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Milne
Alumni September Newsletter Dear
Milne Alumni and Supporters,
In this issue: * Class of 1974 50th-Year Reunion * From Zita HAFFNER Thompson, '63 * Sad News CLASS OF 1974 50th-YEAR REUNION From Ellen SAX: The Class of 1974 is celebrating its 50th-year reunion on September 28th. For more information, please contact Ellen Sax. In addition, the Class of 1974 would like to invite all Milne classes to join us at Chats on Friday September 27th. Chats is located at the Wolf Road Marriott in Albany. We are meeting at 7:30 will have a cash bar. We hope members from other classes will join us! FROM ZITA HAFNER THOMPSON, '63 "People who have had the biggest influence on my life are many — family, friends, and teachers. I have written quite a bit about my family, highlighting lessons learned and family events. I would like to spend time writing about the teachers and schools I attended. "Grades 8-12 were spent at The Milne School, the lab school for SUNY Albany. At that time, back in the 1950s and into the '60s, SUNY was known as Albany State, and the University had an on-campus school for grades 7-12. I can honestly say that those were the most influencial years of my formal education. "Students at Milne were expected and assumed to adjust quickly to four student teachers in core subjects each year. Our student teachers were generally college seniors working towards graduation and first-time placements. We even had a few teachers working on their master's degrees, and they stayed with us for a semester rather than a quarter. You could say that we were at Milne to help these college students discover if they were really suited for teaching, but, in addition, we served as test cases for new textbooks and new teaching strategies. The University made sure our classes were accredited and that Milne fulfilled our academic requirements. Being on a university campus gave us many benefits, like having access to its library, enjoying a varied lunch program since we shared the cafeteria (in reality it was just a bigger choice than the average high school of those days), and having college professors who supervised our student teachers and also taught us at different times of the year. A few University staff members were also our day-to-day teachers; i.e., music, humanities, art, physical education, home ec, and industrial arts. "The one teacher who influenced me the most was Miss Murray, the girls' physical education teacher and coach. Miss Murray was a no-nonsense teacher when it came to rules in the gym, out on the field, and in the small gym where we had lessons in exercise and trampoline. She also had a plan that allowed many of us to serve as team captains, which we changed about every six weeks or so. If you were a captain, you kept track of daily attendance, who was dressed in required wear and shoes, and how each team member performed each day according to the P.E. unit. We had to write a report on each student with specifics and then turn that in to Miss Murray for evaluation. Our team captains' grades were based on our team observations and records. That process became a type of plan for how I processed and evaluated classroom team projects. My students were then evaluators and learned that having standards was important to maintaining fair and responsible grades. Having different students lead out on group projects helped to share the load. "Miss Murray was also the faculty advisor for GAA (Girls Athletic Association), and each year she had a different student group leading out. We had monthly after-school meetings, and she would go through the after-school athletic events and occasional weekend events when Milne would participate with other area schools. At the end of the year, Miss Murray hosted a major dinner for all the girls and their mothers, providing entertainment and awards. It was always a special night. At that time girls didn’t have sports teams, but she would evaluate girls and their skills in various sports and take some as a traveling team to compete with other nearby schools in sports such as field hockey, volleyball, and softball. We didn’t all get to go, but there was always the draw of wearing the travel teams uniforms. "Finally, Miss Murray made sure that we all understood each sport we played — the history of that sport, the rules, the scoring of points, and some play strategies. She wanted us to be knowledgeable about sports and their impact on our future lives — some of us would be players, some fans, some coaches, some scorers. But to know the ins and outs of a sport was important to her, and for that I learned valuable lessons that I still use today. "My years at Milne provided me with an in-depth look towards my own student teaching experience — grade 6. Having been certified in Illinois with a K-8 teaching certificate, I also served as a supervising teacher for other student teachers in 'open classroom' settings both in the U.S. and in Hong Kong and was appointed as a grade-level chair and a curriculum coordinator in Hong Kong and in Miami. Through much of my teaching career, I can say that my years at The Milne School influenced me and my desire to learn and the courage to try new ideas and teaching methods." SAD NEWS Please note that I rely upon a search for "Milne" at legacy.com and input from other alumni for this information, so if you become aware of someone who has passed away, please let me know. If a name is underlined, it represents a link to the obituary. Many obituaries are available free for a limited time only. I have been notified of the 1984 passing of Stuart Lotwin, '50, and the June 2024 passing of Peter Decher, '74. According to her husband's obituary, Rose Ann THOMPSON Carcia, '68, passed away in 2021. The only further information is available here. Edward V. Joy, Jr., '69, passed away on August 14, 2024. ________________ Thanks to all of you for your interest in Milne Alumni activities. Judy (Koblintz) Madnick, '61 For contact information, see the Milne Alumni homepage: www.albany.edu/~milne/ |