In the short time since the start of term Class VI boys covered a lot of territory. Two field trips—the traditional sixie trip to Beaver Brook and an excursion to the Harvard Museum of Natural History—took them way off campus. The third was a trek in their own back yard: the boys ventured into the RL woods to identify and map the flora as part of a unit of their Natural Design course.
Click these links for photos from all three days:
The School marked the Jewish High Holy Days in Hall on 10 September. Our guest speaker was Rabbi Wesley Gardenswartz, of Temple Emanuel in Newton, who illuminated the traditions of the Jewish faith surrounding Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.It is Roxbury Latin’s mission to gather all kinds of boys committed to understanding and celebrating differences, including differences of faith, and to expose them to a broad and deep wellspring of knowledge. In the spirit of this mission we seek opportunities to hear from witnesses to these different faith traditions so that our own journeys toward meaning and fulfillment can be most hopefully informed. We were privileged to welcome Rabbi Gardenswartz on this occasion.
Rabbi Gardenswartz is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School and practiced civil litigation law from 1986 to 1993 with the Boston law firm of Goulston & Storrs. In 1993 he entered the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he won the Stephen Henry Shefrin Memorial Prize and The Cyrus Adler Prize. He has served Temple Emmanuel for the past 18 years.
The Boston Globe recently highlighted Joe Caruso ‘61 and his amiable investing approach, which has helped support numerous nascent publicly traded companies.
Read more on Joe’s investing nature in the Boston Globe article here.
On Wednesday, 2 September, boys from Classes II, III, and IV participated in class outings for team building and camraderie.
Class IV held its annual event—an after-school excursion to Ron’s Bowling & Gourmet Ice Cream in Hyde Park—for a little competition and confection. The goal of the trip is to help build class spirit and integrate the eleven new boys into the group. Class III took their third annual trip to Camp Burgess in Sandwich where they enjoyed a combination of high- and low-rope challenges, zip line and canoe race fun, and some down time with each other to swim and play. The day serves to bring the class together through recreation, learn more about each other, and think about how the challenges offered to them on this trip apply to their experiences at Roxbury Latin and beyond.
Class II’s 54 boys along with five faculty members spent their day at Hale Reservation in Westwood, where the organized games and challenges highlighted the Class II theme of leadership and responsibility. The day included the “leap of faith” high ropes exercise, blind sword fighting, and races, and ended with a group reflection about the importance of team-building, individual buy-in, and the importance of communication. Hale Reservation is one of RL’s favorite destinations, a magnificent public property originally donated to the Boy Scouts by Robert Sever Hale, RL Class of 1887. (See photos from all three outings)
The School mourns the death of David Mittell, devoted Roxbury Latin son and Life Trustee, who died on May 28 at Newfield House in Plymouth. A member of the Class of 1935, he served on the Board since 1954 but loved RL since he entered it as an 11-year-old boy in 1929.“Dave Mittell offered long and faithful service to the School he loved,” Headmaster Kerry Brennan said. “Gifted with a vivid memory and abiding concern for our most sacred values, he was quick to acknowledge continuity with that which had gone before, or, even that there was some break with what the tradition had been. He epitomized the important role of the diligent fiduciary and reminded all of us that RL was in it for the long haul and that we had a responsibility both to generations that had gone before and those yet to come.”
At David’s retirement in 2008, Headmaster emeritus Tony Jarvis gave testimony to David’s qualities—qualities inextricably linked to his steadfast stewardship of the School:
David’s “glass-half-full optimism undergirded everything he has undertaken in life. His enthusiasm more than his athleticism earned him the captaincy of both hockey and tennis. He single-handedly persuaded Mr. Northrop, headmaster of then-penniless RL in the midst of the Great Depression, to provide the pipes and old track lumber so the boys could build a natural-ice hockey rink on the campus. He went on to play and coach hockey at Harvard.” He saw “every situation…in terms of its possibilities.” David’s fascination with history led to his chapter in RL’s 1995 history, Schola Illustris, in which he evokes life at the School in the 1930s (one of four institutional histories he wrote in the last 20 years of his life). “Dave’s…understanding of the School’s groundedness in history has always given him—as a trustee—an invaluable sense of continuity with the past, a perspective on the present, and a vision for the future.” David’s meticulous attention to detail and construction experience as a trustee to major institutions “made him indispensable when the School embarked on the building boom of the 1990s. He knew exactly how to go about things, and he insisted on excellence from start to finish.”
