And We're Off!
315 students and nearly 150 faculty and staff are on campus for the start of classes this week in Millbrook's 87th year. All signs point to the best year yet.
In traditional Millbrook fashion, the first few days have included warm welcomes and many meaningful activities meant to bring dorm mates, classmates, and schoolmates together.
Returning student leaders arrived just after Labor Day to prepare with faculty and train in the dorms and at the zoo. All of our returning students were ready to greet the newest members of the Millbrook family on Thursday, and that afternoon the entire student body roamed the campus during what has become an annual Orientation scavenger hunt. An all-school gathering in the theater for Fall Welcome brought our first day to a close. By Friday morning classes and community service were underway, and stellar weekend weather made many outdoor activities – including a IIIrd form walk through the marshes – enjoyable. Study hall capped off our first weekend of the school year!
Students are signed up for several new courses, and our community service program continues to expand. Among the new classes is a new semester-long Astronomy course in which students will use telescopes, spectroscopes, and other technology to study celestial objects, and a history elective, Immigration and Migration, focused on citizenship, government responses to immigration, asylum policies, and more. In 20th Century Art & Aesthetics, students will discuss art movements through the lens of literature, music, architecture, and philosophy, while students in Digital Music will collaboratively create and record music using both live instruments, software, and vocals. New community services are filled to capacity, and students are taking on new responsibilities in our writing center, the Alumni/Development Office, and in the community through Literacy Connections.
By the numbers, Millbrook is stronger than ever. Nearly 70% of our teaching faculty have or are currently pursuing an advanced degree. We’ve completed almost $20,000,000 in new construction and renovation over the past 18 months, and our campus is more beautiful than ever. Our parent and alumni support in the Annual Fund is at an all time high, 93% and 41% respectively, and our endowment continues to grow, particularly through the generosity of the Koenigsberger family and their 4-1 matching challenge up to $20,000,000.
Now is a very good time to be a Millbrook student, and we look forward enthusiastically to sharing so much more good news this year!
