This spring marked the sixth year of RL’s now-staple RL@Work program, which connects students at the end of their Class II year with professionals in a broad range of pursuits—each an example of excellence in their particular field. Led by Assistant Headmaster for Program Andy Chappell, the program provides boys with an off-campus experience of discovery and growth—through visits to places of work, encounters with professionals, facilitated group discussions, individual reflection, and engagement in hands-on design challenges and case studies. Consistent with the school’s mission, the program helps boys imagine how they might “lead and serve” in the years ahead. RL@Work offers boys exposure to various professions and types of leadership, challenging real-world problems, and solutions in-the-making, preparing them for citizenship, service, work, and the world. The program each year gives students a chance to pause and reflect; to imagine what the future might hold for them; to get a glimpse of some of the opportunities that exist in the world beyond RL; and to learn how their liberal arts education at RL intersects with that work.

Nearly 30 generous alumni, parents, former RL parents, and friends of the school—scientists, lawyers, doctors, engineers, judges, developers, investors, professors, business owners—shared their time and passions with 53 Class II boys during the final days of the school year. Students trekked throughout and around Boston, Cambridge, and Worcester over four days, some getting their first taste of the MBTA commuting experience.

The first of the program’s four days began with an orientation for the boys, in order to set clear the expectations and opportunities as they met, engaged with, and learned from the various individuals and organizations they would encounter over the following days. Afterward the group headed into Boston’s Longwood medical area to Harvard’s MEDscience Simulation Lab, where students sewed sutures and assessed vitals on high-tech practice “dummies” designed to blink, bleed, pulse, and cry as appropriate. There students also practiced assessing the symptoms of a test patient, working to diagnose the cause of the individual’s digestive complaints.  

Day two of the program began with a focus on a variety of professions and industries, ranging from investing to construction, cutting-edge research to the legal profession. Students learned from alumni and parents leading and affiliated with Bain Capital, Consigli Construction, Harvard’s Visualization Lab, the law practice of WilmerHale, and members of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

In the afternoon, the group headed into Cambridge to MIT, where they experienced a range of activities and learning experiences coordinated by John Werner P’21’26. They met with impressive researchers, designers, academics, scientists, and artists at work on inspiring and life-altering research and creations in MIT’s world-class laboratories. Students agreed that a highlight of the afternoon was hearing from Vladimir Bulovic, Director of MIT’s Nano Lab. The morning of day three offered a window into the world of real estate, entrepreneurship, private equity, and robotics design, through visits to areas and offices in and around Boston. That afternoon students returned to campus, where they heard from seniors presenting on their various Independent Senior Project endeavors, and then finally undertook a mini-course in college essay writing from RL’s College Guidance office.

The culminating day found the boys first at MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-Pal), led in part by Global Executive Director Iqbal Dhaliwal P’21. J-Pal works throughout the world to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. J-Pal’s leadership and staff do this through research, policy outreach, and training. Students met with individuals at work on various initiatives around the world, focused on areas of healthcare and governance, food security and education.

On the afternoon of their final day, students and faculty chaperones headed to Worcester—first for an engaging tour of College of the Holy Cross, and then to meet with and hear from Dan Rea ’05, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Worcester Red Sox, and Mike McElaney ’98, Vice President of Commercial Real Estate for The Menkiti Group, founded by alumnus Bo Menkiti ’95. Students learned a bit about the history of and recent development in the City of Worcester, and they received a special tour of Polar Park, home of the Worcester Red Sox. Afterward, the boys stayed with members of the faculty to watch the Worcester Red Sox take on the Syracuse Mets under sunny skies.

Over four successful days, our generous partners and hosts reinforced to the boys—by virtue of their own professional experiences—themes familiar in any successful pursuit, regardless of the profession or discipline: the importance of teamwork and communication; willingness to fail and learn from that failure; creating networks and developing relationships; being open to the unknown, and to exploring new ideas; working hard and being persistent; and understanding that the path to meaningful success isn’t always traditional or straightforward. 

We are grateful to the nearly 30 men and women who generously shared their time, talents and spaces to provide our boys an insider’s view on so many possibilities and paths toward meaningful pursuits:

Julie Joyal and Britt Lee P’22, ’23, Harvard Medical School, MEDscience Simulation Lab

J.P Chilazi ’06, Brendan Hanrahan ’09 and Robert Shaw ’14, Bain Capital

Matt Consigli P’24, President, Consigli Construction

Rus Gant, Director of Harvard Visualization Lab

Frank Kanin ’06, Masai-Maliek King, P’28, Ramon Pascual ’07, Rob Settana ’01, Ed Zabin P’23, Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office

Tim Silva ’88, P’17,’22,’24, and Arjun Jaikumar ’01, WilmerHale

Vladimir Bulovic, Director, MIT.nano

David Chang, Entrepreneur

Emilie Eldracher, MIT ’22

Ana Pantelic, Director, MIT D-LAB

Ramesh Raskar, Director of Camera Culture Group, MIT Media Lab

John Werner P’21 ’26, Link Ventures & MIT Fellow, Connection Science, MIT School Of Engineering 

Dave Grossman ’97 and Jake Grossman ’00, Co-Presidents, Grossman Companies

Pete Mahoney ’98, John M Corcoran & Co

Chris Mitchell ’89, Spectrum Equity

Jay Mitchell ’96, Audax Private Equity

Nathaniel Weinstein ’10, Boston Dynamics

Iqbal Dhaliwal P’21 Global Executive Director of MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab

Dan Rea ’05, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Worcester Red Sox

Mike McElaney ’98, Vice President of Commercial Real Estate for The Menkiti Group

On June 4, the 377th year of The Roxbury Latin School culminated with Closing Exercises and the graduation of the Class of 2022. For the first time in two years, the school was able to hold its traditional, intimate ceremony—which includes the seniors, their families, the faculty and trustees—in Rousmaniere Hall. Immediately after the ceremony, under bright and sunny skies, the 53 newest alumni of The Roxbury Latin School celebrated on the Senior Grass with classmates, family members, and members of the faculty. (View a gallery of images from the morning.)

Beginning with opening remarks from Headmaster Kerry Brennan—which acknowledged the challenges and triumphs of this particular group of boys, and also noted their many, worthy accomplishments—the ceremony included the singing of traditional songs America The Beautiful, Commemoration Hymn, and The Founder’s Song, as well as a performance of Come Fly With Me sung by The Latonics, with a solo by graduating senior, Eli Bailit. The ringing of the school bell, chiming 3-7-7, officially concluded the school year.

Class valedictorian, voted by his classmates, was Vishnu Emani who delivered a personal, poignant, powerful speech that drew a standing ovation from his classmates.

Vishnu’s address began with his recounting of a parable originally written by German author Heinrich Boll, about a fisherman enjoying his humble catch on a sunny beach. A businessman comes along, extolling the value of the fisherman starting a company, enlisting distributors, and making lots of money so that he can, one day, relax on a beach without a care in the world. The fisherman ultimately replies, “What do you think I’m doing right now?”

“The parable of the businessman and the fisherman underscores a crucial tension that we all inevitably experience,” explained Vishnu, “and that is the trade-off between ambition and contentment. The businessman exemplifies the mindset of ambition, because he sees every moment as an opportunity to accomplish more and grow in the future. But his hunger for success in the future comes at the expense of living in the present. Now, while it may not be obvious, the fisherman also makes some sacrifices. Although he is satisfied in his life, the fisherman has intentionally foregone opportunities to contribute to society and make a greater impact.

“This fundamental tradeoff is central to life’s most important decisions, for instance setting our work-life balance: do we spend our nights preparing presentations, or do we enjoy a home-cooked dinner with our family? Do we take the corporate promotion that would have us traveling every weekend, or do we settle down in a place we call home?… These are the sobering questions that high-achieving students like us, eager to make an impact in the world, are forced to confront… We have to ask ourselves: why are we making the decisions that we are, what is our intended goal, and what sacrifices are we willing to make to get there? So I say, let us dream big, let us take on life with vigor and passion, but, most importantly, let us keep our perspective, even as it’s so easy to get lured into the rat race that surrounds us.”

The commencement address was delivered by Ron Liebowitz, president of Brandeis University, and father to graduating senior Heshie Liebowitz.

“It would be tempting to join the legions of graduation and commencement speeches this year that have presented a variety of interpretations of the Jarvis Refectory maxim—from those to whom much has been given much will be expected,” Mr. Liebowitz began. “Such a speech would have me sharing words of wisdom that explains why your generation faces the toughest challenges ever, and, because you are so talented, to then exhort you to be bold and go out and fix all that is wrong with the world—from climate change to racial injustice to antisemitism to poverty to emerging diseases to growing mental health challenges. This has become a common mantra this year, most likely because we old folks are out of good ideas or haven’t the energy to do anything more. But I won’t go down that path.

“Having watched first-year students arrive at college for the past 38 years, I advise you—in fact, urge you—to dedicate the next four years to personal growth. My point is that the world’s great problems can wait—despite what we Boomers and Gen X’ers say—until you have done the hard and hopefully satisfying work that it will take to be in the position to make a difference. To be successful, you will first need to be deliberate, thoughtful, and even brave in how you navigate your way through college.”

At the conclusion of Mr. Liebowitz’s address, Headmaster Brennan and President of the Board of Trustees Bob O’Connor ’85 awarded diplomas to the newest alumni of The Roxbury Latin School.

Three major Class I prizes were also awarded during Closing Ceremonies:

The Richard A. Berenberg Prize, for generosity of spirit and concern for others, was presented to Alejandro Denis.

The Class of 1913 Award, for significant contributions to the life of the school, was presented to Mark Henshon.

The William Coe Collar Award, for achievements and contributions to the school that are deemed by the faculty as most deserving of recognition, was presented to Vishnu Emani.

Thank you to the hundreds of alumni and families who gathered on Roxbury Latin’s campus over the weekend to celebrate Reunion and Spring Family Day. Festivities began on Friday, May 13, with the Spring Instrumental Concert—featuring RL’s Chamber musicians, Jazz Band, and Guitar Ensemble—and with the 25th Reunion Family BBQ, honoring members of the Class of 1997.

On Saturday morning, alumni from across decades returned to the RL classroom, in lessons led by Mo Randall (English/Classics) and John Lieb (Mathematics), and heard from members of Class I in a student panel and from Headmaster Kerry Brennan, who offered a sense of Roxbury Latin today. Alumni, students, families, and faculty flocked to enjoy a BBQ lunch under the arches of the IAF and cheered on members of our Varsity Baseball, Lacrosse, and Tennis teams as they competed in athletic contests through the afternoon.

Finally, on Saturday evening, in the Gordon Fieldhouse, more than 300 guests celebrated a Reunion which honored, in particular, classes ending in 2 and 7. There guests enjoyed good food, drink, and fellowship into the evening.

View a gallery of photos from Spring Family Day.

View a gallery of photos from Reunion Weekend.