Islam). Rachel Klein-Ash

to new and unfamiliar personalities and backgrounds,

is a college counselor. Miles Bailey directs student financial

being amazed at what your housemates bring to the table.

aid. They manage challenging school careers. They are

Students learn quickly, from everyone in the house, that

spouses and parents in busy families. Beyond that, the

they’re no longer simply individuals with certain needs and

boys and girls in Wolcott, Robbins and Norris, respectively,

patterns; they’re also members of a 40+-person community.

count on them — every day and every night. Each of them

Now, what each of them does and says matters, more than

helps young people admirably manage their most formative

it might have in the past. From Rachel’s perspective, the

years. No single playbook gives them the right strategies to

fact that Milton students live in the same dorm for all their

guarantee that outcome, however.

Milton years is pivotal. It intensifies the rewards students

safe scaffolding

caring network of older girls and boys who willingly help

feel, over time, and it surrounds younger students with a To start with, students can rely on certain structural supports in Milton’s residential life — M ilton’s advising system, for instance. Both Joshua and Miles routinely “advise” new students. Rachel has also advised girls new to Milton during her many years in Robbins House. Advisors

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M I LT O N M A G A Z I N E

them. Norris, Wolcott and Robbins houses have set up “family” groups within the dorm. A family includes boys, or girls, from all four classes (the family head is a Class I proctor); in several dorms, family members rotate during the year. Family groups eat dinner together once each week,

“My style comes down to ‘time spent’ — that is, the will and the patience to just be there, to let kids self-identify over time.”

and logistics for dorm gatherings and outings are organized by family. Each house tweaks its beloved annual traditions to add today’s flair. Elected dorm leaders are tone setters in the houses and spokespeople for the legacy values. mere presence

If a durable structure sets a framework, sheer time and physical presence are probably the most powerful active ingredients. “Every adult living in the dorm has a different style,” Miles says. “My style comes down to ‘time spent’ — that is, the will and the patience to just be there, to let kids self-identify over time. Am I the adult they seek out? If not, I know whether they’ve found the right footing with another trusted adult in the house.”

“It’s the moments,” Joshua explains, “when they’re not in class, not in a formal meeting, it’s after check-in at night, or at 3 a.m. when they’re feeling sick and they need your help. You get into discussions with kids and get to know them like you can’t in any other way.” And you never really know “who will be moved,” Joshua says. It happens in the dorm over four years, organically. “Every night of the week,” Joshua says, “I’m doing something with teenage guys — it’s thematic: cleaning rooms, study halls, dorm meetings, or just hanging out.”

“To work this way,” Miles says, “you acknowledge that the role is going to take time you don’t think you have or perhaps want to give, but in the end, requests from students (like, ‘Mr. Bailey, do you have a lacrosse ball?’ at 11 p.m.) are not intrusive — they’re usually reasonable, understandable — and regardless, you’re helping a kid you really care about.” Miles uses the moments before dinner each night to say hello and check in on the Norris House boys. Carefully observing kids, in the common room, each day as they head in for dinner, he believes, “makes it easy to see how they’re doing and what they might need.”

“This commitment takes prodigious energy,” Rachel says.

“It’s late-night energy, after a full day, caring for a husband and children, with work from the office to do — and although I get older each year, the girls living in the dorm don’t, and their energy level doesn’t change. You can get into some heavy, emotional ground over the year, but mostly it’s about how much we get to laugh, to have fun with each other.”

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c ou n t i n g on you, c on t.

Teenagers need consistency, dorm faculty know:

culture among the adults is supportive and flexible, and as

consistent personalities (“The ‘me’ on duty needs to be the

John always advises us,” Rachel says, “‘never worry alone.’”

same authentic ‘me’ every time,” says Miles), consistent

It’s easy to “hoard responsibility” as a house head, Miles

expectations, consistent constraints, and consistent openness.

“They don’t need to know about your own stressors or competing responsibilities,” Rachel says. “They’re the

points out, when it feels easier and quicker to do things yourself than to involve others, but resisting that tendency is important. House heads meet weekly with the dean,

priority.” For house heads like Miles and Joshua, helping

the assistant dean of students, the director of counseling,

their own teams of adults living in the dorm deliver this

and members of the diversity office. Those meetings are

level of consistency to kids is a key leadership responsibility.

focused on caring for individual students, and on setting the

Joshua, Miles and Rachel all tell stories about how

tenor of Milton residential life. Helping teenagers acquire

thrilled students are, how surprised sometimes, and how

a sense of responsibility beyond themselves is an abiding

grateful they are, to be accepted from the as exactly who

project, as is making sure students have strong experiences

they are. “That’s so important to them,” Miles says,

all across campus, in houses that have just enough

“being known and respected as individuals. That’s the Milton ethic, and it’s a source of comfort and pride for

autonomy to distinguish themselves in the ways students love and remember.

kids navigating some challenging years.” does it take a village? behind the scenes

The spouses and children of dorm faculty have to be good

House heads manage the logistics of a house so that

at sharing their own parent. They make sacrifices, “but my

faculty who live there can be resources for kids, Rachel

children wouldn’t see it that way,” Rachel says, quoting her

notes. John and Ricky Banderob, house heads in Robbins

8-year-old daughter Elly’s probe, “Mom, we’re never going

and part of dorm life since 1992, make it possible for the

to move out of the dorm, right?” Rachel’s husband James, a

Robbins faculty to be the best they can be for the girls. “The

school counselor at Needham High School, is happy to be

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M I LT O N M A G A Z I N E

“just James” in Robbins House (preferably with his guitar)

developed some pretty excellent pool players,” Joshua

rather than Mr. Ash. Susie, Miles’s wife, is a structural

laughs. “Can I borrow an egg, and a pan, and by the

engineer. Anne, Joshua’s wife, is an international public

way, do you want to cook with us?” is a frequent refrain.

health consultant, traveling at certain intervals to Africa

Diversity among the dorm staff has expanded, and that

and India. “My girls know the names of the 40 boys who

helps kids develop a heightened cultural awareness

live in Wolcott along with the 40 girls who live next door

rooted in the affection students feel for the adults they

in Robbins,” Joshua says. Those boys and girls are involved

know so well. Milton, like many schools, has deepened

with the little girls’ lives — they play with them, and babysit,

the health and counseling staff, and these professionals

read to them, listen and chat. The girls can almost always

are involved with the students, with their learning

find children they know right outside on the quad: seven

about living well.

faculty children between three- and eight-years old live in Wolcott alone. “The looming end of summer is bittersweet

and in the end, rare gifts

for me, but the girls get very antsy come mid-August —

Faculty who commit to living with students reap rich

excited for ‘the big boys’ to arrive,” says Joshua. “The guys

rewards. Watching individuals grow (at close range),

are just as excited to see them. After her second year in

witnessing the ground they cover and the maturity that

French immersion at Cunningham School in Milton (Grade

takes shape, is tremendously fulfilling and continuously

2), Madeline offered Eliot Miailhe (Class IV), from France,

surprising. “Being there for them through all the ups and

a big, warm welcome back in perfect French. She’d prepared!

downs, you end up with a connection that is so valuable,”

He was thrilled.”

Rachel says. “I just went to one advisee’s wedding last fall,

For dorm families, setting boundaries is always a work in progress — “that is, time boundaries more than space,” Miles says. Faculty want to be accessible, and yet count

and I have another ahead this spring.”

“When you see what was anger and resistance in a young teen become trust and a long-lasting sense of connection

on some time of their own. The duty schedule is “quite

to these people, this place, and this time in their lives, that’s

reasonable,” Rachel says, “because Milton wants to make

amazing,” Miles says. Residential faculty often get to see

sure that you are not burned out, and that you do have

exactly what they want to see at graduation: seniors who

energy to give.” For a house head, however, who is often the

are confident in their own skin; make good decisions, with

default resource, “It’s really hard to be ‘unavailable’ when

awareness and responsibility; and know how to advocate

you are physically on campus, on duty or not,” says Miles.

Dorm faculty work to bring kids and adults physically

for themselves as they keep on learning. “The girls are really grateful for us as a house staff,” Rachel says. “It’s the

together often enough to feel the sense of their community.

girls, and my colleagues in this house, that have kept me

The lure of the digital world can isolate people, and that

here for so many years.”

makes using our common rooms together, in fun ways, even more important. “That’s perhaps how Wolcott has

by Cathleen Everett

SPRING 2016

33

a t m i l t o n

Building on Virtual C nnecti ns Faculty Advance the Lower School Curriculum This past fall, four Lower School faculty visited classrooms and children

whom they’d only met over Skype. The Milton teachers spent six days in Spain, eager participants in the activities of Colegio del Pilar, a K–12 school in Madrid, and longtime exchange partner for Milton’s Upper School Spanish students.

They were excited to explore possibilities for expanding the connections between Milton’s Lower School and El Pilar’s youngest learners, now that Milton is teaching Spanish in the elementary grades. El Pilar’s servicelearning program was of particular interest to Milton faculty, as was visiting the Alhambra in Granada. The visit directly enriched their own teaching about language, history, art and culture. This realtime, on-the-ground curriculum innovation was funded by the Betty Buck Teaching Chair, which supports faculty in creative curriculum development. The faculty share here a mini-blog: moments and images that were highlights of their adventure.

Our Grade 2 students have an interdisciplinary unit

on Japan. I introduce our students to Japanese brush painting, beginning with pictures of bamboo. I planned to teach this art form to second graders at El Pilar as well.

I was nervous about my Spanish communication skills, but before our trip, Luis — who teaches in the bilingual program at El Pilar — assured me that the students would understand me very well.

I went into class with 30 bamboo brushes, Japanese rice paper, and a few photos of the Asian college student who taught me brush painting years ago. (El Pilar teachers provided sumi ink, relieving my fears of it spilling in my suitcase!) I taught Luis’s class the first morning we arrived and, sure enough, the students understood me very well.

The universal language of art helped me where words failed.

From the students’ smiling, happy faces, and beautiful bamboo paintings, I knew we had made a connection. s andy butler, Lower School Art

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milton.edu

/MiltonAcademy1798

@Milton_Academy @miltonacademy

The Alhambra. Here were the walls covered in geometric

tile decorations that had inspired M. C. Escher to create I had the profound opportunity to introduce three of my

his mathematical tessellations; like almost everyone of

colleagues to my home country. I am from Madrid, and

a certain age, I had an Escher poster on my dorm room

at El Pilar I shared what growing up in Spain was like

wall in college. Looking up, ceilings filled with muqarnas,

for me — how I experienced education. The trip was full

the almost organic honeycombed “stalactites” unique to

of proud and nostalgic moments — sharing my culture,

Islamic architecture. And then, the Court of the Lions: “no

and my favorite foods, shopping destinations, sights to

part of the edifice gives a more complete idea of its original

see. There are many similarities and many differences

beauty than this…” wrote Washington Irving almost two

between the two cultures. Reflecting on my childhood

hundred years ago. His words hold true today. Turning

experience — a nd how it contrasts with my teaching

a corner, I entered an Islamic representation of Paradise

practice in the United States — I try to draw on the best

rendered in architecture. Open to the elements, a double

of both cultures in my classroom.

One familiar comfort I had been craving was the

row of slender columns topped with elaborately carved stucco patterns surrounds the famous Lion Fountain

Spanish cuisine! When we landed at Barajas Airport

within. Twelve lions, calmly spewing forth water for the

in Madrid, we grabbed breakfast, and I advised my

last thousand years, carved by Christians, originally

colleagues to start their culinary journey sampling

in the home of a Jewish vizier, in the heart of an Islamic

bocadillos — s andwiches of Spain. They enjoyed the

palace: a beautiful, physical manifestation of the interplay

tortilla de patata and Jamon Iberico, as did I!

between the three religious faiths we study in Grade 4.

l ucia castineira, Lower School Spanish

r andy schmidt, Grade 4

On our first day, we toured El Pilar while school was in

session. Through hallways richly decorated with marble and stained glass, we could see and hear children playing. As we walked out into a large courtyard filled with students at morning recess, the second graders ran over and swarmed us with hugs, yelling, “Hola, Tasha! Hola, Lucia!” They recognized us from our many Skype sessions that connected them with our Grade 2 students during Spanish class.

At that moment I thought, “How wonderful, to know one another from that distant communication and now be face to face.” Being in such a beautiful place, welcomed and embraced by these amazing children, was a great feeling. t asha summers, Grade 2

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in sight

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M I LT O N M A G A Z I N E

P H O T O B Y J O H N G I L L O O LY

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Dare, the most ambitious fundraising campaign in Milton’s history, with a goal of $175 million, launched its public phase on October 24, 2015. Dare will advance Milton’s role as a national leader in teaching and learning — providing faculty and students the resources, the freedom, and the power to develop education that is true to Milton: questing, evolving, and daring. Learn more at milton.edu/campaign.

SPRING 2016

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classroom

BY ERIN BERG

The Milton Incubator for Advanced Programmers It’s Thursday afternoon during exam week, and a computer lab in the

Art and Media Center thrums. Milton’s programming students, laptops spread, are tweaking, honing, perfecting independent projects — it’s noisy “independent” work. Students probe and answer each other’s questions, review lines of friends’ code, wildly gesture to punctuate both frustrations and “aha!” moments.

Chris Hales (computer programming faculty) roams the classroom — an open session for exam support that looks and feels like a startup hub.

When Chris began teaching at Milton in 1999, he led two programming sections, about eight students each. Since just 2012, the number of Milton programming students has doubled, now approaching 100 students enrolled in the elective courses. The math department’s decision to introduce programming in every Geometry class has surely sparked interest. Today, a diverse group of advanced students take courses in applications programming and artificial intelligence.

“We teach programming languages as a medium for expression —

Still others are developing a game called “Hot Potato” — a competitive,

as a tool to build things,” says Chris. “The students tackle some

game-trading app: pass the potato fast, gain life points, and win

difficult, traditional computer science exercises, but the goal is to create

access to games that the program “drops” to your device, based on your

great problem solvers, not afraid of big, complex problems.”

campus location.

Beginning at the intro level, students learn the languages — first Java,

Milton students are now regulars at MIT hackathons. Neekon Vafa

then perhaps Swift, XML, Python — t hrough projects. First task:

’15 and Harry Kwon ’15 were part of a first-place team at MIT’s Internet

Monster Aquarium. Students develop “players” to populate a domain and

of Things Hackathon their senior year. (They were the only high school

program the characters to interact accordingly. For instance, they might

students in the room.) This spring, Jacob Aronoff ’16 — founder and

create Hogwarts and fill it with Harry Potter, Hermione and Snape; or

co-head of Milton’s Programming Club — organized 20 classmates to

develop an ice rink full of hockey players — checking one another, moving

compete in MIT’s Blueprint Hackathon in February.

the puck around; or an ocean with fish, bigger fish, seaweed and sharks.

In the advanced courses, like Programming Applications, students

Jacob has been a passionate programmer since he was five years old.

He arrived at Milton craving a place to “talk programming” with

know the languages and now learn how to work together. Two or

like-minded friends, and faculty too. At Milton, he cut his teeth learning

more people writing the same piece of code creates a new set of challenges.

comprehensive languages, establishing organizational strategies,

Students learn how to use organizational tools — i ndustry-standard

working efficiently with his peers. Today, during his free periods, he

programs — to communicate and synchronize their work, sharing

mentors in the intro classrooms — volunteering up to ten hours a week.

responsibility, ensuring efficient work flow.

Jacob is Chris’s right-hand person, and a go-to guy for classmates seeking

“At that point, I’m more a team member than an instructor,” Chris says.

“I’m there for support, and I’m in the brainstorming business with them.”

Milton students stretch in creative ways. This spring, one advanced group is developing a refrigerator that tracks its own inventory. Another group launched an app earlier this year that keeps Milton students synced

answers, from basic to complex. He’s the development operations manager for his advanced group projects, responsible for testing teammates’ code before integrating their work into the project’s master branch. He even has a “DevOps” T-shirt — “Nerdy, but fun,” he laughs.

“Helping others identify programming issues has made me a better

with weekend activities, dining menus and mailbox access. (The app is

programmer,” says Jacob. “The culture that Mr. Hales creates is entirely

available for download on both Android and iOS platforms.) Expanding

collaborative — intense, but fun, and creative. The other kids in class have

that “Milton Student App” is the aim of a group working on a Milton

all kinds of backgrounds, interests, talents, and everyone is welcome

ESPN-type component: tracking game schedules, posting real-time

here. Mr. Hales breaks down large, potentially overwhelming tasks into

scores, providing Google Maps-based directions to athletic contests,

manageable pieces, and he empowers us. The mutual respect and

compiling game-related tweets.

support in this room is infectious.”

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o n c e n t r e Jazz: Real Time, Real People Milton students are busy. Tests, papers, plays,

reggae and Afro-Cuban rhythms.” They

sports and activities compete for finite time

rounded out the weekend playing cocktail-hour

in a Milton day. So, when students answer the

and dinner music for Milton’s on-campus launch

call to volunteer their time and talents, it’s

of Dare: The Campaign for Milton. Closing

a big deal. Last October, Milton jazz students

October, Milton’s jazz volunteers shared their

answered that call many times. Early in

talents with younger students, performing

the month, ten student musicians performed

during morning assembly at the Park School in

a spirited set of South African tunes for an

Brookline. Among other jazz activities, the

audience of hundreds at “Celebrate Milton,”

advanced jazz classes traveled to Louisville,

an event hosted by the Town of Milton and

Kentucky, in January to perform and to

supported by our community service program.

participate in the Jazz Education Network

Mid-month, Class IV jazz students offered

(JEN) seventh annual conference, where more

their first performance of the year for parents

than 3,000 jazz musicians, directors, students

during Parents’ Weekend. Milton’s three

and enthusiasts gathered. Bob Sinicrope is the

January. Milton’s jazz program enjoys a strong

advanced jazz groups followed a week later,

president of JEN — the first high school teacher

connection with South Africa, as students tour

playing for the 25th Annual Fall Jazz Concert,

to hold the position. Milton graduate Aaron

the country every other spring. “Milton groups

a tribute to the music of Thelonious Monk.

Goldberg ’91 and his trio were featured on the

cherish our connections with South African

main stage; and Jason Yeager ’05 presented a

schools and organizations,” says Bob. “Over

“This music is fun, quirky and profound,” says Milton jazz director Bob Sinicrope. “Twenty-

clinic at the conference. Bob directed a weekend

the years, our students have made significant

six students surprised the audience by setting

workshop for 40 teachers and a weeklong jazz

donations of instruments and materials to

Monk’s tunes to contemporary styles — hip-hop,

workshop for 100 students in South Africa in

school programs in need there.”

SPRING 2016

39

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Trustees Elected to the Board in 2015 Eleanor Tabi Haller-Jorden ’75 is president

and CEO of The Paradigm Forum GmbH, a global think tank and consultancy focused on inventive communications, proactive branding strategies, and experiential learning techniques that help transform organizations. Previously, Tabi was senior vice president of global learning strategies at Catalyst, responsible for initiatives focused on inclusion and innovation in diverse cultural contexts. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Bryn Mawr College and her master’s in industrial relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Tabi is a board member for many organizations and has served Milton as a former class agent and admission representative, as a bicentennial committee member, and as a member of the

high-growth industries. Liping’s focus at

Madrid; he earned both his master’s and

Head of School Council. She is also mother

Milestone Capital is both in deal sourcing and

Ph.D. from Harvard University. Luis is on the

to Jurg Haller ’09. Tabi lives in Wädenswil,

execution, as well as investor and government

academic advisory board of Martingale Asset

Switzerland.

relations. Prior to founding Milestone Capital

Management; the research advisory board

in 2002, Liping worked for both Merrill Lynch

of Smartleaf Asset Management; and he has

Bill Knowlton is a partner at Ropes and Gray,

and Bear Stearns in their direct investments

served as former trustee and board chair of the

a comprehensive legal advisory firm based in

and investment banking divisions in Beijing

Belmont Day School. Luis and his wife, Marta,

Boston. Bill oversees the firm’s health care

and Hong Kong. Liping is a director at both

have two children — Luis (Class I) and Elena

and life sciences practices, advising academic

LaShou Group, Inc., and Trina Solar Limited.

(Class IV). The Viceira family lives in Belmont,

medical centers and faculty practice plans,

He earned both his bachelor’s and master’s

Massachusetts.

hospital systems, pharmaceutical companies,

in engineering at the National University

and health-care investment firms. He is a

of Defense Technology in Changsha, China.

Sylvia Westphal is the founder of Pinwheel

member of the American Health Lawyers

Liping’s son Zhenfeng (Class II) lives in

Books, an independent children’s book

Association; director and clerk of the Kenneth

Wolcott House. Liping, his wife, Vivian, and

publisher, and author of two children’s books:

B. Schwartz Center for Compassionate

their family reside in Beijing, China.

Francisco’s Fabulous Friends (2011) and We Are

Healthcare; and director and campaign chair

Twins! (2013). Sylvia is an award-winning

for the Community Music Center of Boston. Bill

Luis Viceira is the George E. Bates Professor

journalist and a former staff writer for the Wall

earned his bachelor’s degree at Yale University

and senior associate dean for international

Street Journal, New Scientist and the Los Angeles

and his law degree at University of Virginia.

development at Harvard Business School.

Times. She has also served as a freelance and

He has been a volunteer for Milton’s parent

He has been a member of the faculty there

science writer for the Boston Globe, CNN.com, the New York Times and Smithsonian Magazine.

fund for several years, including as chair. He

since 1998, developing research and teaching

and his wife, Deborah, have three children;

in the areas of investment management and

She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology

daughter Hannah is in Grade 5 at Milton. The

capital markets to both graduate students and

from University of Puerto Rico and her

Knowlton family lives in Boston.

practitioners. He instructs the Investment

Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard University.

Management course of the school’s M.B.A.

Sylvia and her husband, Christoph, have five

Liping Qiu is a founding partner and managing

program and co-chairs the CFA Institute

children at Milton Academy: Eva (Class III),

director of Milestone Capital Management

Investment Management Program for asset

Christian (Grade 7), Lucas (Grade 3), Daniel

Limited, a leading private equity firm investing

managers at HBS. He earned his bachelor’s

and Sebastian (both Grade 1). The Westphal

in and supporting entrepreneurs in China’s

degree from the Universidad Autónoma in

family lives in Boston.

SPRING 2016

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head of school

BY TODD B . BL AND

The Discipline Behind Changing Wisely The range of Milton’s alumni accomplishments — p ersonal and

creativity and innovation. Leveraging our traditional strengths, along

professional — is remarkable. You are diverse, impressive, courageous

with effective innovation, will enable us to develop in students a broad

individuals. As a collection of stories chronicling your lives, Milton

set of skills that will be critical, regardless of the paths that our graduates

Magazine is a great resource. It shows us, in real time, how alumni are

choose. As you know, challenging work forces you out of your comfort

leveraging their education, their passion, and their skill to develop

zone. That’s where we are, and that is a good place.

Making important changes can be daunting. In recent history

creative and meaningful lives.

Hearing your stories is a favorite part of my job. It helps me see

for instance, Milton shifted away from a commitment to Advanced

the value of Milton’s educational values and traditions, writ large in

Placement (AP) courses. Each year, many of our students do well on

today’s world. It helps guide me, as all of us here at School consider

AP exams, but directing our own advanced course content — r ather

how a modern school should — must, in fact — evolve. We’re responsible

than following that described in AP syllabuses — gave us the freedom to

for providing today’s students with an education relevant in their

cultivate advanced learning in the Milton tradition — aiming at depth,

world. How will we definitively prepare them to undertake, or to create,

rather than just breadth. Milton made that decision to provide the best

professional roles we can’t now predict? Today, the iconic elements of

academic program for our students, independent of parameters that —

the Milton experience that you remember — a peerless writing program

in our view — narrowed the learning experience. The fear then was

(remember mega-blunders?), learning Latin, Class IV Talks, Olympic-

that our college outcomes would suffer. Milton students continue, year

level speech and debate, and “DYO” science experiments — are coupled

in and year out, to matriculate at the most competitive colleges and

with courses focused on neuropsychology, programming artificial

universities throughout the country and around the world.

intelligence, narrative journalism and behavioral economics. We’ve

Milton has, and will, prepare young people for their lives in and

implemented a new faculty role — the technology integrationist: two

beyond their college years. Your stories, and the stories you read in Milton

experienced teachers who love technology are seeding a culture at Milton

Magazine, are our measures of success. We owe Milton alumni, faculty

that helps faculty and students integrate technology that will scale

and staff, students and parents nothing less than pursuing the mission

up the teaching and learning process. We’re committed to renewing

that has shaped Milton for centuries, and which will now serve them

our curriculum. It’s a strategic priority, and we’re holding ourselves

in the 21st century.

accountable for a responsible cycle of evaluation, looking to identify the right balance between tradition and innovation.

On November 30, global thought leader, educator and futurist Charles Fadel spent the day with faculty. (Mr. Fadel co-founded the Center for Curriculum Redesign and has written two celebrated books on educational relevance.) He was direct and concrete about the ways that educating young people have changed in only five years and how categorically different education will be in another, five, ten, fifteen years. Imagining explicitly how the world will change is difficult, but analyzing demographic, environmental and employment trends is critical as we work to prepare children appropriately. Mr. Fadel’s work has been in international educational reform. He is a particularly powerful resource for Milton as we assess our program and requirements.

He focuses on developing critical competencies, which you would recognize. They’re present in our mission, and as strategic priorities.

We have described them in detail, and we’re committed to cultivating them in students. Thinking from this centering point helps us consider how to organize and integrate our academic departments. We have confidently undertaken key conversations about modern competencies like self-awareness, resilience and empathy, and about ways to incent

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sports

B Y L I Z M AT S O N

One Perfect Season, Two Classy Teams

Today’s soccer programs showcase Milton sports tradition:

a 19-game season, through a 90-minute game, through

sportsmanship; old-fashioned hard work out on the field,

six days together every week. They did an incredible job

rain or shine; practicing skills; working as a team. They

of keeping that focus strong, that intensity high, and that

also reflect the growth of youth soccer, specifically club

competitiveness keen. They also brought that focus and

programs. Many of today’s players come to Milton with a

attention to other areas, on and off campus.”

high level of play and talent. Overall, the mission for boys’

The best way to understand why this team was so good

and girls’ teams is to play good soccer. Scoring goals is

was to watch them play. Their play was fluid and focused;

great, but that is only one part of the game.

the ball passed quickly between players, rarely leaving their

The boys’ varsity soccer team had a perfect season.

They were undefeated and earned the Independent School

possession. As fast as their game appeared, the players were actually taking their time and keeping it simple, wearing

League and New England Championship titles. Their

their opponents out. Players on the field talked to each other

accomplishments are historic: They are only the second

constantly, and teammates on the deep, talented bench,

team in ISL history to finish with a 15–0 record. Most

encouraged and supported. A goal was cause for quick

important to coach Chris Kane, however, is that the

celebration, but then they got back to focus, attention and

league awarded his team the Mark H. Blood Trophy for

steady play.

outstanding sportsmanship.

“The players know that consistency and focus are key

Five seniors were four-year varsity team members.

These included team captains Adam Bramson ’16, Shay

elements to success, and they know not to take anything

Quintin ’16 and Luis Viceira ’16. They say this year’s team

for granted,” says Coach Kane, who has coached the boys

was the result of four years of hard work, discipline and

for five years. “This year, the team’s talent, attention and

maturity, under the strong leadership of Coach Kane.

investment were phenomenal. It’s easy to lose focus over

“Our biggest challenge this year was not repeating last

SPRING 2016

43

sp ort s , c on t.

year, when we went into some games underprepared,” says

shutouts, with our bench playing significant minutes, in

Adam. “We lost title games against teams we should have

many, if not all of those games. I’m most proud of the fact

beaten. This year, we knew how good we were and it was

that the season was truly a team effort. Every single player

about not letting up in games. We had no slip-ups.”

on the team contributed to those results.”

“We had so many seniors that play a big role on the team,” says Luis. “They pushed each other and the younger

The girls’ ISL season was more mixed, ending 5–6–1. But the girls’ strong team culture, cultivated over years, led

players to play their best. And with a continuing core of

to positive outlooks on games when the scoreboard didn’t

players each year, it all resulted in great team chemistry.”

go their way. Co-captains Kelli Quinn ’16 and Deanna

In many games this season, Milton players dominated

Ferrante ’16 said this year’s team had a great dynamic, and

from the first few seconds until the final whistle. Coach

they played a “team’s game,” with goals spread out among

Kane made sure to take advantage of all the team’s talent.

a lot of players.

“Out of respect for our opponents, we took our starters

“There’s a remarkable culture with Milton girls’ soccer

out if we had a big lead,” he says. “We got the younger,

that focuses on the right and important goals,” says coach

less experienced guys out there when situations allowed,

Peter Kahn, who has coached the team for 11 years. “We

and it was great for their development. We had 15 straight

try to instill the idea that we’re trying to do better — as individual players and as a team. We focus on the things we can control, like how hard you work in the game, how you support each other, and your training habits. Those are more important than things you can’t control, like when a player on the other team hits a great corner shot and our players hit the post three times. Because this approach is already built into the culture, some of the challenges are easier to manage.”

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“When I took over the boys’ program, I was inspired

though we lost 1–0,” says Deanna. “Everyone’s heads

by the sense of team and family culture Peter had fostered

and hearts were in it. That was the best soccer we played

in the girls’ program,” says Coach Kane. “I’ve sought to

all season, and it showed our progression as a team.”

replicate that and build it into our program.” The two teams

Coach Kahn agrees. “Nobles was the better team that

also have great camaraderie, at times combining practices

day, but I was really pleased with the way, immediately

and supporting each other from the sidelines when they can.

after the game, the girls’ assessment of their work was

Members of the girls’ team call themselves the Wolfpack,

positive. There was a sense of proud accomplishment.”

based on Rudyard Kipling’s poem “The Law of the Jungle.”

They don’t take the name lightly. On game days, they are fierce and determined. For home games, they line up in the locker room and march, in complete silence, down to the field in two columns after high-fiving assistant coach Jamie LaRochelle (science department faculty). At the bench, they dump their bags and gear, still in silence. A player cues the music, Flo Rida’s “My House,” and they begin their warm-ups — choreographed, like a Maori war dance.

Once the game begins, the silence disappears, and like the boys’ team, the girls are constantly talking to each other — coordinating shots or shouting encouragement. The play is fast and incredibly physical, with a lot of contact between opposing players. From the sidelines, Coach Kahn encourages and points out good plays.

“The best game we played was against Nobles, even

SPRING 2016

45

fac u l t y p e r s p e c t i v e

B Y L I Z M AT S O N

What Did You Say Your New Job Is? Seeding an Openness to Technology Options Projecting exactly how to integrate new and newer

of teaching and learning. “They both have a really strong

technology into teaching and learning over the years ahead,

belief in how technology and pedagogy can intersect, so

Milton created a definition of an ideal facilitator. The ideal

that we are not just thinking about technology for the

facilitator, as the concept goes, is an experienced teacher

sake of technology, but rather ways it might improve how

who loves technology — who would seed a culture among

teaching and learning happens.”

educators that routinely considers, tests and supports

One key task for Mark and Josh is providing support

technology that could be transformative in the teaching

on the School’s two major platforms — Schoology and

and learning process.

Google Apps for Education. Some steps are simple but effective, such as creating a virtual space (#miltonfaculty) in Schoology for faculty to explore, discuss and share resources.

“We are also helping teachers to re-imagine what evaluation and assessment might look like, feel like, and what role assessment has in their courses.”

“Not only do we provide the support, but we also want to get everyone to look beyond the platforms,” says Mark. “What does it mean to use these tools equally well as a biology teacher, as a history teacher, or as a Spanish teacher? We are also shifting ‘I want’ requests to ‘I would like to be able to.’ Instead of ‘I want a Smart Board,’ for example, the thinking should be, ‘I would like my students to publish for an audience.’ Starting there helps us help the faculty think about these tools in terms of improving the student experience.”

Mark and Josh are also encouraging faculty

Mark Connolly and Josh Furst are Milton’s first instructional technologists. They work with faculty across all disciplines. Josh and Mark are not new to

“Taking the standard five-paragraph essay and

Milton. Mark joined the modern languages department

thinking of ways to introduce other elements is an

to teach Spanish in 2002, and he ultimately served as

example,” says Mark. “Maybe using an audio or video

department chair. Since 2010, Josh has worn many hats,

component is a great solution. We’d like to bring more

beginning as A/V media tech coordinator and most

creativity into the traditional assessment as well — to

recently serving as K–8 technologist. Now he advises

offer alternative ways for students to show they

Class II students and teaches Values in the affective

understand the subject.”

Over the summer, one of the first teachers to approach

education program.

“One of our priorities is connecting with all faculty to get a clear perspective on what they hope their own

Mark and Josh with ideas was Linde Eyster, who teaches biology. Linde was a fan of the conference boards that she

students will achieve in their classrooms. We have met

used to facilitate student discussion in a former Milton

with more than 50 faculty members,” says Josh. “We

email system.

are also helping teachers to re-imagine what evaluation

“She wanted to find another way for her students

and assessment might look like, feel like, and what role

to demonstrate their biology understanding beyond the

assessment has in their courses.”

written lab,” says Mark. “We created virtual message

“Josh’s and Mark’s passion and enthusiasm about

46

to incorporate more multimedia into course work when appropriate.

boards in Schoology where students are asking questions

instructional technology resonated with the hiring

and answering each other, and Linde has oversight of the

committee and with our faculty,” says Indu Singh, dean

conversations happening there.”

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beyond their open office hours. They are committed to

ABOVE

flow in her class and maximize how she uses her

blogging and finding ways to grow their personal learning

Mark Connolly (left) and Josh Furst

“Mark has also helped Linde streamline the work resources,” says Josh. “I worked with her on re-imagining

networks. Josh says providing student support is also

collaborative opportunities for her students. Biology

important, and during the first few weeks of school, he

students are curating photographs for a biodiversity photo

made himself available until 11 p.m. each night for email

conference they were invited to attend, so we have been

questions and tech help. The technologists’ library office

working on that together.”

space also forecasts close collaboration with the library’s

Josh and Mark’s office is in Cox Library, visible to students and faculty, encouraging casual interaction

new director, Laura Peale, who has lots of great ideas on teacher-student resources.

SPRING 2016

47

m e s s a g e s Professor Warren McFarlan ’55

Professor Warren McFarlan ’55, who has a long and distinguished career in business education, was the 2015 Hong Kong Lecturer. Professor McFarlan earned his A.B. from Harvard University in 1959, and his M.B.A. and D.B.A. from the Harvard

Business School in 1961 and 1965, respectively. He became a full professor at HBS in 1973, and he has held diverse leadership positions at the school since. He is currently a guest professor and co-director of Case Development at the School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. Professor McFarlan was a Milton Academy trustee from 2001 to 2014 and helped define today’s Milton.

“There is no question that China will be a global leader in your lifetime, but will China be the future world economic leader?”

Lynsey Addario

Award-winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario

paralyzed from the neck down when

Dilworth Gold Visiting Artist this fall. Ms. Addario

he hit the boards 11 seconds into his first

won the Overseas Press Club’s Award for Veiled

college hockey game. Mr. Roy spoke

Rebellion, which documents the plight of women in

impassionedly to students about setting

Afghanistan. She was awarded a MacArthur “Genius

goals, meeting challenges, showing

Grant” Fellowship, and in 2009 she was part of

respect, and the power of love. He

the New York Times team that won a Pulitzer Prize

established the Travis Roy Foundation

for her photographs of “Talibanistan.” In 2015,

in 1997, to help spinal cord injury

American Photo magazine named her one of the five

survivors and to fund research toward

most influential photographers of the past 25 years.

developing a cure. He is the author

Ms. Addario is the author of the recently published

of Eleven Seconds, and he travels the

memoir titled It’s What I Do — A Photographer’s Life

country sharing his story and message

of Love and War.

with audiences of all ages.

ways in which other people live. We come from a place of great privilege, but most people in the world don’t have anything. They have to fight for peace, for rights, for food.”

“There are times in life when we choose challenges and set goals, and there are times when challenges choose us. How we handle those challenges defines who we are.”

M I LT O N M A G A Z I N E

Twenty years ago, Travis Roy became

was both the Margo Johnson Lecturer and Melissa

“I believe people have to see the

48

Travis Roy

Professor Bonnie Miller

Professor Bonnie Miller was this year’s Henry R.

Heyburn ’39 Speaker. Professor Miller earned her Ph.D. in history at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of From Liberation to Conquest: The Visual and Popular Cultures of the Spanish-American War of 1898, in which she argues for the importance of visual images in shaping the political debates surrounding the Cuban crisis and the imperial aftermath of the Spanish-American War. At UMass Boston, she teaches courses in visual culture /media studies and American social and cultural history from 1600 to the present.

“We can gain insight into popular beliefs of the past by studying images from that period. Images are historical documents, not illustrations. Each image has its own story to tell.”

Lieutenant Ben Pariser ’06

Nearly ten years after graduation, Lieutenant Ben Pariser spoke with students as the 2015 Veterans Day Speaker. Mr. Pariser graduated from Brandeis University in 2010, before earning his commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve. From 2011 to 2013,

Mr. Pariser served with the 443rd Civil Affairs Battalion as a battalion human resources officer and a civil affairs team chief. In 2013, he was assigned to the Headquarters, United States Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command, where he served as a readiness officer on active duty. In October 2014, Mr. Pariser voluntarily deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Freedom’s Sentinel, where he served as an operations officer in support of United States Forces-Afghanistan and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Train, Advise and Assist Mission.

“At Milton, you learn to adapt without losing sight of the ultimate goal. Each of you adapts to new teachers, classes and situations. The challenge is to adapt to an unknown obstacle.

Don’t be afraid to pull out your map and reroute your entire life.”

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49

m e s s age s , c on t.

“From the time we are little boys, we are told who we are allowed to be, and most importantly, what we are allowed to feel, based on fear.

Parents, teachers, coaches, friends use that fear and things related to it — insults, shame — to enforce who we are supposed to be.”

Carlos Andrés Gómez

Award-winning poet, actor and author Carlos Andrés Gómez challenged students to be their authentic selves and interrogate stereotypes of manhood. Mr. Gómez was this year’s guest speaker at the Latino Association assembly. He is the author of the coming-

Steven Tejada

of-age memoir Man Up: Reimagining Modern Manhood. Nominated for the Pushcart Prize and named Artist of the Year at the 2009

Actor, writer and educator Steven Tejada performed his

Promoting Outstanding Writers Awards, he co-starred in Spike

monologues for students as this year’s Multiculturalism/

Lee’s film Inside Man. Mr. Gómez has been featured on NPR, TEDx,

Community Development speaker. The stories, which

Upworthy, MSNBC, the United Nations Commission on the Status

combine comedy, drama and real emotions, are reflections

of Women, and on Broadway with Savion Glover. Winner of the 2015

on his personal journeys from the streets of the South

Lucille Clifton Poetry Prize and the 2015 Makeda Bilqis Literary

Bronx to the boulevards of exclusive worlds. Mr. Tejada has

Award, his writing has appeared in numerous publications. A

performed and spoken at venues throughout the country.

former social worker and public school teacher, Mr. Gómez has

He is currently dean of diversity initiatives at the Noble

lectured and performed at more than 400 colleges and universities.

and Greenough School. He also serves on the board of directors of De La Salle Academy in New York City, an independent school for academically talented, economically disadvantaged students. He is also a member of a national think tank and advisory council on diversity issues for the National Association of Independent Schools.

“Too many times we ask our youth to shed their identities in exchange for education opportunities.

We ask them to leave their home lives at the doors of our institutions as if they were book bags they could easily slip off, put in a corner, and gather at the end of the day. Education should help you build on your identity — not require you to shed it. Educators need to understand and support the experiences of all our students.”

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M I LT O N M A G A Z I N E

“A poem asks us to sink into our self — to find the quieter, less pushy voice you might contain.

That is what I’m always trying to do. As a writer, you try not to sound like yourself and to come up with different ways of writing about things.”

Tracy K. Smith

As the Bingham Visiting Writer, poet Tracy K. Smith read from her powerful, sometimes haunting, work during the Martin Luther King Assembly. Ms. Smith is the director of Princeton University’s Creative Writing Program and the author of the critically acclaimed memoir Ordinary Light, shortlisted this fall for the National Book Award in Nonfiction, and three books of poetry. Her collection Life on Mars won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize and was selected as a New York Times Notable Book. Ms. Smith’s Duende won the 2006 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of

American Poets and an Essence Literary Award. In 2014, the Academy of American Poets awarded her the Academy

“Some students on college campuses today engage in a hook-up culture with other

Fellowship, given to one poet each year to recognize distinguished poetic achievement.

students, usually fueled by alcohol. But just because some students are getting drunk and hooking up doesn’t make it right, or legal. When does a hook-up cross the line? Students don’t really know, and they hear confusing messages.”

Daniel Swinton

Daniel Swinton challenged students’ notions of what constitutes sexual assault by presenting a court case, and asking them — the jury — how they would rule. Mr. Swinton

visited campus as the 2015 Talbot Speaker. Mr. Swinton is managing partner of the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management, a multidisciplinary risk management consulting firm based in Malvern, Pennsylvania.

A specialist in Title IX, bystander intervention, and sexual assault policy and law, he is the author of several peerreviewed articles on the subjects.

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a lu m n i au t hor s

Acrostic Woodstock

Pomfret: Through the Years

Love the Stranger

by Will Nixon ’75

300 Years of History of Pomfret,

by Jay Deshpande ’02

Practical Advice for Managing

Bushwhack Books, December 2015

Connecticut, as Seen Through

YesYes Books, November 2015

All Life’s Impossible Problems

In more than 70 poems, Will

Edited by Walter P. Hinchman ’55

Through the wide-eyed study

and Sarah Bennett ’96

of beauty and the eerie stations

Simon & Schuster, September 2015

its People, Places, and Events

Nixon offers a portrait of

F*ck Feelings: One Shrink’s

by Michael I. Bennett, M.D.

Woodstock, New York, a village

The book includes narrative

of the erotic, Love the Stranger

of beloved shops, free spirits,

vignettes, documents and

maps the body in its struggle with

A veteran psychiatrist and his

artistic traditions, spiritual

the history of Pomfret from the

desire and absence. The poems

comedy writer daughter present

refuges, and unexpected moments

1600s through today.

treat love, kinship and loss

the antihero of the self-help

as instruments of our own

section, the cut-to-the-chase

awakening — tools that can help us

therapy session people have

of humor and grace. Poems recall Levon Helm’s “Midnight Ramble” or the night Jimi Hendrix played the Tinker Street Cinema. There are elegies to famous painters now in the Artists Cemetery.

Walter Hinchman, a former science faculty member at Pomfret School, is currently chair of the Town of Pomfret’s Tercentennial Committee. He served as Pomfret School’s archivist and is today the Town of Pomfret’s historian.

encounter our own mysteriousness

been waiting for. Most people

and touch new ground. As

choose therapy to try changing

they peer into childhood memory,

something they don’t like about

the end of an affair, dream

themselves or to figure out a way

There are odes to the hardware

dismemberments, and even Kim

to change another person. The

store and pizza parlor. All sides

Kardashian, the lyrics in Love

Bennetts argue that goals like these

of Woodstock life find their way

the Stranger guide us toward the

are impossible to achieve, and

into the book. An afterward,

truths hidden within the body.

therefore are deflating and counter-

“The Stories Behind the Poems,” provides further history and lore.

Will Nixon has published two poetry collections, My Late Mother as a Ruffed Grouse (Foothills) and Love in the City of Grudges (Foothills). With Michael Perkins he has co-authored Walking Woodstock: Journeys into the Wild Heart of America’s Most Famous Small Town (Bushwhack) and The Pocket Guide to Woodstock (Bushwhack).

52

M I LT O N M A G A Z I N E

Jay Deshpande is the winner of the Scotti Merrill Memorial Award, selected

by Billy Collins in 2015. He has held residencies at the Saltonstall Arts Colony and the Vermont Studio Center.

Jay’s poems have appeared in Boston Review, Sixth Finch and Narrative. His essays and reviews have been published in Slate, The New Republic, Boston Review and Jacket2. Jay has previously worked for WatchTime magazine and the Academy of American Poets, and served as poetry editor for AGNI. He lives in Brooklyn.

productive. They explain that the real F words in life are “feelings” and “fairness,” and promise that any of life’s situations are manageable. Outrageous, funny and sensible, the authors focus on realistic goals and acceptance.

Sarah Bennett has written for magazines, the Internet, television and books. For two years, she wrote a monthly sketch comedy show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York.

War in the Shallows: U.S. Navy Coastal and

Can China Lead? Reaching the Limits of

All the Way Up: The Declassified Story

Riverine Warfare in Vietnam 1965–1968

Power and Growth

of an American Life Lived to the Fullest

by John Darrell Sherwood ’85

by Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby and

by C. Stephen Heard Jr. ’54 Advantage, August 2015

Naval History and Heritage Command,

F. Warren McFarlan ’55

October 2015

Harvard Business Review Press, February 2014

At the height of the U.S. Navy’s involvement

A lack of accountability, transparency, and ease

Heard looks back at his “life lived all the way

in the Vietnam War, the Navy’s coastal and

of operation in China — combined with growing

up,” and shares seven decades of adventures

This book offers a front-row seat as Steve

riverine forces included more than 30,000

evidence of high-level corruption — has

and stories involving some of history’s most

sailors and over 350 patrol vessels ranging

made domestic and foreign businesspeople

influential decision makers through rapidly

in size from riverboats to destroyers. These

increasingly wary of the “China model.” These

changing times in American history. Steve’s

forces developed the most extensive maritime

issues are deeply rooted in Chinese history

story begins by chronicling his family’s roots,

blockade in modern naval history and fought

and the country’s political system. The authors

particularly his great-great-great-grandfather,

pitched battles against Viet Cong units in

contend that the country’s dynamic private

Colonel Stephen Heard. Steve’s account opens

the Mekong Delta and elsewhere. War in the

sector, which could be a source of sustainable

with growing up in Westwood, Massachusetts,

Shallows explores the operations of the Navy’s

growth, is constrained by political favoritism

his years at Milton Academy and then at Harvard University. He tracks his service in

three inshore task forces from 1965 to 1968.

toward state-owned corporations. Disruptive

It also delves into themes such as basing,

innovation, research and development are

the United States Air Force, as an intelligence

technology, tactics, and command and control.

limited by concerns about intellectual property

officer in Spain, his time as a licensed matador,

Finally, based in oral history interviews, it

protection. Most significant is the question

and his decades of practicing international

reconstructs deckplate life in South Vietnam,

of China’s political future. Can China Lead?

law in several law firms — two of which he

focusing on combat waged by ordinary sailors.

asserts that China is at an inflection point that

started. All the Way Up also reveals Steve’s

Vietnam was the bloodiest war in recent

cannot be ignored. An understanding of the

philanthropic side. He served 20 years on the

naval history, and War in the Shallows strives

forces that shape China’s business landscape is

board of the New York City Fresh Air Fund,

to provide insight into the men who fought,

crucial to establishing — and maintaining — a

13 as its president. He also served several terms

and honor their service and sacrifice.

successful enterprise in China.

on Stanford Law School’s board of visitors.

John Darrell Sherwood has been a historian with the Naval History and Heritage Command since 1997 and holds a Ph.D. in history from George Washington University. Dr. Sherwood has authored five books on the Vietnam and Korean wars and published a large number of articles and book reviews in a wide range of journals and publications.

F. Warren McFarlan is Baker Foundation Professor at Harvard Business School, as well as the Albert H. Gordon Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus. He is concurrently a guest professor at Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management, and co-director of the school’s China Business Case Center. He served on Milton’s board of trustees from 2001 to 2014.

C. Stephen Heard Jr. now enjoys his retirement with his wife, Susan, in Seabrook, South Carolina.

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53

NAME:

CLASS OF: ONE MILTON MEMORY:

OCCUPATION:

PASSIONS:

HOW MILTON PLAYED A ROLE IN MY LIFE: MILTON TODAY IS:

WHY I GIVE BACK:

I CHOSE A PLANNED GIFT BECAUSE:

54

For information on gift planning, please contact Mary Perry at mary_perry@milton.edu or 617-898-2376.

M I LT O N M A G A Z I N E

class notes 1945 ▼ Dr. William B. Carey (left)

was honored this fall for 55 years of academic service in the Department of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, during a formal

RIGHT Emily Bruskin ’98 and Steve Wagner ’08 (both violin), Kit Bingham ’54 (viola) and Julia Bruskin ’98 (cello) at Reunion Weekend, June 2014, in Straus Library

dinner at the Franklin Institute. on the 100th year of “jerusalem” And did those feet in ancient time walk upon England’s mountains green?

And was the holy lamb of God on England’s pleasant pastures seen?

And did the countenance divine shine forth upon our clouded hills?

And was Jerusalem builded here among these dark satanic mills?

1946

The Class of ’46 is excited about

Bring me my spear, O clouds, unfold; bring me my chariot of fire!

Bring me my bow of burning gold; bring me my arrows of desire!

their upcoming 70th Reunion.

I will not cease from mental fight, nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,

Rusty Bourne and Edie

Till we have built Jerusalem in England’s green and pleasant land!

Lauderdale are compiling a

book of class memories and look

Generations of Miltonians intone these words almost automatically, with little

forward to another memorable

awareness of where they came from or what they’re about. At the centennial of this

weekend on campus in June.

rousing anthem, I’d like to explore the origins and enigmatic meaning.

1958

a poem titled “Milton,” referencing John Milton, writer of Paradise Lost. References

▼ Victor Miller, Neilson Abeel

Revelation. The allusion to the “dark satanic mills” has a more concrete manifestation

and John “Dutch” Scholz

in the Industrial Revolution, whose intrusion apparently offended the poet.

Written in the early 19th-century by English mystic poet William Blake, the lines open

reunited at Neilson and Tori’s Portland, Oregon, loft on August 27, 2015. The three celebrated being 75 years young and more than 60 years of friendship.

to the “holy lamb of God” and the “building of Jerusalem” are found in the Book of

Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Oxford professor and musician, put stirring strains to Blake’s bellicose words in 1916. The anthem offered encouragement to the gallant “Tommies” in the trenches. In our time, it has been performed at the London “prom concerts”—the British model for the Boston Pops—each summer.

Though tempting to consider, it is a stretch that Blake knew of our Academy. And the Walter P. Baker Chocolate Mill near campus, which delighted the olfactory senses of generations of Milton students, came far later. Nevertheless, linking our town and our School with the mill is nearly irresistible.

But that isn’t how the song became #110 in our hymn books. Throughout the 20th century, music at Milton was led by Markham Stackpole, who also served as chaplain, and compiled Milton’s first hymnal in 1912. Howard Abell assembled the 1952 edition and singlehandedly championed the tune, possibly because he so enjoyed pounding through the demanding piano part. “Jerusalem” remained popular with students for half a century or so.

More recently, the allusions and references therein have been seen as not exactly an inclusive refrain for today’s students. Yet the song resonates with older graduates, evidenced by the Class of 1954 at their 60th Reunion: “Jerusalem” was performed by a string quartet, and the lines were roared out lustily by reminiscent alumni.

David Ehrlich, Class of 1954

SPRING 2016

55

Dr. Gabrielle Jacquet is a faculty

member in the department of emergency medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine, and has just produced and released The Practitioner’s Guide to Global Health — a series of timeline-based massive

1959

1991

open online courses (MOOCs) to

Steve Parker ’s memorial service

▲ Michael Douglas married Olivia

for safe and effective global health

in Apthorp Chapel on October

Farr on October 3, 2015, in New

learning experiences.

4, 2015, was a moving and

York City. ▼ Lydon (Friedrich) Vonnegut,

memorable affair. Attendees included family, friends, Milton

prepare students and trainees

her husband, Eli, and daughter,

and Yale classmates, and Mr.

1992

Frank Millet. Celebrated by

▼ On July 18, 2015, atop Mount

Patrick and Margaret Mariah,

Milton chaplain Suzanne DeBuhr,

Alyeska in Girdwood, Alaska,

on April 2, 2015.

the service opened with the

Nathan Bihldorff married Carly

familiar strains of “Jerusalem,”

Chan. The couple lives in Seattle.

Janie, welcomed twins, William

and featured readings by Erica Labouisse, Rick Howard, David Peter R. Livingston Jr. ’80

won a 2015 Emmy Award for his editing work on the Netflix original documentary Mission Blue.

Ames and a remembrance by Mr. Millet. Following the service, guests gathered on the lawn to plant and dedicate a copper beech tree in Steve’s memory.

2002

1980

▼ On December 20, 2015, Maile

Peter R. Livingston Jr. won a

1998

2015 Emmy Award — in the

▼ Paul Bercovitch won a sound

category of Outstanding Editing –

editing Emmy Award for his work

Documentary and Long Form —

on Game of Thrones.

Carter Madigan welcomed Carter

Brooks Madigan to her family.

for his editing work on the Netflix original documentary Mission Blue.

1990 Jocelyn Rosenthal started Boo

Boo’s Best Artisanal Raw Meals Jocelyn Rosenthal ’90

for Dogs, selling the best raw

started Boo Boo’s Best

dog food available. Miltonians

Artisanal Raw Meals for

receive ten percent off any order,

Dogs, selling the best raw dog food available.

56

M I LT O N M A G A Z I N E

using code milton10 at checkout.

Visit www.booboosbest.com.

milton.edu

/MiltonAcademy1798

@Milton_Academy @miltonacademy

Tze-cheng Chun married

Geoffrey Patton Lewis on May 24, 2015, in Hudson, New York.

Evan McNamara , his wife, Melissa,

and son, Cameron, welcomed Terrance Connor McNamara to their family on December 30, 2015. The McNamaras live in the Hingham area. Evan works at Everbridge, a fast-growing critical communication company. ▲ Laura Will married Dave Nicholson, and many Milton

friends and family helped them celebrate: Jack Robinson ’18,

Daniel Corkum ’05

was named one of Forbes

2004

Grant Robinson ’20, Dr. John Robinson ’49 and his high

Colin Baker is a journalist living

school sweetheart June Robinson ’49, Tony Will ’74 (father

his invention of a trainable

in Dakar, Senegal. He previously

of the bride), Mark Robinson ’82 , Kit Will ’03 , Tyler Lewis ’02 ,

robotic arm named KATIA.

lived in Bamako, where he

Jenna Larson ’05 , Paige Kretchmar ’05 , Colin Geoffroy ’05 ,

became interested in the ancient

Martha Pitt ’05 , Claire Lewis ’05 , Caitlin Taylor Reiche ’04 ,

Timbuktu manuscripts. His work

Jeff Hurst ’74 , Richard Robinson ’78 and Leslie Will ’74

appeared in the December edition

(mother of the bride).

magazine’s “30 Under 30” for

of The Economist. ▼ Mae Ryan was the video

journalist for a documentary series titled Beyond the Border, which won a 2015 Emmy Award in the category of New Approaches: Current News Coverage.

▲ Jeff Marr and Alexandra Rodman ’06 got engaged this

summer on Cape Cod. Their wedding is planned for September 17, 2016.

2005 Daniel Corkum was named one

2006

of Forbes magazine’s “30 Under

▶ Annie Jean-Baptiste, global

30” for his invention of a trainable

diversity business partner

robotic arm named KATIA. His

at Google, is engaged to Todd

company, San Francisco-based

Bullock, an international import/

Carbon Robotics, is one of ten

export specialist at Commodity

named to Qualcomm’s robotics

Forwarders, Inc. The two will

accelerator program.

wed in San Francisco in June 2017.

SPRING 2016

57

In Memoriam

c l a s s no t e s , c on t.

2009

Class of 1928

Class of 1948

Uchenna Ngwudo is co-founder

Ann Pierce Dorr

Olivia Hutchins Meek

her sister, Chioma Ngwudo. This

Class of 1933

Class of 1949

innovative brand celebrates the

Nancy Moller Howland

Robert G. Auchincloss

a vibrant collection of handmade

Class of 1937

Class of 1950

handbags and accessories. Visit

Katharine Weld Bacon

Kingsley K. Durant

www.ceeceesclosetnyc.com.

John W. Keller

Samuel Z. Stone

2013

Class of 1938

Class of 1954

Frank B. Brown

Henry B. Cortesi

Class of 1940

Class of 1957

Cody Cortes ’14 (Princeton) and

Nelson F. Hermance Jr.

Maria Teresa Reece Michie

Carson Spahr ’15 (Dartmouth)

Joan Anderson Smith

of Cee Cee’s Closet NYC with

beauty of African print through

Tucker Hamlin (Hamilton College), Tucker Hamlin ’13, Will McBrian ’13, Cody Cortes ’14 and Carson Spahr ’15

are currently ranked as the

Will McBrian (Colby College),

Class of 1959

are currently ranked as the top-

top-seeded individual

seeded individual players on their

Class of 1941

players on their college

college squash teams. As students,

Mary Franklin Bush Bunker

squash teams.

Class of 1962

they played together on the 2012–2013 Milton Squash Team.

Leon Mark Cangiano Jr.

Class of 1942

Katharine Draper Schutt

Josephine Ross Turner Class of 1971 Class of 1944

Martha Soule McDonald

Charles O. Ames Fiona Munro Stockwell

Class of 1994 Kenneth M. Lin

Class of 1946 Walter Appleton Lane Jr.

Errors included in the fall 2015 edition of this listing are corrected in the online version, available at MiltonMagazine.org.

To read the obituaries of deceased alumni, you can log in to Milton’s alumni web pages and visit the In Memoriam section.

ABOVE

Wolcott House reunion: Cliff Levin, Gerald McClanahan, Randall Dunn, David Wood and Peter Creighton — all Class of 1983 — get together every few years to catch up and share hilarious remembrances from their Milton years.

58

M I LT O N M A G A Z I N E

milton.edu

/MiltonAcademy1798

@Milton_Academy @miltonacademy

Jorge Castro Class of 1975 Member of the Board of Trustees, 1993–2005 Friends and family from across the country gathered in Los Angeles on September 22, 2015, to remember Jorge’s warmth, intellect and care for others. They celebrated, in personal testimony and through video, Jorge’s remarkable achievements as a trailblazer in the worlds of education, finance and politics.

Jorge’s legacy at Milton affects students’ lives every day. A Milton trustee for 12 years, Jorge chaired the board’s Investment Committee, as well as focusing interest on the quality of student life and advocating for the importance of financial aid, both philosophically and through his own philanthropy.

Excerpted below are the board’s words of sincere gratitude for Jorge’s generous participation in Milton’s history, as expressed to him on his retirement in May 2005. ensuing years, Jorge has sounded the call for

Hispanic youth, and to action on political

about him in the ’70s, “Jorge evokes a warm

Milton’s endowment. We will hear Jorge’s

campaigns that affect Americans of color. An

response from people. He has a positive

voice from California long after this meeting,

advocate for diversifying Milton in all ways,

approach and a cooperative nature.” We have

asking us whether our new projects include

and as a member of the Trustees Committee,

all felt Jorge’s charm, undaunted by red-eye

an endowment component. The endowment

Jorge encouraged us to recruit trustees

flights from Los Angeles into the inevitable

that Jorge has led does important work. One

from across the country. As a member of

wind and snow that greeted him here. Jorge

of the most important jobs, Jorge has always

the Enrollment Committee, he shared his

chaired the Investment Committee since 1994.

believed, is funding financial aid. “Many

conviction that the Los Angeles area was a

He was a strategic and disciplined thought

young people share innate aptitude,” Jorge

rich field for our East Coast, highly academic

leader during our recent restructuring of

stated at the launching of the last capital

boarding school. Jorge also often hosted

endowment asset allocation and selection

campaign, “but without the financial support

our California alumni at West Coast events,

of new managers. He almost single-handedly

and the particular education that Milton

keeping Milton’s banner front and center

“Because of his personal charm,” faculty wrote

drove Milton’s profitable push into and then

provides, they may not be able to learn to

on the Pacific Coast. Jorge has helped shape

out of high yield assets — literally earning

believe in themselves, nor would they acquire

Milton’s financial strength and educational

millions of dollars for the Academy. Jorge

the skills that allow them to compete on the

identity over the last 12 years. Jorge, we hope

was singularly focused on what was best

same level as others whose parents can afford

you feel gratified by the role you have played

for Milton. Jorge joined the board in 1993 at

this education.” Jorge’s generous financial

in Milton history. These have been years

the moment when the board was launching

support for Milton has always helped include

of significant change and progress at the

Milton’s first $50 million capital campaign.

students who would not otherwise be here.

Academy. Although you may make fewer

(As always, his timing is impeccable.)

In fact, outside of his work for Milton, Jorge

trips to campus in the near future, we hope

Throughout that campaign, and through the

has been deeply committed to education for

you keep Milton close in every way.

SPRING 2016

59

post script

BY MARY PROCTER ’59

As Frailty Approaches, a Disruptive Notion for Tender Care “Do we have another revolution in us?”

former Boston Globe

about what could be in place to make life easier and more

columnist Ellen

enjoyable for us and our family members when we reach frail

Goodman asked

old age. With our dynamic executive director and founder,

Radcliffe alumnae,

now the director of Age-Friendly D.C., we are embarking on

Class of 1963. At our

developing a neighborhood and city-wide vision. And we

50th Reunion we

are talking about our vision with our elected politicians, local

marveled at how far

real estate developers, and in local civic gatherings.

women had come

For example, having a place where those living with

since the days when

memory loss could go to a kind of daily club where they

career options for

would be able to learn about current events, create art,

Radcliffe graduates

sing, dance and exercise right in our neighborhood would

were limited to

be great. Their family members would get time off from

being secretaries in publishing houses, fact checkers in magazines, teachers

caregiving and training about how best to maintain quality of life for someone with memory loss.

and nurses. A few pioneers in our class actually became

What about if, right in our neighborhood, we had a

physicians and scientists, defending themselves to their

welcoming place to receive temporary or long-term skilled

male colleagues for most of their careers.

nursing care? Instead of driving across town to a hospital-

But Ellen Goodman was talking about the new

like building with double rooms off long corridors and dozens

worries creeping into our consciousness. Some classmates

of staff with hospital-like specialties, we would walk a few

were already nearly full-time caregivers for spouses

blocks in Capitol Hill to a small apartment building. On each

suffering from dementia of one kind or another. Some

floor, 10 to 12 private rooms would open into a central living-

had encountered the maze of health organizations and

dining-kitchen area. Around-the-clock staff of about eight for

professionals with little guidance on how to navigate it.

each apartment would care for the residents — engage them

Many of us had begun to realize that the U.S. system for

in conversation, help them dress and bathe, cook for and

supporting the end-of-life choices and chronic illnesses of

together with them, organize activities that would interest

aging people was a mess, far less effective than what was

them. We have our eye on just such an apartment building

available in other developed countries.

with skilled nursing apartments in Chelsea, Massachusetts

My experience with a couple of significant “disruptive” changes in the status quo — in university coeducation in the 1970s and K–12 education reform in the 21st century — makes me think we need disruptive positive change in how we age.

I am a board member for Capitol Hill Village, the first

(The Leonard Florence Center for Living).

What are our challenges? Getting people my age (70s and 80s) to face a likely future as a caregiver or care recipient is not easy, until “life comes up and smacks them in the head.”

Our potential allies are younger people in their 40s and

and largest of about 14 aging-in-place villages in Washington,

50s, newly aware of a broken system as they care for aging

D.C., and one of the largest villages in the U.S. Opened

parents and wonder why they don’t hear more constructive

in 2007, it was inspired by Beacon Hill Village in Boston.

talk in the media and by politicians.

About 400 individuals in about 300 households are members. Three hundred volunteers give members rides

We talked about this challenge at our Milton 55th reunion in 2014. Two of my Milton classmates, Ann Sheffield

to medical appointments, help them use their computers,

and Faith Morrow Williams, are active in their villages in

change light bulbs and tend their gardens. Over twenty

Washington, D.C. I’d love to hear from any of you who

“affinity groups” offer book clubs, opera clubs, chi gong,

M I LT O N M A G A Z I N E

capitolhillvillage.org

live in communities that have developed great solutions for our aging futures. (mprocter@olg.com)

caregiving support groups.

60

However, as members of the Capitol Hill Village, we have a more important role. We are educating each other

@CapHillVillage

boa r d of trustee s Robert Azeke ’87

John B. Fitzgibbons ’87

William Knowlton P ’23

Dune Thorne ’94

New York, New York

Treasurer

Boston, Massachusetts

Lincoln, Massachusetts

Bronxville, New York Bradley M. Bloom P ’06 ’08 Emeritus Wellesley, Massachusetts Charles Cheever ’86

Stephen Lebovitz P ’10 ’12 ’14 ’17

Erick Tseng ’97

Weston, Massachusetts

San Francisco, California

Emerita

Yunli Lou ’87

Kimberly Steimle Vaughan ’92

Chevy Chase, Maryland

Shanghai, China

Boston, Massachusetts

Margaret Jewett Greer ’47 P ’77 ’84 G ’09 ’13 ’14

Concord, Massachusetts Eleanor Tabi Haller-Jorden ’75

Stuart Mathews P ’13 ’17 ’17

Luis Viceira P ’16 ’19

Douglas Crocker II ’58

P ’09

Vice President and Secretary

Belmont, Massachusetts

Delray Beach, Florida

Wädenswil, Switzerland

Waban, Massachusetts

Bob Cunha ’83

Franklin W. Hobbs IV ’65 P ’98

Chris McKown P ’13

Emeritus

Milton, Massachusetts

Dorothy Altman Weber ’60 P ’04 Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

Ted Wendell ’58 P ’94 ’98 ’01

New York, New York Wendy Nicholson ’86

Mark Denneen ’84 Boston, Massachusetts

Harold W. Janeway ’54

Vice President

P ’79 ’81 ’87 G ’12 ’14

New York, New York

Elisabeth Donohue ’83

Emeritus

President

Webster, New Hampshire Claire Hughes Johnson ’90

Boston, Massachusetts

Milton, Massachusetts

Ronnell Wilson ’93 West Orange, New Jersey

Liping Qiu P ’17 Peter Kagan ’86

P ’87 ’90 ’93

Sylvia Westphal P ’18 ’21 ’25 ’27 ’27

Caterina Papoulias-Sakellaris

Menlo Park, California

Chicago, Illinois James M. Fitzgibbons ’52

Milton, Massachusetts

P ’17 ’19

New York, New York Randall Dunn ’83

Boston, Massachusetts

Beijing, China

New York, New York

Kevin Yip ’83 P ’16 Hong Kong

H. Marshall Schwarz ’54 P ’84

Emeritus

Emeritus

Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

Lakeville, Connecticut

Milton Magazine

Non-Profit Organization

Milton Academy

U.S. Postage

Communication Office

PAID

Milton, MA 02186

Boston, MA Permit No. 58423

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