News

Dr. Sarah Jaquette Ray visited Middlesex on December 10 to speak about the common, emotional response of climate anxiety and how to take constructive action while prioritizing personal wellbeing.

Set in gossipy, late 18th-century England, playwright Kate Hamill’s contemporary adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility entertained Middlesex audiences on two nights in November with its humor, emotional depth, and bold theatricality.

In celebration of the 250^th anniversary of the start of the American Revolution, Concord is planting 250 trees to honor Concord’s revolutionary past as well as its aspirations for a more sustainable, resilient future. 

To support this worthwhile initiative, and with the hope that a lead gift will encourage others to contribute, Middlesex School has donated $50,000 towards the 250 Trees Project’s goal of raising $400,000.

Middlebury Professor of Political Science Matt Dickinson returned to campus on November 2, 2024, at the invitation of Middlesex’s Election Task Force, which has arranged several informative presentations for the school community since last spring.

When Schuyler Bailar first spoke at Middlesex nearly six years ago, he was then a junior on the men’s swimming team at Harvard University and in the spotlight as the first transgender athlete to compete in any sport on an NCAA Division I men’s team. Returning to campus on October 22, 2024 – between Coming Out Day on the 11th and before Trans Awareness Week in November – he addressed the school community as an educator, advocate, and published author of He, She, They: How We Talk About Gender and Why It Matters.

With confetti cannons at the ready, Middlesex trustees, students, faculty, and staff gathered on September 27, 2024, to join in an official groundbreaking ceremony for the School’s new Athletic Field House. Situated next to the current athletic complex, the new building – which will include a spacious fitness center, indoor turf field, basketball and volleyball courts, and elevated track – will give Middlesex an outstanding facility that matches the strength of its dynamic program.

In a West Virginia cave, three teenagers make a startling discovery: a feral “bat boy” – half-boy, half-bat – with a thirst for blood. Can he be educated and tamed enough to adapt to life in a small, rural town?

To open this year’s celebration of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month on May 3, 2024, the School warmly welcomed back award-winning architect and former Trustee Li Chung “Sandi” Pei ’68, who began his presentation by sharing some of his own fond memories of his student days at Middlesex.

With Holocaust Remembrance Day approaching in May, the school community heard the firsthand account of Janet Singer Applefield, a child survivor of the Holocaust, who spoke at Middlesex on April 19, 2024. Through recounting her personal story to as many audiences as possible, Ms. Applefield hopes to “provide an understanding of the dangers of hatred and discrimination,” she said, adding, “I hope we will stand up against it.”

As Science Department Head Steven Mylon noted, Middlesex enjoyed a great week of science, given that the community was able to watch a near-total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8, and then learn about the exploration of Mars on Friday, April 12, from planetary geologist Tina Seeger ’12. Invited to give this year’s Bendheim Lecture – a speaker series established by a Middlesex parent in 2015 to bring inspiring experts in STEM fields to campus – Tina was delighted to “come back to a place that was so formative for me, leading me to where I am,” as she said. “Middlesex let me have lots of interests and pursue them all – and learn it’s OK to find fulfillment in different places.”

One of the highlights of observing Black History Month this year was the February 23rd visit of Dr. Jarvis Givens, a professor of education and African and African American Studies at Harvard University. A dynamic lecturer who specializes in the history of African American education, Dr. Givens was the third Kenneth E. Whitlock, Jr. Black History Month Speaker, a series that was established in 2021 and named in honor of Middlesex’s first Black faculty member.

The second semester kicked off on January 31 with Middlesex’s annual Wellness Week, seven days that were filled with a variety of opportunities for students to learn how to optimize their own health as well as support the well-being of others. To that end, the week began with a Mass General Brigham Blood Drive on campus that netted 39 pints – potentially helping 117 people in need since each pint can be allocated to three different recipients.

On consecutive Thursdays in January, Middlesex was treated to two extraordinary recitals, first by lyric soprano Sarah Cooper ’09 on January 18 and then by violinist Thomas Cooper ’13 on January 25. Each performed first during weekly chapel and then in the Danoff Recital Hall, giving the school community a rare and remarkable opportunity to enjoy their artistry right here on campus.

When former UN Ambassador Samantha Power last spoke at Middlesex in March 2020, she had recently published her bestselling memoir, The Education of an Idealist, and described for the school community both her career path and her approach to formidable global problems. Now the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), she returned to campus on January 12, visiting history classes, sharing her journey to this post, and detailing some of the challenges involved in delivering civilian foreign aid and development assistance in more than 80 countries. “I’m hoping to plant a seed to inspire you to make a difference in the world,” she said at the start of her talk.

Whether or not they had already read portions of the Iliad at Middlesex, students benefited from a scholarly explanation of the work – its origin, evolution, and significance – thanks to Professor Joel Christensen, whose visit on January 5 was made possible by the Mudge Family Fund for the enrichment of the classics. A professor of classical and early Mediterranean studies at Brandeis University, Professor Christensen noted that while the ancient Greek epic poem is attributed to Homer, its true source remains “a bit of a mystery.” Most likely, he said, the Iliad developed throu