Milton Magazine - Milton Academy

On the Milton culture,Bridget and Sarah say:Then and now, the Milton experience isessentially built on relationships.• Faculty care enormously about individuals.They reach out to make Milton workfor each student.• They are very interested in what schoollife is like for students, not just insidetheir classrooms. Students then look tofaculty as one of the main connectionsbetween them and the School.• Faculty are eager to work outside of classto help anyone experiencing difficulty orconfusion.Then and now, at Milton the culture feedson an expectation of energy, passion andinvolvement. The students we enroll, thefaculty we hire—they don’t sit and watchthe grass grow.We focus on defining community here.That means students’ experience oftenruns counter to the self-centeredness oftoday’s culture.• Living in one house for all your Miltonyears, with a surrogate “family” that youknow very well, helps you learn aboutaffection, respect and responsibility.• You experience your house as homebase. You can’t walk away from yourmistakes—you learn from them—andyour support net surrounds you.• We communicate in many ways what itmeans to be a leader, helping the olderstudents (who usually do a very goodjob) understand how to lead the youngerby example.• We work hard at making sure the environmentis continually positive in buildingattributes and skills.Discipline practices at Milton are deliberateand thoughtful. They reinforce ideasabout how a person lives in a community,and they show how much we value eachteaching moment.• We see discipline as a responsibility thatis difficult for all parents, and is coretraining for adulthood.• Because discipline at Milton is a process,it allows teenagers to be reflective,to consider what led them to make anincorrect choice, to review other optionsthey might have had, and to consider theimpact of a mistake—on themselves andon others.• Because it’s a process, it has a beginning,a middle and an end. Teenagerslearn that a mistake is a mistake: they“pay their dues” and resume a role in thecommunity, wiser and better preparedfor their future.Positive risk-taking has always been a keyelement of a Milton education.• Opportunities to try activities are almostendless.• You know you’ll have support if youtry something for the first time; bothstudents and faculty urge people to trythings that are new to them.6 Milton Magazine