Parents’ Weekend is October 21 and 22
We invite you to experience this excitement for yourself. Please join us for Parents’ Weekend on October 21 and 22.
We hope that you will spend as much time as possible with us that weekend: visiting classes (always a highlight), cheering on teams, conferring with teachers, and meeting fellow parents. The parents’ newsletter includes a full schedule of the weekend’s events, just a few of which I would like to note specially.
Let me first mention several generous offerings of the Parents’ Association. On Thursday evening, the Parents’ Association will host dinners for the parents of Class III and IV students. On Friday afternoon, after classes are over and after Todd Bland shares his thoughts about the upcoming year, the Parents’ Association will host a reception for all parents in the Robert Saltonstall Gymnasium. Informal gatherings in each of the houses of boarding students will follow, and the Parents’ Association will also sponsor a chowder and chili event on Saturday afternoon.
On Saturday, all Class IV students will attend a required presentation by Corinne Brisbois, a prevention specialist from Freedom from Chemical Dependency (FCD). An organization that provides alcohol and drug education to schools and colleges around the world, FCD empowers young people to make healthy, responsible choices. The session will occur in King Theatre from 9 to 10 a.m., and we strongly urge the parents of Class IV students to attend the presentation with their children.
Milton’s college counselors have also set aside time on Saturday morning for a series of sessions, each designed for a particular group of parents. From 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. the counselors will host a meeting for the parents of Class I students in Straus; this open forum allows parents to ask questions about the college process. Later in the morning, the counselors will also hold an important information session for parents of Class II and an informal information session for the parents of Class III students. (Please see the full schedule for details.) The counselors are particularly eager to use this weekend to meet the parents of Class I students who have traveled long distances to be here; they have cleared their schedules on Friday for those meetings. To make an individual appointment with a college counselor, please contact Sandi Dunnington in the college office at 617-898-2310.
Friday affords you the opportunity to see students in action in the classroom. Some teachers may ask you to observe intently but silently, while others may encourage you to engage directly in class activities. In either case, we ask that you squelch the impulse to record the moment for posterity, as some students grow nervous when they see eager parents armed with cameras. In addition to visiting classes, you may wish to meet with your child’s advisor or teachers, all of whom will be available until 5:30 p.m. on Friday and from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. Please make a special effort to meet with your child’s advisor, as that conversation will no doubt prove mutually beneficial. In the weeks before Parents’ Weekend, your son or daughter may make appointments for you to see teachers. If your child does not execute your request to arrange appointments, teachers will have sign-up sheets in their classrooms on Friday. On Saturday, you may go to the registration desk in Wigglesworth Hall to arrange a conference with a teacher.
I trust that our paths will cross at some point over the weekend, if not in the classroom then perhaps out on the fields, cheering on Milton’s teams. We welcome you at all of these events, and we look forward to seeing you this weekend.
Sincerely,
David Ball
Upper School Principal