??Read the story on the ?Almanac? website.

Menlo School in Atherton is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year with a number of activities, including a speakers series and the posting of historical information and photos on its website.

The speaker series began Jan. 15 with a talk to a school-wide assembly by Pulitzer Prize winning historian David Kennedy, a professor of history at Stanford and the author of “Birth Control in America: The Career of Margaret Sanger.”

His topic was: “How the West Was Won and What it Has to Lose.” He concluded with a challenge to the students: “Your forebearers have written the story up until now and it doesn’t look like it will have a happy ending unless the next generation really takes this one on and puts their shoulder to the wheel.”

The assembly included a centennial show with 30 students taking the audience on a journey through Menlo School’s past and the significant world events that have occurred during the school’s history. Students told the story through narration, dance and visuals in a production written and directed by Jeffrey Adair of Menlo Park’s J Floral Art.

The speaker series will continue through 2015. Future speakers will include NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, astrophysicist and distinguished professor Alex Filippenko, and former North Face president Hap Klopp.

Through the year, Menlo School will offer glimpses of its past on its website (menloschool.org) with historical photos and a timeline of its history. A new historical photo will be featured each day.

“Not many schools on the West Coast have reached the centennial milestone,” said Menlo’s Head of School Than Healy. “We see it as an opportunity to take stock of ourselves as an institution, to reconcile and record the impact that we’ve had in our community and in our world, and help us to all reflect upon the value of our school.”