It begins with a moment.
A life-changing idea, an eye-popping realization, an unforgettable conversation— Millbrook is a school that creates those moments every day. This book shares those moments and describes this original American boarding school with a global perspective.
THE QUESTION He’s brilliant and unpredictable. Sometimes he stops
talking and points right at you from across the room. The first time he did it, you almost turned to see if there was someone behind you. But he meant you. He expects you to see something no one else sees in this book, and suddenly you are part of a discussion that is intellectual and memorable.
THE PITCH All the practice, the training, the drills—all of it comes together,
and you are playing better than you ever have. There are moments when your team disappears, and it feels like you’re alone on the field, just like practicing in your backyard when you were ten. But almost immediately, you sense your team around you. You feel the perfect pitch before it happens. You could do it with your eyes closed. 5
THE OUTDOORS It’s the perfect morning to join your classmates and teachers in a discussion about the endangered frog species that live on campus. Tomorrow the pace will quicken, as you make connections between what you learned right here and what you’ll discover while touring the frog exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
THE PROJECT Art is essential at
Millbrook, and it happens in the company of friends. Creative expression is an intense, transformative collaboration. Your vision and ideas are always your own, but the teachers and students around you become part of the process, part of what you make and how you see the world.
THE OPPORTUNITY You never thought
you’d have such an incredible opportunity, but you jumped at the chance to help with these endangered animals. You tracked and charted the mother wolf ’s hormone levels, her diet, her weight. Now you can feel the pup’s heart beating in your fingertips, quick and light. When the vet needs information about her habits, she asks you because, as it turns out, you’re the expert.
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THE HOME BASE There will be other roommates—in college,
in grad school, perhaps later in life. But these are the first late nights, the first cold pizzas and inside jokes. Later you’ll have other friends who will know you and care about you just as much, but you’ll never forget your first roommates. These friendships will last a lifetime.
THE NEW BEGINNING Graduation day came way too
quickly. Now that it’s here, you want to capture it all. You know you’re well prepared. It’s time to celebrate with your friends, your teachers, and your family together. It’s now. You’re ready.
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The School We’re classic and contemporary. We teach Latin, we call our grades “forms,” our campus looks like a traditional New England village. We also teach Mandarin, we’re seriously committed to service and environmental stewardship, and we’re home to cutting-edge facilities. In our community we take care of each other—and in this way, we start to take care of the world. Founded: 1931
5 to 1 student-to-faculty ratio
800 -acre campus
13 students in the average class
90 miles from New York City
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290
honors and AP offerings
27 art offerings
students
8 dormitories, each with 23 to 44 students, plus 4 dorm faculty and 3–4 dorm leaders 35 teams in 11 interscholastic
sports
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original research question at the heart of the CES—Culminating Experience for Seniors
84% boarding
1
16% day
From 19 states and
17 countries
60 faculty members
7 days in Intersession, a focused exploration of interests outside the classroom 100% of students participate in on-campus service program
clubs and service groups
180 exotic and indigenous animals at on-campus Trevor Zoo
Motto: “Non Sibi Sed Cunctis” Helpful translation: “Not for oneself but for all”
Academics
Millbrook’s academic program begins with the core college-preparatory disciplines and builds upon them to develop students’ skills in critical and creative analysis, real-world modeling and problem-solving, and effective communication. We emphasize writing and public speaking across the curriculum. Our students have access to state-of-the-art facilities, extraordinary natural resources, and myriad opportunities to learn through service. Millbrook’s dedicated and spirited faculty challenge our students to embrace the questions and issues before them, locally and globally. 17
OPPORTUNITIES We offer honors, advanced, and AP courses and the opportunity to design and conduct a rigorous independent study. Students choose from four languages from beginning to post-AP levels and from myriad electives in the art, science, and history departments. Unique courses include Animal Behavior, which studies species both in the wild and in captivity at the Trevor Zoo; Art History, in which students work directly with artists and major art foundations to curate an exhibit of particular artists or art movements; and legendary senior history electives including anthropology, comparative economics, and constitutional law. We also encourage qualified students to take advantage of select semester-away programs and yearlong study-abroad opportunities.
FA C U LT Y They’re teachers, advisors, coaches, and dorm parents, but above all else, they’re role models who happen to be warm, genuine, and fully engaged in the world around them. Millbrook’s faculty are devoted to helping all students discover their true best selves in lasting ways. Faculty form deep, lifelong connections with their students through earnest mentorship in and out of the classroom.
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PROGRAM
FAC I L I T I E S
Our academic program is relevant, creative, and intentional. We ask students to think independently, and to listen carefully to their classmates, to test their own limits and question their assumptions. The academic day moves quickly and covers a lot of ground. Our faculty have high expectations, and in small classes, everyone participates, questions, wonders, and imagines—every single day.
Our setting—on a campus that is both expansive and intimate, traditional yet contemporary—inspires immense life-changing ideas. Every classroom—whether it’s in the Math & Science Center, the Harris-Kenan Language Center, the Holbrook Arts Center, the Trevor Zoo Education Building, the Schoolhouse, or the Academic Center—is designed to foster participation, conversation, and collaboration. Millbrook students never sit in a back row.
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Athletics We field New England championship teams, preparing athletes for high-level play on competitive college teams, every year. Experienced athletes come to Millbrook because they know our coaches will take them to the next level. Other students try a sport for the first time, taking risks while developing new skills and confidence. THE PROGRAM Across all levels, the program emphasizes teamwork, creative problem solving, and resilience. The athletic fields are simply an extension of the classroom. We require students to participate in a team sport or alternative equivalent two out of three seasons, because we believe in the lessons learned on the field.
FAC I L I T I E S The heart of our athletic program is the Mills Athletic Center. It features the Wray Gymnasium, the Reese Squash Center with eight international squash courts, a training room and fitness center, and the Bontecou Hockey Rink. Other facilities include eight natural grass fields, a turf field, eight tennis courts, a 3.1-mile cross-country trail, and miles of hiking and riding trails.
TEAM SPORTS & E Q U I VA L E N T S FALL Boys CrossCountry Boys Soccer Girls CrossCountry
Girls Field Hockey Girls Soccer Dance Fall Play Riding
WINTER Boys Basketball Boys Ice Hockey Boys Squash Girls Basketball Girls Ice Hockey
Girls Squash Musical Riding Zoo Squad
SPRING Boys Baseball Boys Lacrosse Boys Tennis Coed Golf Girls Lacrosse
Girls Softball Girls Tennis Dance Riding Zoo Squad
Service Service is at the core of who we are. Our motto— “Not for oneself but for all”—isn’t just a phrase printed on a crest; we live it every day. We see service as a critical way to understand yourself and the wider world, a way to affirm that you are needed in your community and known for your contributions.
OPPORTUNITIES Through our on-campus community service program, students do meaningful work. They care for red pandas in the Trevor Zoo, manage the community garden, improve the school’s website, develop lighting designs for shows in our Chelsea Morrison Theater, organize weekend activities. Some of the most active student clubs are dedicated to service. One example: Outreach provides food, clothing, and assistance to people in shelters and agencies locally and in New York City. Students also participate in global service programs in Guatemala, India, and Africa during Intersession and summer vacation. 22
Arts The arts are a full partner in our academic program. Creative thinking, an expansive imagination, a capacity for disciplined, bold expression—these are skills of timeless value, which are essential tools for building the future. THE PROGRAM We have the most robust arts program in the country for a school our size. 27 different art offerings, impossible to exhaust the possibilities. More than 80 percent of students take classes in the arts each semester—from acting to art history, choreography to digital photography, playwriting to instrumental ensemble. Our faculty are working artists, and we host visiting artists from across the country. Outside the classroom students perform in theater productions, recitals, and arts nights.
THE HOLBROOK ARTS CENTER Bright, open, and inviting, the Holbrook Arts Center is home to the Warner Art Gallery (permanent and traveling exhibits), the 325-seat Chelsea Morrison Theater, the Murray Photography Suite (darkroom complex, digital and video technology), the Murray Dance Studio, studios for ceramics and drawing and painting, a music ensemble room, individual practice rooms, and a recording studio. Our most advanced students receive their own studio space. We house all facilities under one roof to encourage creative collaboration and offer access to all resources. The arts center is open to all students after classes, in the evenings, and on weekends. Students go to Holbrook during their free time to play guitar with friends, to experiment on the potter’s wheel, and to work independently on paintings, photographs, and prints.
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Student Life In warm weather the main quad is the place to be, and in the winter everyone gathers in the Barn. Whatever the season, life outside the classroom is lived together, laughing, throwing the Frisbee, making up dance routines for Winter Weekend, and sharing late-night snacks after study hall. In this tight community we expect—even need—our students to invest, to take risks, to try something new, and, most of all, to have fun together. THE BARN The Barn is, in fact, a barn—beautifully renovated, fully updated, and LEED Gold certified. It’s home to our student center, our snack bar, our school store, and our College Counseling Office. We eat here, we meet here, we play games here.
NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS Evening study hall happens from 8 to 10; and then, often, there is popcorn, or perhaps brownies. One night a week there’s a chapel talk—given by a member of the community or a visiting speaker—on a timely issue, followed by a formal sit-down dinner. On special Friday nights we gather for our Forum Series, featuring panels, performances, or lectures that tie our core values in to real-world experiences. On weekends our Activities Committee puts together trips and adventures and gatherings: a Halloween party, glow dances, video game nights, all school manhunt games, and spring festivals. In the dark of winter, the inter-dorm competitions of Winter Weekend bring the campus alive with school spirit, as dorms battle in a pep rally, broomball, a lip sync contest, trivia games, and more.
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SELECTED STUDENT C LU B S Breast Cancer Awareness Club Economics Club Engineering Club Environmental Council Gender Equality Club Mock Trial Debate Club Model UN Outreach/Midnight Runs School Spirit Club Silo (newspaper) Spiritual Life Committee Student Council Student Food Group Students Concerned About Planet Earth Tamarack (yearbook) Uncensored/Diversity Council
After Millbrook Graduates leave Millbrook confident and empowered, prepared to succeed at the nation’s top colleges and universities and in the years beyond. The college counseling process focuses on helping students be self-aware and purposeful as they reflect on their own strengths and interests and explore college options. THE PROCESS
THE LIST
In the IV form (sophomore year) students discuss character, core values, time management, and goal setting in our Human Development curriculum. In the V form (junior year) college counseling classes meet to discuss the college process, including research, visits, and testing. Each student is assigned an individual college counselor who works with the student and his/her family through the senior year. In the VI form (senior year) the process continues as students work on essays, applications, and decisions. A thoughtful process leads to excellent choices.
You can go to our website and scan the list of colleges our graduates have attended in the past five years. You’ll see University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Barnard, Bates, Bowdoin. You’ll see California College of the Arts and the Rhode Island School of Design, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Rochester Institute of Technology. You’ll see Pitzer, Pomona, Pepperdine; Williams, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Boston College. You’ll see Vassar, Villanova, University of Chicago. Our graduates go to a college they know is best for them.
A P P LY I N G For complete, updated information about requirements, deadlines, tuition, and financial aid, start here: www.millbrook.org/apply We’d love to meet you. Detailed directions and travel tips: www.millbrook.org/directions
admissions@millbrook.org www.millbrook.org T. (845) 677.8261 F. (845) 677.8598