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.
Having our phones so readily available throughout NSO took many new students away from this community-building goal and made them less outgoing, engaged, and open. For example, at meals during NSO, most students would resort to their phones any time there was a lull in the table’s conversation rather than leaning into the discomfort of trying to keep the conversation going. In fact, countless studies have shown that, when kids have their phones, it disconnects them from the people they are with. As psychologist Jonathan Haidt (author of the bestselling book The Anxious Generation) wrote, “Gen Z became the first generation in history with a portal in their pockets that called them away from the people nearby and into an alternative universe that was exciting [and] addictive.” Having phones at NSO made it difficult to meet new people and see who they really were. A space such as The Mountain School could be used to enhance real community-building during orientation.
The Mountain School is a unique semester away program in Vershire, Vermont that is owned and operated by Milton Academy. It is a 418-acre working farm where students live and learn, surrounded by the beautiful landscape of northern New England. Founded in 1984, The Mountain School emphasizes learning and living away from technology, offering significant outdoor opportunities, alongside normal high school courses. Each year, 90 students from across the country spend a semester there, half in the fall and half in the spring, away from screens and immersed in nature and learning. One of the key aspects of the experience is that students “disconnect to reconnect.” In fact, The Mountain School’s program seems very focused on building community, with students eating together at family-style meals and taking responsibility for chores.
Despite these strengths, The Mountain School is—from most Milton students’ perspectives—nothing more than a place where just a few of us disappear each semester to farm and hike. However, Milton’s ownership of The Mountain School could be used to benefit our entire student body, and I think we could start with NSO.
Another ISL school already does something similar to what I am suggesting. Every 9th grader at Buckingham Browne & Nichols School (BB&N) is required to participate in an extended camping trip at BB&N’s Camp Merienfeld in New Hampshire, as part of a program that BB&N calls Bivouac. On Bivouac, students learn to be outdoors, push themselves to new limits, and try new things together. As BB&N’s website explains, Bivouac “aims to instill a sense of confidence in students by exposing them to unexpected and challenging situations” and “cultivates an awareness of interdependence among all community members, fostering a sense of unity and mutual support.” Indeed, Bivouac focuses on integrating new students into the already-existing community that was built in BB&N’s middle and elementary schools. Alex Berk ‘29 at BB&N, who recently completed Bivouac, told me that one of the main things that brought the kids together wasn’t just the fact that the kids were out in the wilderness; what fostered such a close-knit community was the fact that the kids didn’t have their phones. “Bivouac allows kids to connect over hobbies and interests,” he said. “Everyone actually talked to each other instead of ‘talking’ from behind their phones.”
Milton could still do one day of orientation on campus so that students can meet their advisors and learn their way around. Nonetheless, spending several nights at a place like The Mountain School would bring students together in many necessary ways that NSO does not. Being outside would force students to move out of their comfort zones and work together to experience new and amazing things—things that couldn’t be replicated at NSO at present. Milton should utilize The Mountain School to make NSO, as well as our community at large, the best it can be.