School Life
Academics

Alumni Summit

On April 12, 2024, we will hold our second annual Alumni Summit. While the 2023 summit brought alumni in careers and with passions related to sustainability, the 2024 summit will introduce students to alumni who are demonstrating curiosity in their careers and extracurricular interests. 

We will welcome 20+ alumni back to campus to speak with students and faculty in this conference-style summit. Alumni presenters will speak on topics of their choice during three presentation sessions and will participate in a panel discussion, giving students plenty of time to ask good questions.

Alumni Summit Schedule

Thursday, April 11
  • 6:30 pm - Dinner for participating alumni
 
Friday, April 12
  • 7:30 am – Breakfast available in Casertano Hall
  • 8:30-9:10 am – Introductions and kick-off
  • 9:15-10:00 am – Session 1, presentation and Q&A
  • 10:15-11:00 am – Session 2, presentation and Q&A
  • 11:00 am – Sustainable lunch with locally sourced food
  • 12:20-1:30 pm – Session 3, presentation and Q&A
  • 1:45–2:00 pm – Special speaker
  • 2:15-3:00 pm – The last word with alumni speakers
  • 3:00-4:00 pm - athletic practices
  • 4:00-5:00 pm - Alumni reception, Anthony House

Morning Kick-Off: Anna Rose '03

Perhaps you’ve heard Anna Rose’s soulful, powerful, captivating music. Her Nashville fans might describe her as an outlaw country singer/songwriter, while others might say her music leans towards alternative country industrial. Her roots are a bit of Led Zeppelin rock with influences by Muddy Waters, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and other jazz greats and additional inspiration from the likes of Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Warren Zevon, Sheryl Crow, and Fleetwood Mac. She would prefer not to be lumped into any genre but rather be known as a storyteller who writes great songs.

For more than twenty years, Anna Rose has toured the United States, headlined powerfully intimate shows, and opened for an array of illustrious global acts. Time on the road and in the studio for her four impassioned full-length studio albums has honed her song-crafting skills and fueled the storytelling fire that burns within this Nashville-based, New York, and LA-raised independent artist. She also writes music for other artists and for film, TV, and commercial use. 

At Millbrook, Anna was already honing her creative skills, with more of a focus on dance at the time than music. “I was asked, ‘Why?’ a lot, which was a big part of why Millbrook was so special. I very much developed my individual point of view here.” Having studied ballet and modern dance from a young age, Anna continued dancing as a creative outlet, and so performance art was her chosen form of self-expression at Millbrook. “For me, it was equal parts athleticism and artistry, and I think that’s where I really found a lot of joy in it.” While Anna expressed herself more publicly then through dance, she was at the same time, more privately, writing music and playing her songs in the practice rooms in the Holbrook Arts Center or for her closest friends. 

Anna will help us kick off the 2024 Alumni Summit by performing a few of her favorite songs for us. We are in for a HUGE treat!

Afternoon Speaker: Larry Atlas

After serving in the Army as a Drill Sergeant, Larry Atlas attended Bennington College, earning both bachelor's and master's degrees before declining admission to medical school and moving to New York to begin a successful career as an actor, playwright, and screenwriter. Among his produced plays are Total Abandon and the award-winning Yield of the Long Bond, which premiered at the Matrix Theatre in Los Angeles. He worked on twenty-two studio film projects including Sleepless in Seattle. He conceived and implemented the first nationwide online actors’ casting service, and then later co-invented and patented the first navigable nonlinear video architecture.

In midlife, on impulse, he went to nursing school, then worked for four years as an acute care nurse while earning a master’s degree as a nurse practitioner at SUNY Stony Brook. He worked for a decade as a hospitalist NP, spent several years in Millbrook's own Miller Brown Health Center, and now practices at a subacute rehab. He has taught at Hunter, Bennington, and Vassar colleges, and is a former captain of the skydiving team Spaced Rangers. Larry lives in upstate New York with actor-turned-therapist Ann Matthews and their dog Ruby.
Learn more about our 2024 speakers HERE.

Jed Diemond '87 Deputy Director, Office of South Asia, U.S. Department of Commerce
Jim Eagen '88  Head of School, Synapse School
Shane Tilston '92 Head of Production and Operations, Documentary, and Nonfiction, Story Syndicate
Antonia Giardina '95 Supervisory Environmental Protection Specialist, U.S. Army Corp of Engineers
Anna Rose '03  Songwriter, Artist, Musician, Producer
Leland Smith '03  Lawyer & Economic Policy Advisor
Eliza Glaister '04  Chef & Owner, Little Egg
Nick Pandolfi '04 General Manager, Jono Pandolfi Designs
Logan Sailer '05 Principal Thermal/Fluids Engineer, Blue Origin
Jessie Smith '05 Entrepreneur, self-employed
Jung Eun Kim '07  Clinical Psychologist, Pratt Institute & Private Practice
Emma (Thomas) Sabia '09 Owner, The Bottle Shop at Astor Square
James Matson '10  Assistant Curator, Fenimore Art Museum & The Farmers' Museum
Meredith Pratt '10  Talent Manager & Founder, Krewe Co.
Chloe Gbai '12 Creative Executive, Netflix
Royce Paris '12 Multi-media Storyteller, Entrepreneur
Tondi Mushandu '14 Product Manager, IQVIA
Sylvia Tan '15  PhD Candidate in Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University
Olivia Galli '16 Photographer & Content Creator
Noah Medalsy '16  Medical Student, Nassau University Medical Center
Si Wei '17 
Jon Conahan '18  Writer, Sports Illustrated
Lars Heidenreich '20 Undergradudate Student & Entrepreneur, Elon University