Beyond the Bubble: Why Milton Sends Students to SYA

By Emlyn Joseph ’27 & Isabella Vander Elst ’28

At Milton, when students feel as though they have exhausted the various opportunities on campus—a quite impressive feat—they can expand their horizon to off-campus programs. Indeed, beginning in their freshman year, students are introduced to three main programs that they can participate in as sophomores or juniors: the Maine Coast Semester at Chewonki, the Mountain School, and School Year Abroad (SYA). After exposure to these programs in class meetings, foreign language classes, or even conversations with older students and faculty, students can choose to put their name in for these opportunities through a selective application process. While many students attend the Mountain School and the Maine Coast Semester, the advertisement about SYA as an unparalleled, transformative opportunity serves as a significant incentive for students who wish to immerse themselves in different environments, for either one semester or the entirety of their Class II or III year, in France, Italy, or Spain. Although other opportunities, such as the Spanish, French, and Japanese Exchanges, are offered at Milton, the SYA has been around for long enough in a consistent enough form that the satellite prep schools in Nice, Zaragoza, and Viterbo have developed a culture of their very own, something of interest to Milton students and faculty alike.

School Year Abroad began in 1964, founded by Spanish teacher Clark A. Vaughan from Wilbraham Academy. Other schools, including Phillips Academy Andover, Germantown Friends School, and Phillips Exeter Academy, backed the program and became co-sponsors in the 1960s. What was initially a group of eleven boys traveling to the Instituto de Estudios Norteamericanos in Barcelona, Spain, has significantly expanded over the past sixty years: to date, 9,000 alumni have participated in this program. Although SYA France, SYA Italy, and SYA Spain closed their campuses in January 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and offered virtual events during the 2020-21 academic year, they all swiftly resumed regular operations in fall 2021. SYA China, however, which was hosted by Beijing Normal University, suspended its operations indefinitely.

At the administrative level, Milton Academy’s extensive advertisement and devotion to the SYA program serve as an institutional strategy designed to address the oft-discussed “Milton Bubble.” While Head of School Dr. Callen notes that this program resonates with Milton’s mission of “developing competence, confidence, and character,” a deeper acknowledgement resides among faculty and even students: the high-pressure environment of Milton can sometimes encourage the pursuit of “artificial” extracurricular activities. As SYA Spain alum Martha Raine ’26 points out, many campus activities can feel populated by people for whom, at certain times, the point of participating is “just to put it on their college application.” Amelia Simoneau ’26, who also attended SYA Spain, explains that “the toxic environment of college pressure that exists at Milton doesn’t really exist at SYA” and that “it was definitely way less stressful and a very refreshing break from the high-strung standard that is the Milton college obsession.” Milton views SYA as a solution to this concern. By championing SYA, the school provides a necessary opportunity for students to have, as SYA Coordinator Mr. Hamel remarks, “the world [as] your classroom.” Hamel continues, “students who choose to apply to SYA have a spirit of adventure, are ready for a new scene, and either have or develop a passion for travel and for seeing the world.” This shift from the traditional, often stressful Milton environment can offer numerous advantages to students. However, the school’s investment in SYA also acknowledges more than just SYA’s rewarding nature: it recognizes the challenges of SYA as well. Milton cares about the program precisely because it is not easy. It forces a “dizzying array of experiences,” according to SYA Spain alum Alexander Landis-Arnold ’26, that require what Simoneau describes as “strength and persistence” to navigate host-family struggles and the “hardest days.” Raine provided a lonely Thanksgiving as an example, elaborating that “practically no one had the same experience I did with my host family…I think I just got unlucky with who[m] I had.” Nonetheless, this very challenge allowed her to grow much more and learn more about herself. Indeed, “If I could do it again, I would!” Raine reflects.

In a sense, a student attending SYA replaces their Milton identity with the reality of sometimes being an outsider. The school accepts that the transformative nature of SYA is not just that the program “is a blast,” according to the French Department’s Madame Severine Carpenter; just as important is deriving growth from being “totally immersed in learning a language and the culture,” she says. Indeed, SYA Italy alum Hunter Caggiano ’27 reflects that “you need to get comfortable being uncomfortable” and observed that SYA teaches an independence that helps students “redefine what excellence looks like” beyond grades and clubs. By promoting SYA, the administration offers not only a trip but also an opportunity for students to invest in learning about ways to become more resilient and see themselves from a range of outside perspectives.

Students who participated in SYA also mentioned unforgettable experiences and memories from their adventures living in a foreign country. Students often remarked that their day-to-day schedule changed significantly when they began SYA. At the start of the day, most students had between twenty- and forty-five-minute commutes to school, where they would often pick up breakfast at a cafe along the way. Afterwards, students would have forty-five-minute classes that ran during standard school hours, finishing around 3:30pm. During the school day, similar to Milton’s schedule, SYA students had free periods, advisory blocks, and class meetings during the school day. Students were also allowed the option to eat at school or go off campus for lunch. In addition, students reflected on the variety of out-of-classroom activities and assignments offered by the various SYA campuses. During the 2024-25 SYA Spain program, for example, Wednesday was the designated field trip day where students participated in activities such as planting olive trees, visiting a miming center, or exploring cultural museums. Similarly, Caggiano reflected on enjoying 2024-25 SYA Italy’s Wednesday “fieldwork day,” which alternately featured hikes, trips to Rome, and other adventures. For after-school activities, many Milton students joined club sports teams to make up for their missed athletics at Milton. Following a long day of culture immersion and academic enrichment, students were required to be back with their host families for curfew around 8:00pm. Once at home, students would eat dinner with their host families and sometimes play games or watch TV. One student on SYA Spain had a tradition of watching a Spanish reality TV series with their host family every night.

On the other hand, among the student body, the perception exists that Milton students go to SYA to get away from academic rigor or perform other activities. Our interviews have highlighted the contrary: SYA’s impact on students after their immersion granted them with new perspectives and understandings of the world to carry with them throughout their lives. While most alumni highlighted easier academics and less academic stress at SYA, students have the freedom to grow in other areas, whether that means mastering a foreign language or learning about European culture, food, or music. SYA provides an opportunity to learn in an environment that completely differs from Milton, and as Landis-Arnold notes, “when everyone is doing well in their classes, it falls on you to redefine what excellence in that situation looks like and chase it.”

Despite Milton’s strong foreign language program, many students and teachers agree that living in a foreign country creates the best possible opportunity for a student to reach fluency and comfort while speaking a foreign language. Madame Carpenter states, “Students have acquired mechanisms of the language that they can only acquire while being immersed… they have better pronunciation, better accent, better flow.” In addition, since most SYA course offerings are taught in the host country’s language, students continually learn new vocabulary and cultural references. Raine confirms that her “proficiency in the language basically went from 5% to 90%.” Students also noted that courses in a different language created more engaging and interesting classes and school projects.

Simoneau explains that for her, “it was more about mastering the language than what grades I was receiving.” Aside from language acquisition, students also gained new perspectives on the world globally. Caggiano states, “SYA taught me how unique the world is. At Milton, we live in a bubble full of familiar people with familiar goals and beliefs.” Participating in SYA has led students to meet people with varying opinions of the world, offering new perspectives to Milton students. Caggiano continues to share, “Learning about different perspectives and people is a great way to expand your own ideas, and studying abroad might be one of the best ways to do that. Similarly, Raine explains that “you gain a new understanding of the United States by seeing it from an outside perspective…you see it on the news, how they talk about America and how we are like the joke of the world.” Especially during a time of global political instability, students learned about political and economic issues by living in European countries. Ultimately, Milton students found that living in a new community and country brought more than just language development but also a chance to gain a shift in perspective.

Students who participate in SYA have also noted a slight disconnect with their connections back at Milton. Caggiano reflects that for students interested in participating in the coming years, they should be aware that “leaving for a year will affect your ability to obtain leadership positions, since it’s hard to regain the connections lost a year away from clubs and sports.” That said, students are still challenged “to fulfill Milton’s mission by encouraging exploration of a very different definition of learning than what is usually presented or utilized,” according to Landis-Arnold. He adds, “I definitely missed Milton, but there was such a dizzying array of experiences at SYA that I didn’t really feel that I was missing out on anything.” For Cassia Kopfer ’27, who has attended Milton since Kindergarten, SYA helped her deepen her understanding of herself: “I’m a lifer, and so it was kind of good for me to get some time away from campus and really figure out who I was outside of Milton.”

Dr. Callen believes students should continue to embrace the fact that SYA is a “resource that isn’t available to everyone in the world.” Milton prides itself on providing diverse opportunities for students to engage beyond the classroom; sometimes these engagements must extend beyond the campus itself. Indeed, some of the most profound education can occur only beyond the Milton bubble. As these students return from semester- or year-long SYA programs, they remind the Milton community that success does not always have to come in the form of a leadership position or award: it can be the courage to persist in discomfort and immerse yourself in an unfamiliar place.