The Milton Measure

Vol. CXXXII · July 10, 2026

Asher Berk '29

Opinion Writer

Opinion

Everyone Needs To Try Community Engagement

Every Sunday in early May, joy emanates around the track. Rather than a Mustang team clinching a pivotal win, the elation radiated from over 500 athletes competing at a Special Olympics event and the people who helped make the event happen. Volunteering at the Special Olympics turned out to be one of the most rewarding afternoons of my entire freshman year. Ever since, I couldn’t help but wonder how different my freshman year would have been if I had volunteered sooner. Should Milton have made me volunteer?

By Asher Berk '293 min read

Opinion

Milton Is Haunted By Ghost Clubs

Milton’s club landscape is overcrowded, with 106 options of clubs to sign up for on ClubHub, around 700 students in the Upper School, and only three Club Blocks. Such a landscape makes meaningful student engagement difficult. At the center of this issue is the prevalence of “ghost clubs”—organizations that never meet but remain officially registered, with club heads and club members having been registered as well. Furthermore, genuinely active clubs are forced to compete against affinity groups during the same scheduling blocks for attendance. This conflict puts many students in a difficult position of choosing between exploring a new interest or connecting with a part of their identity.

By Asher Berk '294 min read

Opinion

Why Does It Take 24,000 Words To Say Who We Are?

If you’re reading this, you’ve definitely read page 59 of Milton Academy’s Student Handbook. And pages 78 and 31 too? Every student here has nodded—or at least not actively shaken their head “no”—when asked if they’ve read it. Even freshmen have already heard their teachers refer to the Handbook dozens of times by now. But honestly, that 128-page list of rules and regulations feels more like the terms and conditions you accept when downloading an app—in fact, only 9 out of 29 people polled in the library had read a page, and only 6 had read the whole Handbook. No matter how often it gets referred to, the Handbook falls far short of what we need: articulating a shared, positive vision of the Milton community’s values, which define the key principles that knit us together from the moment we step on campus as opposed to goals, which outline the school’s predetermined plan for us.

By Asher Berk '294 min read

Opinion

Dare to “Go to School,” All Day, Together

Milton’s boarders can and should become more integrated with day students by staying at school throughout the day, without an option to return to their room. This policy would create a more lively and full campus, but I do recognize it would bring a huge change.

By Asher Berk '293 min read

Opinion

The Mountain School's Phone-Free Environment Would Improve Orientation

We all know well that Dr. Callen’s favorite word is “community.” However, we miss a big opportunity to build community from the very start of our time at Milton: New Student Orientation (NSO). As an incoming Class IV day student, I participated in NSO and very much enjoyed spending a night in Norris House over Labor Day weekend. Freshmen had countless icebreakers and took part in various other bonding activities, but NSO still lacked a certain community-building aspect for the class as a whole. The issue behind that lack was the fact that most students had their phones on them at all times. To revive our phone-obsessed community, Milton should have NSO take place at The Mountain School or a similar, phone-free environment.

By Asher Berk '294 min read