Handshakes, As Connection and Respect: Dr. Sam Schaffer Launches RL’s 380th Year
“I am so happy that you are here… and that I am here. What a great place to be as we exit the summer and merge into the school year,” began RL’s new Head of School, Dr. Sam Schaffer on Monday, August 26, during the traditional Opening of Fall Term Hall, commencing Roxbury Latin’s 380th year. “We are poised on the edge of a great school year. I love this beginning, this moment, this newness. This is the best day of the year.”
Gathered together in Rousmaniere Hall, along with new and returning faculty and staff, were 309 boys, 61 of them new to the RL community—all ready to kick off the year together.
Prior to Dr. Schaffer’s opening and introductory remarks, Class I president Cole Oberg read the “Poem of Walt Whitman, An American” from Leaves of Grass, and the entire school joined together in song and prayer. “What a beautiful and thunderous sound,” Dr. Schaffer remarked, as he took his place at the lectern and the boys took their seats. He went on to recognize the boys in Class I and VI as they stood to applause from the school. Dr. Schaffer went on to recognize the sixteen members of the faculty who have taught for fifteen years or more at RL, with a particular highlight of English and Classics faculty member Mo Randall, who is entering his forty-ninth year at the school. Dr. Schaffer also offered gratitude for the work of various individuals over the summer, including the Buildings and Grounds team who, among other projects, installed a new school-wide cooling system.
In Dr. Schaffer’s opening address, he spoke of the history of the handshake, a nod to the school-wide tradition that would be taking place immediately following the conclusion of the Hall. He reminisced on a lesson from his high school football coach who taught him that a good handshake is everything. He ruminated on the various famous handshakes throughout history, different types of handshakes and their meanings, and the earliest known instances of handshakes: “Handshakes play an important part in American history. And they play an important role in our school’s history too… It is essentially important. Because it is a connection—with our past, but also with each other.”
Just before the conclusion of Hall, with the school community “passing the peace” to those around them, Dr. Schaffer stated: “This is a talk, then, about making a connection. About being a part of a community. About physical and figurative handshakes. About our traditions and what they symbolize. About how we grasp each other’s hands, how we are a community, how we take on everything with that equality in mind. That’s what a democracy is. That’s what a band of brothers is. That’s what Roxbury Latin is.”
Students, faculty, and staff then gathered around the Senior Grass, relishing in the cooling air of late-August, to welcome new members to the community and wish one another a wonderful school year.