Look to the Sky

Lasell Visiting Alumna Monique Miles ’95 offers words of wisdom.

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“As you navigate the world, always be clear about your personal values and ensure that they are the moral compass that guides you in life,” said Monique Miles ’95 in the lecture she delivered to the Pomfret community as the 2023 Lasell Visiting Alumna. “Because they will help you to always understand two critically important and fundamental things: what is right and what is wrong." 

Miles provided these words of wisdom along with other lessons she learned while on the Hilltop and after she graduated. She shared how her commitment to building a world of belonging was born out of her time at Pomfret. Her advice to students included: remain curious, use your voice to shape your culture, trust your intuition and journey, and keep dreaming for the future.” 

The final words of guidance Miles shared was "look to the sky". Before starting her freshman year, she looked to the sky and wondered what it would look like at Pomfret and what her future would hold both on and beyond the Hilltop. “I recall feeling that deep hunger to see the world from a different vantage point,” shared Miles. Now, as she moves from one place to another — with her family or doing work in different countries, including Kenya, South Africa, India, and Italy — the thing that she looks forward to the most is the opportunity to see the sky from a different perspective. “Seeing the sky from a different vantage point allows me to dream differently and to be bold,” she shares.

Miles is dedicated to education reform and helping to create a world of belonging for youth and young adults. She is a vice president at The Aspen Institute, a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society. Miles also serves as the vice chair of the Pomfret Board of Trustees, where she shares her wisdom and expertise to help Pomfret remain one of the best small schools in the nation.   

In addition to delivering a lecture to the Pomfret School community as the Lasell Visiting Alumna, Miles also met with students in Advanced American Studies: Criminal Justice and History of Race and Gender in Sports classes and attended a welcome dinner with select faculty, students, and administrators. She was deeply moved by her interactions with students and referenced them and the things they dream of accomplishing in her speech. “Your wisdom, passion, and commitment to advancing greater equity and inclusion is powerful and inspiring. It's clear to me that our collective future is not only bright and filled with hope but guided by an abiding love for humanity and wellbeing.”

The Lasell Visiting Alumni program brings alumni home to Pomfret to share their time, talent, knowledge, and real-world experiences with students and faculty. Visiting lecturers traditionally deliver presentations, host small group discussions, and engage with students informally. Funding for the Lasell Visiting Alumni Program is made possible through the generosity of the late Chester Lasell ’54. Previous Lasell Visiting Fellows include Emmy Award-winning Producer Caroline Waterlow ’91, Naadam Cashmere Founder and CEO Matthew Scanlon ’07, and former Senior Bank Examiner at the Federal Reserve Bank Frank Paine ’64.