A pair of mother-and-son poets, reading from their newly published—and even newer, unpublished—work and representing the same school is, perhaps, a unique event. On Monday, 2 April, Roxbury Latin’s writer-in-residence and member of the English faculty, Dr. Kate Stearns, and her son, Nate Klug, R.L. Class of 2004, read aloud to an overflowing crowd at Newtonville Books, an independent bookstore in Newton, Massachusetts.

Introducing one another, Kate and Nate contextualized and read poems calling up images of home and highway, farm and passenger train, grandparents and babies in-the-womb, headless chickens and “Pokemon Go people,” and, ultimately, love—both just-budding and time-tested.

Kate’s newly published book of poetry, Then & Again, was the winning manuscript in the Slate Roof Press chapbook contest. Her previous book, The Transparency of Skin (New Rivers Press), was a Minnesota Voices Project Winner. Her new poems have been featured in Poetry Daily, Salamander, New Ohio Review, North American Review, and Yale Review. Her work has been anthologized in The House on Via Gambito: A Collection of Writing by American Women Abroad (New Rivers Press), and she has been a recipient of a Dana Award and a Loft-McKnight Award in Poetry. At Roxbury Latin, she teaches senior English and manages the school’s visiting writers program.

Nate Klug grew up in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and graduated from R.L. in 2004. He earned his bachelor’s degree in English at the University of Chicago and his master’s from Yale Divinity School. He is the author of Rude Woods (The Song Cave, 2013), a book-length adaptation of Virgil’s Eclogues, and Anyone (University of Chicago, 2015). In 2010 he was awarded a Ruth Lilly Fellowship by the Poetry Foundation. A UCC-Congregationalist minister, he has served churches in Connecticut, Iowa, and now California, where he lives in Berkeley with his wife, Kit Novotny.

To learn more about these poets and their work, you can read this recent interview with Kate, from Mass Poetry, and an interview with Nate, from a 2016 feature in The Kenyon Review.

Central to Roxbury Latin’s mission and tradition is tending to the spiritual growth of boys. Since the spiritual life can take many forms—a communion with nature, a foundation in organized religion, a commitment to service, a journey toward strong moral character—we annually bring speakers to campus who represent a range of faiths and religions. On 2 April, Father Geoffrey Piper spoke to the students and faculty about Lent, Holy Week, and Easter—the most important period of the Christian liturgical calendar. Father Piper is rector of St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church in Marion, Massachusetts, where he has served for ten years.

“For our purposes today, we are not talking about sun-up, or marshmallow chicks, or chocolate eggs,” began Father Piper. “We’re talking about the Christian belief in the resurrection of Jesus… For Christians who anticipate our own resurrection to eternal life, we, too, hope for a transition from this life, through death, to the life to come… Where do we get this hope? How do we take what we trust occurred with one ancient rabbi on the outskirts of Jerusalem around 33 A.D. and assert that this will be our destiny as well?”

Through spiritual scripture and prayer, through personal experiences, anecdotes and humor, Father Piper walked his audience through the Christian belief of Jesus being both Holy and human; sacrificing for the sins of humanity; and freeing us, through our faith, “to be of God’s own spirit, raised to a new quality of life, even as we’re bound to these earthly bodies.”

“The apostle Paul gives a nice description of that goodness when he writes, ‘The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control,” Father Piper said.         

Father Piper graduated from Amherst College through which—by way of a Glee Club tour through Central and South America—he landed in the U.S. Virgin Islands where he was drawn to a lively, committed faith in Christ, through “the loving, winsome, joyful witness of the Moravian minister’s family.”        

He began his pastoral ministry as Lay Reader-in-Charge of four congregations in Quebec. In Canada, he studied theology at Bishop’s University and was ordained in 1988. With his wife, Leslie, and their growing family, Father Piper served a total of eleven congregations in three parishes over five years. Since then, he has served a range of congregations—from Easthampton, Massachusetts, to Detroit, Michigan—called and devoted to the mission, scripture and service of the Episcopal Church.

Spring break provides a welcome pause for faculty and students alike between the long winter term and the “home stretch.” It also offers a window for international travel for about one hundred RL boys, whose faculty leaders have developed itineraries that augment and enhance their students’ recent studies.

Class IV boys, with nearly three years of Classics studies under their belts, spent nine days in Italy, taking in not only Rome’s ancient architectural sites but also the Renaissance treasures of Florence, led by Classics and Art History faculty. (Photos and blog)

Ten Class I English students traveled to Paris to experience WWI-era in a trip labeled “Americans in Paris,” in which the boys trace Hemingway’s footsteps, visit the graves of famous American writers and artists in Père-la-Chaise Cemetery, among other explorations. The trip includes a visit to the grave of a member of the RL Class of 1905 at Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Chateau-Thierry. (Photos)

Old Quebec, whose history and culture is especially relevant to the early history of the US, was the destination for fifteen Class V French students. The trip provided an opportunity to practice French, and included a walking-guided tour of the city, the visit of the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec, a tour of the Ice Hotel, dog sledding, snowshoeing, and snow tubing. (Photos)

Finally, the Glee Club toured domestically this year, traveling to Washington, DC; historic Williamsburg; and Charlottesville. They performed in DC churches and at area universities and schools. Highlights included attending an alumni event, taking in a performance of The Wiz at Ford’s Theater, and meeting with Rep. Joe Kennedy’s chief of staff. (Photos)

Head wrestling coach Josh Wildes has been named 2018 Prep School Coach of the Year by the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. He will be honored as part of the annual Mass Mayhem awards—“The Massachusetts Braggin’ Rights Classic”—which takes place on Sunday, April 8.

Leading R.L.’s varsity team to a 19-2 season record and a second place finish in the Graves-Kelsey League Championship, Coach Wildes has earned well-deserved accolades and the respect of his players.

“Coach Wildes knows his wrestlers well, and he tailors his approach according to what they need to succeed,” says tri-captain Paul Kuechler I. “For instance, for some guys, he might scream and yell while they’re on the mat competing, because that’s what they need. And for others, he’ll just quietly say, ‘Do this move,’ and there will be silence for awhile, and the kid will do the move, and it works.”

“The best thing about Coach Wildes,” says tri-captain Ayinde Best I, “is that he doesn’t get mad at you if you’ve lost a match, as long as you’ve put in the work and given it your best. I remember last year at the Graves-Kelsey I was beating a kid 4-0, and I tried something different—I got too aggressive, and the kid came back and pinned me. I had just been eliminated. I felt horrible that I’d lost it for us, and Coach said, ‘Don’t worry—you were trying, and I like that.’”

The Mass Mayhem event on April 8 includes an awards presentation, an All-Star dual-meet, and a college fair. Festivities begin at 11 a.m. at Noble and Greenough School. High school wrestlers and their families are welcome to attend. For more information on the event, or to purchase tickets, visit the MA NWHOF website.

On 25 March, Chris Zhu III took first place in the Senior Pianist Division of the 2018 University of Rhode Island Piano Extravaganza Competition. As a premier piano competition, URI Piano Extravaganza attracts some of the best young pianists from the northeastern region. Chris was awarded the top cash prize among all divisions and earned high praises from the competition’s adjudicator, Rasa Vitkauskaite, an internationally acclaimed pianist who plays for the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. Vitkauskaite noted, “As a very musical and accomplished performer, Chris has a wonderful range of dynamics. He played Liszt’s Concert Etude in beautiful singing tone and exhibited a great sense of character and style in Beethoven’s Appassionata Sonata.”

As a violinist, Chris also recently won the top prize from the Roman Totenberg Young Strings Competition. An avid musician in R.L.’s chamber program and frequent participant in R.L. recital halls, Chris has performed at Carnegie Hall and Steinway Hall in New York, and at Symphony Hall in Boston. In addition to performing at these well-known venues, Chris has shared his musical talent with local senior communities such as Newbridge at Charles in Dedham and Deutsches Altenheim in West Roxbury.

Over the first weekend in March, R.L. thespians of the younger classes (with a welcome trio of Winsor actresses) staged Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee’s The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, this year’s Junior Play, in the Smith Theater. The play tells the story of Thoreau’s night spent in jail for refusing to pay the poll tax, levied to support the Mexican-American War and, indirectly, slavery.

For Henry David Thoreau, says Director Danny Bolton, “there were no random acts. His thoughts were deliberate and his deeds aligned completely with a steadfast commitment to finding truth,” which led him to adopt some new—and sometimes unpopular—ideas. There was no disconnect between his thoughts and actions, but the course of his actions had consequences. In the play, Henry confronts a myriad of issues—including slavery, the role of government, women’s rights, the power of nature and what he called the “liberality of learning”—and is arrested for daring to challenge them. Over his time in jail, he retraces the steps that have led to his profound philosophy and the solid foundation of thought he has pursued.

Mr. Bolton (who has directed for us several times before, including An Evening of Scenes two years ago and Hard Times five years ago), sees in the play a timelessness that continues to inspire us “to ask questions, convert thought into action, and live for the ‘unplanned, unexpected interruptions’ that greet each day.”Photos from the production.

This winter, several RL boys earned recognition for their visual art and writing creations. In the 2018 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, four boys earned a combined 20 awards in categories ranging from painting and portfolio, to humor writing and critical essay.

Erik Zou (II) won 12 awards for 15 art entries—earning three Gold Keys for his paintings In the Blue and Dreaming, as well as for his entry in the drawing and illustration category titled East Meets West. Erik also earned four Silver Keys and five Honorable Mentions. Dylan Zhou (I) won a Gold Key for his Portfolio work. (RL’s last winner in this category was internationally-renown painter Winston Chmielinski, Class of 2006.) Dylan also earned two Silver Keys and two Honorable Mentions. Andrew Zhang (III) won an Honorable Mention in painting; and Adam Berk (II) won a Gold Key for a piece of humor writing titled “Advisor Letter.” Adam also earned an Honorable Mention for his critical essay submission.

The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, presented by the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, is the oldest and one of the most prestigious competitions for high school artists. Since 1923, the Scholatistic Awards have recognized the vision, ingenuity and talent of young people and have provided the opportunity for creative teens to be recongnized and celebrated. The Award’s alumni include Andy Warhol, Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, Bernard Malamud, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Redford, Alan Arkin, Lena Dunham, John Lithgow, Zac Posen and Ken Burns. All Gold Key winners will move on to the national level of competition in the spring.

Erik’s work was also chosen as one of 66 from among 800 artworks submitted for the Emerging Young Artists 2018 Juried Exhibition, sponsored by Umass Dartmouth. Dean David Klamen, of the school’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, selected works to be displayed in the Campus Gallery, for the highly-competitive exhibition, for which nearly 500 students submitted their work from 35 high school art programs in New England. Erik’s work was also recently on exhibit as part of a solo show held at the West Roxbury branch of the Boston Public Library this winter.

Sixteen boys in Classes VI through I tested their Classical mettle on 1 March in the David Taggart Clark Competition in Greek and Latin Declamation in Rousmaniere Hall. One of the school’s own “high holy days,” Exelauno Day is a uniquely Roxbury Latin event that allows for the singular annual pleasure of hearing from boys of every age and level of exposure to Latin and Greek.

This year’s winners were Robert O’Grady IV (Lower School Latin), Coleman Smith II (Upper School Latin), and Thomas Bulger I (Greek).

Classics Department Chair Jameson Morris-Kliment served as master of ceremonies, and the judges, to whom R.L. extends its heartfelt gratitude, were Anthony Breen, Assistant Director of Middle School and Latin Teacher at Buckingham Browne & Nichols School; Mark W. Harrington, Latin Teacher at Noble and Greenough School; and Timothy Joseph, Associate Professor of Classics at the College of the Holy Cross.

The event was streamed live, and the recording can be viewed here. A gallery of photos is available here.

With every new crop of sixies, Roxbury Latin is primed with potential: budding writers, actors, mathematicians, athletes, and artists. In 1975, one such sixie, Mike Kanan, expressed a passion for music from the start and was known throughout his R.L. years as an outstanding soloist. Brilliant though he was at that time, his teenage years were a pale foreshadowing of the career success he would enjoy.

On Friday, 23 February, Mr. Kanan, who now lives in Brooklyn, returned to school with jazz vocalist Jane Monheit as this year’s Berman Artists in Residence. Since graduating with the R.L. Class of 1981, Mr. Kanan studied with internationally-renowned jazz pianist Harvey Diamond, accompanied legendary vocalist Jimmy Diamond, and today studies classical music with pianist Sophia Rosoff. He has been the pianist and arranger for Ms. Monheit’s band since 2001, touring all over the world and performing on several of her albums and cds.

Ms. Monheit, whose recordings have earned her two Grammy nominations, has collaborated with such artists as Michael Buble and John Pizzarelli. She has been featured on the nationally-televised Christmas at the White House and other high-profile U.S. Capitol events. Ms. Monheit’s newest album, The Songbook Sessions: Ella Fitzgerald, is a tribute to Ms. Fitzgerald’s songbook album.

We are especially fortunate when the greater school community can also enjoy the bounty that our Berman Artists bring to Roxbury Latin boys. As have a number of our recent Berman Artists, Ms. Monheit and Mr. Kanan shared their talent with R.L. parents as the featured entertainment for the February Flurry on the evening of 24 February. Photos from this year’s annual winter social (masterfully inspired, designed, and conducted by the Parents’ Auxiliary) can be viewed here.