• Sam Miller ’04, Founder of Proteus Motion, Speaks with Students About Bringing Ideas to Life

    Sam Miller ’04, Founder of Proteus Motion, Speaks with Students About Bringing Ideas to Life

    On May 17, the Roxbury Latin Innovation Exchange hosted its final meeting of the year, welcoming Sam Miller ’04, the Founder and CEO of Proteus Motion and creator of the Proteus system—the only 3-D resistance training, hardware-software system in the market—to speak to students and faculty about his experience of starting a company, and to share lessons he learned and the entrepreneurial tools he honed while founding Proteus. Before discussing his company, Mr. Miller started from the beginning, chronicling the steps of turning an idea into a product and a company. 

    “My first bit of advice is to always be learning,” says Mr. Miller. “Completely open yourself to new ideas, new understanding, and new approaches, and have a flexible mindset. Second, separate yourself from your ego. There is no room for your ego in this process. Third, rigorously test your assumptions and beliefs; deeply understand what your beliefs are; and stand by them at all times. You will be challenged in a lot of different areas and from a lot of different directions. Fourth: Crazy ideas are a good thing, right? You’ve got to remember that when the future becomes the present, very few things actually seem crazy.”

    “Finally? This is a marathon. Overnight success is not a real thing—it does not exist. Except for maybe a few exceptions here or there, this is a total marathon, a million little steps. Some of those steps go up, and some of those steps go down, but you’ve always got to keep your eye on the summit, on where you’re headed.”

    Mr. Miller’s story began when he was 16 years old, and a student at Roxbury Latin. His father, who had worked at MIT since the early ’90s, had developed the concept of a mechanical system or structure that would allow for exercise in three dimensions. 

    “It was this crazy machine that he was developing in the basement of a house in the suburbs of Boston,” says Mr. Miller. “Parallel to that, I was a pretty decent athlete—nothing special, but I was playing a lot of sports and going through my own rehabilitation process. I had a knee condition called Osteochondritis Dissecans, which is very painful. I went through long stints of physical therapy. That whole time, I was extremely frustrated with the equipment I was using during physical therapy, which had me doing leg extensions on a machine. I was thinking, ‘How does this translate to what I’m doing?’”

    At the time, Mr. Miller’s sport was soccer. His doctor would send him on his way with a list of exercises, but no additional information, no accountability, and nothing to measure progress. Mr. Miller felt powerless, at the mercy of the experts and their decades-old processes for training and rehabilitation. 

    “Fast forward a few years,” says Mr. Miller. “I graduated from RL and went to Vanderbilt to study engineering. I had always dabbled in design, but I was a generalist. When I had a few years of professional experience under my belt, I could not stop thinking about taking this concept that my father had been developing at MIT and redesigning it, digitizing it. I was super naive about it. In 2015 I literally quit my job one day and thought, ‘Hey, I’ve got a great idea. I’ll go out and raise a bunch of investment dollars, and we’re just going to take this product to market.’ I couldn’t have been more wrong.”

    For nearly a year and a half, Mr. Miller pushed his idea to fruition. It would take 15 months to raise his first dollar of investment. Now Proteus is growing exponentially. To date, the company has raised close to $10 million, employs 30 workers, and has doubled the number of its machines in the world: There are 60 now; Mr. Miller expects 150 by the end of this year and more than 1,200 next year.

    “We feel like we’re on a rocket ship,” says Mr. Miller. “Through this process, we’ve focused on elite level athletes as a way to gain leverage and marketing cache. We’ve taken a similar approach on the investment side. We’ve been successful in attracting some really exciting investors who were actually willing to put money behind this and say, ‘I believe in you, I believe in the vision, I believe in the team to execute.’” 

    Investors in Proteus include Stacey Griffith, a founding instructor at Soul Cycle; Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Dave Winfield; John Kosner, the former Head of Digital at ESPN; former commissioner of the NBA, the late David Stern; and even Paul Byrne, the former President of Precor, the man responsible for bringing the now-ubiquitous elliptical machine to market.

    “Paul likes to remind me,” says Mr. Miller, “’Hey, when we came out with the elliptical, we had to drive it around in a van. Nobody knew what it was, but once they got on it, they understood it.’ And it became the best-selling fitness product of all time. It’s very similar to what we’re doing at Proteus, but with a software component attached to it.”

    After his presentation, Mr. Miller took questions from students and shared insights into manufacturing, industrial design, customer service, marketing, and dealing with setbacks during the startup process.

    Erin Berg

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  • Two Alumni Appointed To Crucial, Student-Facing Leadership Roles

    Two Alumni Appointed To Crucial, Student-Facing Leadership Roles

    Alumni Darian Reid—member of the Class of 2005, and a member of the faculty since 2010—and Matt McDonald ’85 will be taking on two key roles at the school, focused on supporting the boys of Roxbury Latin, and also on enrolling the next generation of RL students. Darian—who has distinguished himself as an exemplary teacher, classmaster, coach and advisor—will be taking on the role of Dean of Students, as Paul Sugg steps down from a post he has held since 1997. Matt—who has nearly two decades of independent school admission experience—will join the Roxbury Latin faculty as the school’s Director of Admission, taking over for Billy Quirk ’04 who has held that position since 2016. (Both Paul and Billy will remain as members of the Roxbury Latin faculty.)

    “Darian has experienced school life from virtually every angle,” says Headmaster Kerry Brennan, “as a superb classroom teacher, as a highly motivating coach, as an attentive advisor, and as Class V Classmaster. He has been a great shepherd of his flock, and he knows this school deeply and well. From the time that he was 12 years old, he’s come to understand and live out Roxbury Latin’s mission. Darian knows our values and priorities and the ways in which we motivate and support boys. In our increasingly complex world, students are needing different kinds of support, and Darian is keenly attuned to kids and what they need. I know that he will be an especially effective Dean of Students.”

    Over this past year, Darian has helped to lead the school’s inclusivity and equity efforts as RL’s Director of Community and Culture. As a member of the school’s senior leadership team, he championed RL’s ongoing efforts to know and love every boy; acknowledged opportunities for evolving the curriculum so that all students recognize themselves within it; provided professional development opportunities for faculty and staff related to issues of racism, bias, and creating an inclusive school community; and convened important student-focused discussions on topics of difference, equity, and justice. As Dean of Students he will continue this effort, with the collaboration of incoming faculty member Jackie Salas, who—in addition to teaching in the Math and Science Departments—will take on a role in helping to lead these efforts. Billy will also work closely with Darian as Assistant Dean of Students.

    “I think the Dean of Students role is, in part, being a shepherd of the shepherds: helping advisors and classmasters support the students as best they can,” says Darian. “In addition to that, I see this role as helping to set the culture for the students and with the students. The world changes pretty quickly. In some ways the particular topics will present themselves, so—rather than setting the agenda—it will be part of my job to help build an environment in which, whatever presents itself, the students have the tools, and the skills, and the competencies to tackle it.”

    “There’s no time in my association with Roxbury Latin that Paul Sugg was not the Dean of Students, so in some ways, it can be difficult to imagine what this role is without envisioning Paul in it,” says Darian. “In all those years, Paul has offered an incredible balance of patience, but also firmness, an ability to build a rapport with students, and an ability to navigate difficult terrain. The thing that I find confidence in, taking this job after Paul, is that he was so thoroughly himself, and comfortable in that way. That gives me the confidence to approach the role as myself, as well. Finally, I look forward to working closely with my colleagues across the school so that I can understand and approach the Dean of Students role from a holistic sense, which is very important to me.”

    ***

    Since 2015, Matt McDonald has served as Director of Financial Aid and Associate Director of Admission at Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut. Prior to that, he served in the admission and financial aid offices of Buckingham Brown and Nichols School in Cambridge for more than a decade. At both schools Matt had proven success in attracting and enrolling mission-appropriate students; driving admission-specific strategic planning; allocating financial aid dollars to support a talented and diverse student body; and ensuring that the entire admission process aligned closely with the school’s mission.

    “Matt brings a set of skills that will be extremely valuable to us,” says Kerry. “He is an alumnus of the school, yet he has had the experience and the perspective of different schools—in particular, how they do admission work and honor their respective missions. I know that Matt will be an effective champion of what we stand for in the broader community. We’re lucky to still have with us RL’s last three Directors of Admission—in Tom Guden ’96, Andy Chappell, and now Billy Quirk ’04—to help support him as he steps into this role, and I’m confident that Matt will follow in that strong tradition.”

    “Roxbury Latin was a transformative place for me as a student,” says Matt, “and I see my role as identifying students who will take full advantage of the range of opportunities available to them—and, in turn, helping them to see what a remarkable place Roxbury Latin could be for them.”

    “From everything I’ve seen and experienced, the people of Roxbury Latin are true to their word when they describe who they are, what they value as an institution, and why. Fundamental to all of that, I think, is that RL really values each individual. I think regardless of your personality or range of interests, if you come to Roxbury Latin as a curious, engaged, caring, and kind person, you’re likely to have a positive experience. And while the school, at its core, remains very consistent and true to its values, there’s still a lot for me to learn. Like any great institution, RL has evolved and changed. I’m looking forward to getting to know Roxbury Latin today, and with that I feel a great responsibility to be sure we’re continuing to find the best kids in the Boston area to grow and learn at this school.”

    Both Darian and Matt will assume their new roles as of July 1, 2021. In addition to his advisor duties, Darian will continue as a teacher of Classics and coach of football and basketball. In addition to his role leading the school’s admission efforts, Matt will also advise students and lead RL’s soccer program as Varsity Head Coach.

    Erin Berg

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  • Thirteen Seniors Inducted Into Cum Laude Society

    Thirteen Seniors Inducted Into Cum Laude Society

    On April 22, Roxbury Latin celebrated in Hall the 13 members of Class I whose efforts and accomplishments have earned them membership in the Cum Laude Society. Each spring, the all-school Cum Laude ceremony honors the life of the mind—affirming that at the heart of a good school is scholarly engagement. With the speakers and inductees present inside Rousmaniere Hall—all masked and socially distant—the remainder of the school community watched the proceedings via livestream.

    “This special event is intended principally to do two things,” began Headmaster Kerry Brennan. “The first is to recognize the most distinguished scholars of the First Class. In their efforts and in their accomplishments, they have put to good use the gifts they have been given… The second purpose of this annual ceremony is in many ways the more consequential, for it involves everyone else in this room, and those watching remotely. In honoring these 13 boys, we are honoring the life of the mind; we are honoring trying hard and doing well; we are affirming that at the heart of a good school is scholarly engagement. I admonish you to take to heart the example of the inductees… All of you boys have the capacity to strive, to grow, to change, and to know the satisfaction of ideas unearthed and potential realized.”

    The school was honored to welcome as the Cum Laude speaker Dr. Gita Gopinath, Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund, who serves in that prestigious post while on leave of public service from Harvard’s economics department, where she is the John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and of Economics. Read the entirety of Dr. Gopinath’s personal and powerful address.

    With lively recordings of Gaudeamus Igitur and The Founder’s Song as bookends to the celebration, Mr. Josh Cervas, president of RL’s Cum Laude chapter, provided a history of the organization: “By formally recollecting our origins each year, we also reaffirm our commitment to the Society’s original and abiding motto—three Greek words inspired by the three letters of the old Alpha Delta Tau name: Alpha stands for Areté (Excellence), Delta for Diké (Justice), and Tau for Timé (Honor). These three words, with deep roots in our past and far reaching implications for our future, raise qualities of mind and character which, ideally, each member of the Society will espouse as his own values and strive to instill in others throughout his life.”

    The following seniors were inducted into the Cum Laude Society this year:

    Robert Balson
    Daniel Berk
    Ben Chang-Holt
    David D’Alessandro
    Rohil Dhaliwal
    Quinn Donovan
    Peter Frates
    Thomas Gaziano
    AJ Gutierrez
    Max Hutter
    Byron Karlen
    Ethan Phan
    Daniel Sun-Friedman

    Watch the entirety of this year’s virtual Cum Laude ceremony, and hear Dr. Gopinath’s powerful address, here.

    Erin Berg

  • Writer and Poet Clint Smith Weaves Artistry With Activism

    Writer and Poet Clint Smith Weaves Artistry With Activism

    On April 8, Clint Smith—writer, poet, scholar, and activist—spoke with students and faculty in virtual Hall about his poetry, his passionate support of the racial justice movement, and his newest project—his non-fiction book debut, How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America, which will be published this summer.

    “I’ve spent the last four years reading and being transformed by history books,” Mr. Smith began, “and I wondered, ‘How can a poet contribute to this historiography?’” Prompted by watching monuments to the Confederate Army come down in 2017 in his home city of New Orleans, Mr. Smith launched into this project, through which he explores how different cities and sites across the country reckon with, or fail to reckon with, their relationship to the history of slavery. For this project, Mr. Smith traveled to—and chronicled what he learned and experienced in—places like Monticello Plantation and Angola Prison, Galveston Island and New York City.

    During Hall, Mr. Smith spoke about how important it is that we learn about, discuss, and understand the totality of our country’s history, and the people within it. He talked about how Thomas Jefferson, for instance, was “a brilliant mind, who helped to create the greatest experiment in democracy that the world has ever seen,” but that he also held more than 600 slaves over the course of his life, including four of his own children who he had by his slave Sally Hemings. “How do we hold and understand two truths at the same time?,” he asked. “It’s important that we face these difficult realities and deal with these tensions. And we might not all agree in the end, but these are conversations we need to be having.”

    Mr. Smith also read aloud some of his poetry, including a new poem that was “a letter to four presidents who held slaves,” and the title poem of his 2017 collection, Counting Descent. In an extended Q&A session he answered questions about his writing style and process; the topics he addresses in his poems and essays; and about how we grapple with American history, reconciling the admirable with the loathsome.

    Mr. Smith is a staff writer at The Atlantic. His essays, poems, and scholarly writing have been published in The New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, The Paris Review, and other esteemed publications. His first full-length collection of poetry, Counting Descent, won the 2017 Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award.

    Mr. Smith is a 2014 National Poetry Slam champion and a 2017 recipient of the Shestack Prize from the American Poetry Review. He has been named to the Forbes “30 Under 30” list as well as Ebony Magazine’s Power 100 list. His two TED Talks, The Danger of Silence and How to Raise a Black Son in America, collectively have been viewed more than 7 million times. Mr. Smith has received a number of prestigious, national fellowships; he has taught high school English in Maryland where, in 2013, he was named Teacher of the Year by the Maryland Humanities Council. He currently teaches writing and literature in the D.C. Central Detention Facility. Mr. Smith earned his B.A. in English from Davidson College and his Ph.D. in Education from Harvard University.

    Erin Berg

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  • Decision-Making: Headmaster Brennan Opens the Spring Term With Big Questions

    Decision-Making: Headmaster Brennan Opens the Spring Term With Big Questions

    In a virtual Opening of Spring Term Hall on April 5, Headmaster Kerry Brennan welcomed students and faculty back from the spring break, ushering in the closing months of the school year and the hope that they represent. At the heart of Mr. Brennan’s remarks was decision-making—specifically, how we go about making decisions when the stakes are high, and the path forward is not clear.

    “Today I want to talk a bit about making choices—big ones and small ones,” Mr. Brennan began. “We do it every day. And others, with more consequential positions, make them on our behalf every day. When we are young, our parents are making decisions for us: What will you wear? What will you eat? When will you go to bed? Where will you go to school? Over time, given maturation, children and then young adults are granted the freedom to make more choices… One of the great tasks of parenting (and by extension schooling) is to provide children with the tools and the training and the formation of healthy habits that will allow them to be more independent. Of course, independence suggests both greater opportunities for freedom but also greater accountability. And as we get older… consequences end up being more dramatic. More meaningful… There are big decisions in our lives. Sometimes the decisions we make have to do with life or death—our own or somebody else’s.”

    Prompted by the 75th anniversary that took place last summer, Mr. Brennan moved to explore “the ultimate decision concerning life and death,”—the dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. “In August of 1945, President Harry Truman made the decision to drop these newly created weapons on these two cities in order to end World War II…. Truman, a plainspoken Missourian, was eager to bring the war to an end. The American people had sacrificed a great deal over the ensuing nearly four years and were eager to return to normalcy—families reunited, the economy operating on a peacetime footing, reassurance that foreign affairs determined to a great extent by our might would offer predictability and stability.”

    In the lead-up to Truman’s decision to drop the bombs, he “had been told that there would likely be 20,000 casualties—mostly military. In fact, 20,000 Japanese soldiers were killed, but, so, too, were more than 100,000 civilians killed in Hiroshima, and more than 60,000 in Nagasaki. Horrendous injuries were sustained by hundreds of thousands of people defacing them and handicapping them for the rest of their lives. The presence of deadly gas caused unfathomable birth defects in subsequent generations.

    “Within a week of the bombings, Japan surrendered to our commanding general in the Pacific, Douglas MacArthur. Virtually unanimously, Americans celebrated the conclusion of an awful war and did not dwell much on the terrifying, new reality that had been unleashed. We know from historical documents that the Japanese had been demonized in a way the Germans and Italians had not. Are there deep-seated racial biases involved in those feelings? Probably, yes. Did that make it easier to justify and endure the killing of innocent people? When all was said and done, how was the decision to end the war this way made?

    “In my presentation today about decision making, making choices, there could be no greater decision than the one Truman made. It affected millions of people. And it decided who would live and who would die. As with even the simplest decisions we make each day, certain elements led to consequential outcomes. How do we decide? How do we amass the facts? With whom do we consult? Whom will my decision affect? Is the outcome simply expedient, or is there a more significant ethical consideration? What is my North Star? What’s in my best interest? What’s in the best interest of the group? The country? The global family? I hope you will consider the ramification of this world-altering event.”

    On the following morning, April 6, Mr. Brennan enlisted students and faculty for a Part II of this talk, which would enable live, in-class discussion in which boys and their teachers together would grapple with difficult moral decisions, and how we go about making them. After a brief, instructional webinar—during which he posed the classic, philosophical Trolley Problem—he offered several questions for discussion, which boys and faculty engaged in for the period.

    View the entirety of Headmaster Brennan’s address.

    Erin Berg

  • Honors Bio Students Investigate Life Science Questions, With Help From the Pros

    Honors Bio Students Investigate Life Science Questions, With Help From the Pros

    Does sugar water have an effect on ants’ learning? Are the heart rates of Daphnia magna affected by alcohol exposure? How does isolation alter the dietary habits of cockroaches? How does sound affect plant growth? Over the last couple of months, the Honors Biology students in Dr. Peter Hyde’s class were answering these ques­tions and more, with help from medical professionals and research scientists.

    For the eighth year, Honors Bio students spent the winter term immersed in Inde­pendent Research Projects (IRP). Posing questions of their own scientific interest, the boys developed experiment proposals and turned to the professionals for real-time feedback, honing their approaches all the while. Even before the winter break, the students met with their IRP mentors—RL parents and alumni who are also research scientists, surgeons, hematologists, oncologists—virtually. With the feedback from those sessions, the boys refined their experimental plans, and in January and February they collected their data. The IRP mentors then met with their mentees again to discuss the data and findings, and worked with the students on developing compelling presentations. In a typical year the students’ work culminates in a science fair-style event, in which faculty, staff, and fellow students can walk around perusing project posters and asking questions of the budding scientists. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the students instead submitted videos as the culminating presentation of their hard work. You can view each of those videos here.

    Other research projects included the effects of dissolved oxygen on yeast respiration and CO2 production; the effects of changing soil pH on the growth of Wisconsin Fast Plants; whether hyperoxia improves learning in fruit flies; and how the concentration of potassium ions affect the heart rate of Daphnia Magna.

    Special thanks to our generous mentors, who include:

    Sirisha Emani (P’17, ‘22), PhD, Department of Surgery, Boston Children’s Hospital 

    Andrew Eyre ’02, MD, Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

    Ephraim Hochberg (P’25), MD, Departments of Oncology and Hematology, Massachusetts General Hospital

    Matthew Hutter ’87 (P’21, ’23), MD, Departments of General and Gastrointestinal Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital

    Julie Lin (P’24), PhD, Clinical Development, Rare Diseases and Rare Blood Disorders, Sanofi-Genzyme

    Cynthia Morton (P’10), PhD, Department of Cytogenetics, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

    David Wilkinson (P’21, ‘23, ‘25), MS, Department of Systems Engineering, Vicarious Surgical

    Scot Wolfe (P’15, ’18), PhD, Department of Molecular, Cell and Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School

    Erin Berg

  • RL Parent and Trustee Jim Frates Reflects On Holy Week

    RL Parent and Trustee Jim Frates Reflects On Holy Week

    “Central to Roxbury Latin’s mission and tradition is tending to the spiritual growth of our boys,” began Headmaster Brennan in virtual Hall on April 1. Throughout the year, Roxbury Latin students hear from speakers of various religious traditions about topics of faith, spirituality, and living with purpose. As Jews began their celebration of Passover, and as Christians looked forward to the culmination of Holy Week, RL trustee and parent Jim Frates shared his personal reflections on the meaning of Holy Thursday—and how the lessons relate to each of us, regardless of our faith or beliefs.

    He began with the story of RL alumnus James Drummond Dole, Class of 1895, who had set out for Hawaii to make his fortune and—after much trial and error—found success, ultimately, in pineapples. He then shared the tale of Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, who “might have been the most interesting man in the world,” Mr. Frates said, who in his life excelled in engine repair and then race car driving; became the greatest flying ace in WWI; went on to own Indianapolis Motor Speedway and establish Eastern Airlines; and even authored a comic strip.

    Mr. Frates then recounted a sermon that his uncle—a former Navy priest and WWII pilot—used to deliver about when Captain Rickenbacker and his crew crashed into the Pacific and spent 21 days adrift:

    “After exhausting their supplies, starving, and near the point of death, Captain Rickenbacker organized a prayer meeting: ‘Master, we are in an awful fix, as you know. We are counting on a little something by the day after tomorrow at the least.’ Rickenbacker then lay on his back and pulled his hat down over his face. At that point something landed on it. A seagull. He slowly reached up and captured the gull, and then divided it among his men. The remainder provided him with bait for two fish which were quickly captured. There were no skeptics among those men.” He recounts how two days later, near death from dehydration, Rickenbacker prayed for water. That evening a squall occurred, providing the men with enough water to survive until they were rescued.

    Finally, Mr. Frates arrived at one of the most important stories in the Christian tradition—that of Holy Thursday. “In the episcopal tradition, Maundy Thursday is the day that sets up and highlights all that is to follow.” He recounted the details of Christ’s Last Supper, the washing of His disciples’ feet, and finally the agony in the garden at Gethsemane. 

    “Jesus’s commandments to his disciples during the days leading up to his death are some of the lessons I hope you take away today,” said Mr. Frates. “To love one another as I have loved you; the importance of fellowship—caring for one’s friends and neighbors; and leadership through service. If you want to truly lead you must take care of one another… Combine these lessons with those of Dole—dream big, don’t give up, look to your friends for support, take care of those around you—and Richenbacker—work hard, find your passion, give all you can, remember it can change at any moment, be a leader, and don’t be afraid to pray.

    “I am sure you hear this a lot, but you have been given a great gift,” concluded Mr. Frates. “Your community here at Roxbury Latin is special—your friendships, your classmates, and your teachers. Remember your fellowship. Carry it forward. Don’t be afraid to lead, and don’t be afraid to rely on your friends.”

    Mr. Frates is the Chief Financial Officer of Amylyx Pharmaceuticals—a company focused on developing new treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s Disease, and other neurodegenerative diseases. In addition to serving as treasurer of Roxbury Latin’s Board of Trustees, Mr. Frates serves on the boards of Sage Therapeutics and St. Francis House, and formerly on the Board of his alma mater, St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire.

    View the entirety of Mr. Frates’ Hall talk.

    Erin Berg

  • Roxbury Latin Alumni in the News

    Roxbury Latin Alumni in the News

    Several Roxbury Latin alumni have made news in recent weeks, for their leadership, service, and excellence in their professional roles, which cover a broad range of worthy pursuits. Here are just a few.

    Frantz Alphonse ’90 is Senior Managing Director of Ariel Alternatives and co-founder of Project Black Management Company. Frantz’s work combines global-scale mergers & acquisitions with solutions to racial inequality and economic advancement issues in the United States. He and his partners turn companies into vehicles for business ownership, entrepreneurship, and job creation for the country’s most disadvantaged and underrepresented individuals at a scale never attempted before in the history of U.S. business. Read more in Forbes and Financial Times.

    John Gabrieli ’12 is the Executive Director at The Every Voice Coalition, which this year successfully helped—through their advocacy—to pass a trailblazing bill into law in Massachusetts. This year, Governor Charlie Baker signed “An Act relative to sexual violence on higher education campuses” into law. The law helps ensure that college campuses have up-to-date policies regarding sexual misconduct and sexual assault, and that students know about the policies and the resources available to them. After six years of student and survivor advocacy, this bill makes history and helps make college campuses safer. Read more.

    Stefan Jackiw ’03—international violin soloist, recording artist, and educator—has joined the faculty of The New School in New York City. He will be part of the Mannes School of Music at the College of Performing Arts. The recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, Stefan is one of America’s foremost violinists, with an unusually broad repertoire and a passion as an educator and arts advocate that equals his passion for performing. At Mannes, Stefan will serve on the major lesson faculty in the String Department and will coach chamber ensembles. He will also collaborate with students and faculty across the college in a wide range of special projects and courses. Read about Stefan’s appointment.

    Matt Langione ’01 is a principal at the Boston Consulting Group where he specializes in bringing research-driven, high-potential “deep tech” to market. A leading global expert on the industrial applications of quantum computing, he advises Fortune 500 companies on building quantum computing into their digital transformation roadmaps. He recently delivered a TED Talk titled “The promise of quantum computers” in which he explains how these machines solve complex challenges like developing vaccines and calculating financial risk in an entirely new way that’s exponentially faster than the best supercomputers—and shares why industries should prepare now for this new leap in computing. Watch Matt’s TED Talk.

    Sean McBride ’91 is the chief creative officer of Arnold Worldwide, the Boston-based ad agency that developed the 2017 television commercial for the Progressive insurance company that features Dr. Rick—“the mustached leader of a support group for people who found themselves suddenly ‘turning into their dads’ after they became homeowners.” Under Sean’s leadership, the series of Dr. Rick spots have turned out to be some of the most inspired television commercials in years. Read more.

    Ryan McDonough ’89, a Roslindale native, has written and produced a feature film set in Roslindale, with many scenes shot in West Roxbury. The movie, Last Night in Rozzie, is a “taut and redemptive” film about a New York lawyer who returns to his Boston hometown to reunite his dying friend with his young son, as he is at the same time compelled to confront a malignant childhood trauma. The movie premieres at the Cinequest Film Festival March 20 through March 30. Read more.

    Erin Berg

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  • National Gold Recognition and Artistic Accolades for RL Boys

    National Gold Recognition and Artistic Accolades for RL Boys

    Each year, the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, in partnership with more than 100 visual and literary arts organizations across the country, accept submissions from teens in grades 7 through 12 for their Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Hundreds of thousands of art and writing submissions across 11 categories are judged based on originality, technical skill, and the emergence of a personal voice. Roxbury Latin senior, Miguel Rincon, not only earned Gold Key recognition in the regional competition for his short documentary film titled LoPresti Park, but his film also won a Gold Key Award in the national competition. Even more impressive, Miguel was one of only six students in the country selected to win the 2021 Civic Expression Award. This award is the highest honor presented annually by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and it comes with a $1,000 scholarship. (Read more about Miguel’s prize-winning film, and view it in its entirety.)

    As a Civic Expression Award winner, Miguel and his work will be highlighted in the program’s anthology, The Best Teen Art of 2021, in the Awards’ Online Galleries. Recipients of the Civic Expression Award also receive recognition in the Awards’ National Ceremony, which will be presented virtually this year on June 9.

    Four other RL students found success in this year’s Scholastic Regional competition: James McCurley (III) earned a Silver Key for his science fiction writing submission titled Soup and Stories; Alex Uek (I) won an Honorable Mention for his drawing Unmatched; George Madison (II) earned an Honorable Mention in Photography for his piece titled Spiraling; and Joseph Wang (IV) earned an Honorable Mention for his poem Snow Showers. Several talented Roxbury Latin students earn regional honors for their art and writing in the Scholastic competition each year.

    In addition to winning a Gold Key award in the Scholastic competition, Miguel created a sculpture that was chosen as a winner in the 2021 Emerging Young Artists Exhibition, sponsored by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. Miguel’s clay sculpture, The Little Prince, was one of 88 works selected to be part of the exhibition, out of more than 430 submissions. This competitive, annual, high school juried exhibition recognizes the exceptional work of art students from high schools throughout New England.

    The Little Prince was one of several pieces that Miguel created as part of his junior year Studio Art elective with Brian Buckley. Struggling with what exactly to make, he was inspired by the idea of creating gifts for people in his life—so that’s what he did. Out of wire, he crafted a hummingbird for his mother—her favorite animal; he made a wood-burning design of a horse for his grandfather in Colombia; and, out of clay, he crafted a sculpture based on the cover art of the French-language book Le Petit Prince, for his French teacher, Roxbury Latin faculty member Ousmane Diop.

    “I tried to recreate the cover as well as I could, but I didn’t want to make it exactly the same,” says Miguel. Over the span of two marking periods, he shaped all the clay parts and fired them in the kiln. “Creating this sculpture took me a really long time, so as another studio project I did the painting for it—it was almost like a two-for-one project. As I was working on it, the head fell off the figure, and because I wanted to do something a little different, I thought maybe I should swap the head with the rose, and that it might look pretty cool. I didn’t plan for that to happen, but I liked the way it looked, and I thought it offered a different perspective.” While a photograph of the sculpture is part of the awards exhibit, the piece itself now lives on Monsieur Diop’s office desk.

    Miguel will find out this spring how his documentary film, LoPresti Park, fared in the national Scholastic competition. In the meantime, Miguel will team up with classmate Brady Chappell as the two boys plan to create a documentary film on homelessness in Boston as their Independent Senior Project. “After having the opportunity to try out all these different media, filmmaking is still my favorite for now,” says Miguel.

    Erin Berg

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  • Representative Dr. Jon Santiago On Service, Of All Kinds

    Representative Dr. Jon Santiago On Service, Of All Kinds

    On March 9, Massachusetts State Representative Dr. Jon Santiago spoke to students, faculty, and staff in virtual Hall and discussed—from his personal experience—the many ways in which one can choose to meaningfully serve others and their community. Dr. Santiago is the Representative for the 9th Suffolk District (Boston), centered in the South End, and an emergency room physician at Boston Medical Center. A lifelong public servant, Representative Santiago was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic, and he continues to serve as a captain in the Army Reserve. He spent five years abroad working in community organizing and public health. His current policy and clinical interests are focused on improving quality and access to care for underserved communities.

    “I’m a relentless optimist,” he said in Hall. “I do what I do because I think the world can be a better place. I made the decision to enter the Peace Corps, to join the Army, to work in BMC’s ER, to serve as an elected state official, because I am ultimately a believer in people, and a believer that the world can become a better place. While I was with the Peace Corps, in the Dominican Republic, I was sitting in bed—alone, in a different country—thinking, ‘Is the world becoming a better place, historically speaking? And can I have a role in making that so?’”

    Recently, Representative Santiago has used his roles as both an elected official and ER physician to advocate for resources and equity-oriented policies during the COVID-19 pandemic. He worked in the emergency room each week during the COVID-19 surge, sharing social media videos to provide up-to-date information for hundreds of thousands of viewers. He has also been active in national and local media discussing a host of COVID-19 related issues while writing several Boston Globe op-eds. One of 14 legislators of color in the legislature, Representative Santiago played an instrumental role in leading the charge for police reform as a member of the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus. Born in Puerto Rico, Dr. Santiago earned his bachelor’s degree in religious studies and biology from the University of Texas at Austin, his master’s in public health from the University of Washington, and his doctor of medicine from Yale. In February, Dr. Santiago announced his candidacy for Mayor of Boston, a post left vacant as Mayor Marty Walsh assumes the post of Secretary of Labor in President Biden’s administration.

    Listen to the complete Q&A session with Dr. Santiago that took place at the end of his recent Hall.

    Erin Berg