Meet Lu Adani

By OSCAR BURNES ‘21

With the start of the school year came a rush of new faces in the faculty, including the newest member of the Milton Academy visual arts department: Lu Adami, or as we know them, Ms. Lu. After graduating from Brown with a bachelor's degree in visual arts and spending the summer working at the Taft School teaching classes in video production and studio art, Ms. Lu joins Milton as a part of the Penn Resident Masters in Teaching Program. 

Interestingly, when Ms. Lu entered the art industry, they were set against becoming an art teacher. This mindset stayed with them until their sophomore year of college, when they realized a reason they like art is because everyone can do it, even those with no experience. After that, Ms. Lu asked themself, “Why wouldn’t I want to be an art teacher?” From there, their first teaching job “just kind of happened.”

When Ms. Lu found out about the Penn program, they began researching schools involved. They knew that they wanted to be near Boston or their hometown of Chicago, but after their first interview here, they thought Milton was a place that has “so much going on, but is still a community,” and they found this balance impressive. After that interview, Ms. Lu knew they wanted to work here.

Ms. Lu’s experience at Milton so far has been amazing. While their classes, dorm affiliation with Hallowell, and participation in clubs have already made their Milton experience good, Ms. Lu “really likes it here,” and, although they never went to a boarding school, the dynamic certainly sparked their interest.

Ms. Lu is teaching eighth grade and Class IV visual arts, and even though the classes are required courses, they feel the kids are engaged with the material and eager to create. Although it depends on the students, they say, “all [their] classes have been great.”

Looking ahead at the coming year in the Penn program, Ms. Lu will be incredibly busy being a full time teacher at Milton while keeping up with their school work. Beyond these responsibilities, Ms. Lu is driven to learn more about Milton’s unconventional grading system in the middle school and throughout the arts program to see how it affects their classes. Whatever Ms. Lu ends up committing to at Milton, they are sure to accomplish lots.

On top of their commitments as an art teacher, Ms. Lu is an artist outside of school. They love painting and sewing, among other artistic endeavors. Ms. Lu also views themself as a very active person; they played water polo in college, they love hiking and the outdoors, and they work out as often as possible.  Additionally, Ms. Lu adopted a cat last week, and the move has made some Hallowell residents very happy. 

We should remember that there are new faces around Milton that are not just new students, but also interesting teachers that have joined the faculty. While new teachers can seem scary, I assure you Ms. Lu is a great addition. Not to overuse the cliché, but if you see Ms. Lu around, just say hi.

Image Courtesy of Milton Academy

Image Courtesy of Milton Academy

Mark Pang