Roxbury Latin recognized all veterans, and the day that honors them, in Hall this morning. Lt. Christopher Fuqua, father of Alex in Class IV and a distinguished serviceman, gave the Veterans Day address. Special guests included Bob Powers ’66, Assistant Headmaster Emeritus Bill Chauncey, former Trustee Jack Regan, Thomas Jacoby, and Bill and Susan Sparks—all members of the RL community who have served in the armed forces.

 

On active duty from 1996 to 2004, Lt. Fuqua spent eight years flying S-3B Vikings as a Naval Flight Officer in the US Navy. He made two deployments on the USS John C. Stennis and served as a Mission Commander during Operation Enduring Freedom. In describing his path to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Lt. Fuqua said he never really considered joining the military when he was applying to college, despite his family’s deep military roots. But he wanted to swim competitively at a Division I school, and the Academy showed some interest. “I decided to make a visit. It was a trip that forever changed the course of my life.”

 

His flight training ultimately led him to fly with the Screwbirds of VS-33, a world famous squadron. “I was given my call sign, Frenchy. I met guys named Monkey, Corn, Z-Man, Rock Star, Evil, Grumpy, Willy T, Squishy, Fish, Mantis, Chewy, Potsy, Pie, and a bunch of others who I would still trust my life with today.… We were a well-oiled machine, with the capability of launching and landing 30 aircraft in 30 minutes without a word spoken over the radios, providing freedom of navigation to keep trade moving throughout the world.”

 

Lt. Fuqua called his years of service “a great way to serve my country and to give back. And like most things involving serving others, it managed to pay me back tenfold in the form of building character, establishing and reinforcing a set of core values, and appreciating all that I have been given.” His extensive experience also provided an education in leadership skills, which he values in his current role in the private sector.

 

Lt. Fuqua earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from the United States Naval Academy and his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Today, he is senior vice president of marketing for Dunkin Donuts LLC, where he leads on global consumer insights and product innovation.

 

Headmaster Kerry Brennan gave special notice to RL veterans over all wars, and named recent alumni currently in active duty. WWI saw 250 RL graduates in national service; 330 during WWII. We know of four Civil War casualties that were RL graduates, and RL’s most famous veteran, General Joseph Warren (RL 1755), lost his life at Bunker Hill. Mr. Brennan said, “The inclination to serve our country is a natural extension of Eliot’s admonition to serve as he said, ‘in Church and Commonwealth.’” 

 

 

Recent alumni currently in active duty:

 

Frederick Kenney ’76

William Kennedy ’77 William Bender ’81

Joseph Hanrahan ’87

John C. Gillon ’93

Jeff Adams ’97

Lawrence Sullivan ’04

James Astrue ’05

Zach Ciccolo ’05

Colin Murphy ’05

Matthew Neelon ’09

Ray Henderson ’10

Thomas Buckley ’11

Dante Gaziano ’11

Josh Rivers ’11

Robert Powell ’11

Paul Bodet ’12

Chase Gilmore ’12

Mikey Trainin ’12

Tom Warner ’13

James Hamilton ’91 was recently appointed Berwick Academy’s 54th Head of School, effective July 2018. With more than 20 years of experience in independent school leadership, he currently serves as associate head for external affairs at Brooks School in North Andover. Founded in 1791, Berwick Academy is an independent, coeducational school located in South Berwick, Maine, that serves nearly 600 students in grades PK-12.

 

Jim has an extensive background in independent school education. He credits his own school experience at R.L. with transforming his life. He has dedicated his professional career to creating opportunities for students and advancing independent schools in a number of ways. Jim began his career at Brooks School as an admissions officer, dorm parent, and coach. He then served as the director of admission and financial aid at St. George’s School for nine years before returning to Brooks as the associate head for external affairs, a position he has held for the past five years. Well known in the independent school community, Jim serves as an instructor at the Admissions Training Institute for The Enrollment Management Association and has been an instructor and mentor for Independent School Management’s Advancement Academy. Jim earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Amherst College and holds a master’s in Liberal Studies from Wesleyan University.An active R.L. alumnus, Jim served for three years on the R.L. Alumni Council in the mid 2000s. He is a member of the Headmaster’s Council, and in June he accepted an appointment to Roxbury Latin’s Board of Trustees.

 

The School is proud of its alumni who have pursued careers in education. Jim joins a cadre of fellow alumni (as well as former masters) who have gone on to hold leadership positions in schools—most recently Graham Anthony ’03 at Pace Academy in Atlanta and Andrew Holmgren ’91 at Calvert School in Baltimore.

On Friday, 3 November, RL’s cross country team earned the title of league champion after competing against 15 other schools in the Independent School League Cross Country Championships, hosted by Lawrence Academy. The varsity team entered the race with a season record of 16-0, having completed its first undefeated dual-meet season since 1999.

 

At the start of the race, Ben Lawlor I and Will Cote IV led a pack of top ISL runners, outrun only by the eventual winner from Tabor Academy. Following closely behind were RL’s third through sixth runners with co-captain Will Connaughton I, George Madison V, and Daniel Gillis III leading the way. Javi Werner IV followed toward the middle of that group poised to pick up positions as the race progressed, and co-captain Robert Crawford I was close behind. As the race developed, RL’s runners held their positions and controlled their paces over a true cross-country course, which included a variety of challenging terrain.

 

In the end, RL runners placed 2nd, 3rd, 11th, 12th, 22nd, 29th, and 31st, posting a team score of 50 points, good for a first-place finish. This marks RL’s first ISL Championship in cross country. The Independent School League Championship meet began in 1972, and the cross country program at RL began in 1977. RL has placed second of the 16 league teams five previous times—in 1994, 1997, 1999, 2006, and 2016.

 

On Friday, the junior varsity cross country team also placed first, with runners filling the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 9th spots. The JV team caps off a winning season record of 14-2 and will join the varsity team this coming weekend as they travel to the Berkshire School for the New England Division 2 Cross Country championships. RL has previously earned the New England Championship four times—in 1993, 1994, 1999, and 2006.

 

RL’s junior cross country team has also completed an undefeated season (18-0), recently topping all twelve opponents at the Roxbury Latin Junior Jamboree meet, hosted on campus, with 28 points between their first-place win and a second-place Belmont Hill.View photos from the ISL Championship meet by John Werner.

Three RL boys, accompanied by history master Stewart Thomsen, competed at this year’s International Independent School Public Speaking Competition (IISPSC) held in Winnipeg, Canada. Students from North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia partook in the competition, hosted jointly by Gray Academy and Balmoral Hall. Joe Nero (Class I), and Kalyan Palepu and Trey Sullivan (both Class II), competed in three events each. Joe placed second in the Radio Newscast event—the first RL boy to mark in this event in at least the last 20 years.

 

To compete in this event, each student is given 30 minutes to prepare a four-minute, top-of-the-hour broadcast based on local, national, and international news publications. Joe, who typically competes in Cross-Examination and Parliamentary debate, was competing in Radio Newscast for the first time.

 

“One of the most challenging things about this event was being the last one to compete,” Joe says. “You’re not allowed to enter the room until it’s your turn to perform, so I didn’t know what I was up against.” In preparing for the event, Joe relied on videos of Radio Newscast performance, as well as on his experience as the game announcer for RL’s varsity football home games.

 

“The tournament is a long four days—it includes lots of practicing and lots of downtime—but I’m really proud of the way we all performed,” says Joe. “Kalyan and Trey did really well, and I could see that they improved quite a bit over those four days. They worked really hard.”

 

Joe’s performance at IISPSC qualifies him to become a member of the United States team for the World Individual Debate and Public Speaking Championships to be held in Cape Town, South Africa, in April.

On 2 November, Dr. Michael Massimino spoke with boys, faculty and staff about his path toward becoming an astronaut, and what he learned along the way. Now a professor at Columbia, Dr. Massimino was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in 1996—on what, he shared, was his fourth time applying for the role. Undaunted by the longshot odds of achieving his childhood dream of going to space, he simply persisted.

A veteran of two space flights—the fourth and fifth Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions in 2002 and 2009—Dr. Massimino enjoys accomplishments including setting a team record for the number of hours spacewalking in a single space shuttle mission, and being the first person to “tweet” from Space. He has earned a number of awards including two NASA Space Flight Medals, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, and the American Astronautical Society’s 2009 Flight Achievement Award.

 

In his presentation, Dr. Massimino shared photos and videos of the intensive training that astronauts undergo preparing for space travel. His NASA classmates include twins Mark and Scott Kelly, and Peggy Whitson, the U.S. record-holder for most time spent in space. Dr. Massimino walked his audience through his mistake of stripping a screw while making repairs on the Hubble Telescope, and the team problem-solving that kept the mission from failure. He also shared videos of the novelties his team encountered while eating in space—including suspended burritos that never lost their toppings.

 

Dr. Massimino is a professor of professional practice in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Columbia University’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Columbia Engineering and his master’s in Mechanical Engineering and Technology and Policy—as well as his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering—from MIT. Earlier in his career was an engineer at IBM, NASA Headquarters, and McDonnell Douglas Aerospace; he had also held academic appointments at Rice University and the Georgia Institute of Technology. At Columbia, Dr. Massimino teaches Introduction to Human Space Flight, an undergraduate class that harnesses his years of academic and professional experience. He also works with the Art of Engineering course, in which engineering students attend design lectures and complete engineering projects with socially responsible themes.

 

Dr. Massimino has had a recurring role as himself on the CBS comedy “The Big Bang Theory.” He appears frequently in specials on the Science, National Geographic and Discovery Channels, and on national and cable news. He is a frequent guest on late night talk shows including “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” where he has appeared five times. Dr. Massimino’s book, titled Spaceman: An Astronaut’s Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe, was released in fall 2016.

Over three days last week, Roxbury Latin welcomed 33 educators from across the US and Canada for the annual International Boys’ School Coalition’s “Teachers New to Boys’ Schools” conference. Beginning Thursday, 26 October, teachers attended seminars and engaged in discussion on topics such as the mission of boys’ schools; the social-emotional development of boys; giving boys a voice; and the “ecosystem” of boys’ schools.

 

Veteran RL masters taught seminars and led discussions, drawing on their long experience. Participants also heard from the students themselves on panels and in presentations. Friday morning, teachers broke into smaller groups and visited classes at RL and at our neighboring schools, Catholic Memorial and Dexter Southfield. Later, the heads of these institutions joined Headmaster Kerry Brennan for a panel discussion.

 

The conference included a hands-on session in RL’s IDEA lab at the end of classes on Friday afternoon. Under the direction of Class I students Andrew Gray, Robert Cunningham, and Zach Levin, and with the guidance of Director of Technology Nate Piper, teachers tested their design and construction skills. They were charged with using the tools and materials at hand to create a vessel that would travel the length of a zip line upright, without toppling the small, orange bear intended to ride on it. Trying out their creations, many were pleasantly surprised with their maker-space success.

 

Organized by Andy Chappell, Director of Studies and Strategic Initiatives, in conjunction with the IBSC, the conference brought together individuals invested in understanding, teaching, and caring for the boys in their charge. Roxbury Latin is a longtime member of the IBSC; Headmaster Brennan was re-elected for his third term as IBSC president this summer. Founded in 1995, IBSC connects dedicated educators worldwide to discover the best learning practices for boys. The Coalition includes more than 250 schools representing 250,000 boys in 20 countries.

 

View photos from this year’s conference.

On Thursday, 26 October, Governor Charlie Baker delivered the keynote Hall address to students, faculty, trustees, and guests, as the honored speaker for Roxbury Latin’s 2017 Founder’s Day celebration. Founded by John Eliot in 1645, Roxbury Latin is the oldest school in continuous existence in North America, and this year the school celebrates, in particular, its 90th year in West Roxbury.

 

In his remarks, Governor Baker told the boys that greatness comes in not shying away from discomfort. “If you truly want to be great,” he said, “in whatever field of endeavor, the likelihood that you will get there without a few setbacks is very small.” Governor Baker drew upon the experience of his first gubernatorial race, which he lost to Deval Patrick in 2010. After lots of consideration, and after facing uncomfortable realities about why that campaign wasn’t successful, he ran again and won the 2014 race by a slim margin. In that victory, Governor Baker was aware that half the electorate had voted for someone else, and he knew he had to prove himself to those constituents. “So, we built a bipartisan cabinet,” he said. “We went out of our way to talk to those people who worked for our opponents, and we chose the best people for the job, regardless of the letter at the end of their name.”

 

Governor Baker urged the boys to allow for the possibility of failure, and then to learn from that failure. “I hope when you come to those forks in the road you will choose the tough road. Because not only will you be better for it, so will we.”

 

Following Governor Baker’s remarks, students and faculty took part in special programming that drew on the School’s rich history. The Reverend F. Washington Jarvis—who served as Roxbury Latin’s headmaster from 1974 to 2004—delivered an historic presentation on the School’s evolution, dating back to the charter John Eliot received from King Charles I. Students then toured the campus in small groups, visiting faculty docents located at sites commemorating important figures in the School’s 373-year history. Finally, the boys visited Roxbury Latin’s neighboring St. Theresa of Avila in West Roxbury, to learn about the church’s art and architecture. 

 

The celebration continued into the evening, as alumni, faculty and friends gathered at Clery’s in Boston for the annual Founder’s Day Pub Night. See photos from the day here.See photos from Pub Night here.

Jack Manning ’16, a Boston College sophomore, became the first recipient of the BC Strong scholarship in a ceremony today at Boston College. The new scholarship was presented by Jessica Kensky and her husband, 2005 BC graduate Patrick Downes, who were newlyweds when both lost legs in the Marathon bombings in 2013.

 

The scholarship was the brainchild of group of close friends and BC classmates of Downes. The couple spent their long healing process reaching out to others impacted by traumatic injuries, especially people who have undergone amputations. Ms. Kensky and Mr. Downes felt Jack was a perfect fit for the scholarship.

 

As a young child, Jack endured a battle with cancer that led to his losing half his leg to the disease. Yet throughout his years at Roxbury Latin, he continued to play sports, competing in both baseball and football. Jack counsels young patients and their parents at Boston Children’s Hospital and is currently preparing for his third ride in the Pan-Mass Challenge to support the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Jack tells children facing the kind of amputation that he experienced as a child, “You can still be active…and not let it limit you,” he said.

 

Mr. Downes also sees the scholarship as part of an effort to make BC more inclusive and more navigable for people with physical limitations, and to build a community of support and mentorship.Read the Globe article here.

After classes on Monday, 16 October, Class IV master Jim Ryan took a group of his freshmen over to RL neighbor Deutsches Altenheim to spend time with the elderly residents there. The senior living community is accustomed to regular visits from Class IV—indeed, for years RL freshmen have been calling on the Altenheim residents, performing music, sharing their artwork, discussing poetry, delivering speeches, comparing family traditions. Each RL class conducts its own, yearlong service project, and getting to know our Altenheim neighbors is Class IV’s.

 

But Monday’s visit stood out. Accompanying the freshmen were two upper classmen: junior John Frates, who has just published a book of wordsearch puzzles, and senior Ben LaFond, who is the latest in a growing cadre of RL boys who have been bitten by the crossword bug.

 

Altenheim residents were gathered around small tables and in soft chairs in the Vista Room while John and Ben each gave a short presentation on the process of puzzle making. In the lively Q&A that followed, the two boys answered questions about how they got interested in making puzzles in the first place. Ben owes his avocation to Math Department Chair John Lieb, who—though a relative newcomer to crossword creation—has had eleven of his puzzles published in the New York Times. John Frates was inspired to create his book of wordsearches when his grandmother began having more difficulty with her memory and struggled with the standard word-search puzzle books she used to love.

 

The rest of the time was spent tackling the sheets of wordsearches and crossword puzzles John and Ben brought with them, the boys working side-by-side with their hosts. Laughter and conversation buzzed around huddled heads and sharpened pencils—a witness to the sheer fun of puzzle-solving that engages young and old without discrimination.

Homecoming and Family Day on Saturday, 14 October, brought crowds—despite the threat of damp weather. Alumni, students, and their families (as well as visiting teams and guests) enjoyed a barbecue lunch under the colonade of the Gordon Field House, while cheering varsity teams in contests throughout the afternoon. Both RL soccer (vs Tabor) and cross country (vs Belmont Hill) won; football (vs Nobles) was a close loss. At halftime, sixies and fifthies tested their mettle in the annual tug-of-war on Schoolhouse Field, with fifthies victorious.Prior to the barbecue and games, Admission Director Billy Quirk ’04 gave a presentation in the Evans Choral Room for alumni considering an independent school for their sons or daughters.See photos of the day here.