Since I was in kindergarten, Spanish Teacher Devon Angelini ’94, P ’27, ’30, then known to me as the mother of one of my classmates, has been a pillar of the Milton family. As a mother to two lifers, a daughter of a past faculty member, and an alumna her self, she has contributed countless hours of time, energy, and effort to the community, building an unbreakable bond with the school that stretches back decades.
Angelini’s mother worked as a guidance counselor for Milton, and Angelini was a student here herself. She explained that her love for Milton is, in part, due to the school’s expertise in “connecting values with the community that we live in” by helping us to “[care] for a community and then [look] out to see what we can do to make the world a better place.”
Angelini began her career at Milton in 2017, when she became a substitute teacher in the Middle School. Last year, she covered for Middle School Spanish Teacher Lucía Castiñeira for a longer period of time. This year, she began her role as a substitute teacher for Spanish 3 and 4, working alongside former Spanish Teacher Marisela Funes and Spanish Teacher Emily Cook.
As a child, Angelini loved Spanish, her favorite subject. When she was growing up, she traveled around the world, visiting places like Uruguay and Bolivia to see her aunt and uncle in the American foreign service. Still, she never studied the language until seventh grade. She expressed her appreciation towards her teachers, who introduced her to “what life was like outside of Milton, Massachusetts.” Her Spanish-speaking journey led her to participate in a Spanish exchange at school and then to live in Costa Rica, traveling the world for years.
Angelini deemed her favorite part of teaching as “that each class becomes its own living, breathing community” rich with different people: “there’s comedians, there’s actors, there’s scientists, there’s athletes, and all of those people come together to communicate in the language.” She also appreciates the variety in course material, from literature to culture to language. All in all, teaching, for her, “is just a fun kind of adventure. You never know what’s going to happen from one Monday to the next.”
If she taught another subject, Angelini, an avid gardener, would be happy to teach environmental science and adores “teaching all about where our food comes from,” along with “life cycles and caring for the Earth.”
Thankfully, though, this June’s final graduation speech is not goodbye to Angelini; she will simply take on a new role as a lower school teacher of environmental science. As she leaves the upper school, Angelini remarked, “I’m so grateful to the whole community for embracing me, and it’s been a really fun year.”
We’ll miss you very much and wish you well in your new chapter in the lower school, Ms. Angelini. ¡Por larga vida y buenos tiempos!