Roxbury Latin students and faculty gathered in Rousmaniere Hall on Wednesday to celebrate a distinctly RL tradition: Exelauno Day. The tradition dates back over 130 years, when Classics master Clarence Willard Gleason inaugurated a celebration of the Classics, in which Greek students would be exempted from homework for the day. Today, the event allows for the singular annual pleasure of hearing from declaimers of every age and level of exposure to Latin and Greek. Gleason chose March 4th as a punny reference to Xenophon’s Anabasis and its use of the verb “exelauno,” meaning “to march forth.”

During the morning’s special Hall, boys in Class VI through Class I competed in this year’s David Taggart Clark Competition in Greek and Latin Declamation—reciting ancient words from classic texts that brought to life scenes such as “Epops summons his fellow avians,” “Cicero accuses Marc Antony,” and “Icarus flies too close to the sun.” Classics Department Chair and Exelauno Hall emcee, Mrs. Morris-Kliment, welcomed Jay Kardan, Professor Emeritus of Randolph College, to the lectern to announce the results. This year’s winners were Ky Lima of Class V (Lower School Latin), Andrew Kramer of Class IV (Intermediate Latin), Marco Suri of Class I (Upper School Latin), and Aspen Johnson of Class I (Greek).

RL extends its heartfelt gratitude to this year’s Exelauno Day judges, the aforementioned Jay Kardan; Andrew Chappell, Head of School of The Derryfield School; and Erin Russo, Latin Teacher at Newton Country Day School.

View a video of the morning’s Exelauno Day Hall in its entirety. You can also view a complete gallery of photos taken in the morning by Evan Scales. Congratulations to all of the day’s declaimers for impressive performances across the board.

“We love to tell young people that they stand on the shoulders of giants,” began Dr. Yohuru Williams in Hall on January 20. “Gentlemen, that’s a lie. You do not stand on the shoulders of giants. You are the giants.” Dr. Williams delivered this year’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration Address, as we honored the life, work, and legacy of Dr. King.

Before Dr. Williams took to the lectern, Colin Bradley (I) read “I Dream a World,” a poem by Langston Hughes. Following that, Brayden Gillespie (I) read an excerpt from Martin Luther King’s 1964 Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech.

Dr. Williams spoke about the immense power in the hands of young people gathered in community, like those at Roxbury Latin. This power, though, can be misused if not approached responsibly. “You must learn to wield the incredible force and power that you have in a way that perpetuates our shared humanity,” he stated. “It must be utilized in a way that is anchored in human compassion, and that begins with the idea that the brotherhood of mankind is what we should all be prioritizing.”

Throughout his address, Dr. Williams spoke about the importance of our shared humanity and the need to step out of one’s comfort zone and make intentional choices for the greater good. “Men who live only for themselves—accumulating knowledge, power, and advantage without regard for others—they do not become more fully human. They become less so.” 

“Dr. King will tell you that the revolution will not wait for you to wake up. So let me be clear about what this moment asks of you, asks of me, asks of all of us: It does not ask you to have all the answers. It does not ask you to be perfect. But it does ask you to stay awake, stay engaged.”

Dr. Williams’s influence and impact were felt throughout the day, with many faculty, staff, and students marveling at how engaging and important his speech was, and at how resonant his message of being engaged feels right now.

“I want to have an open and honest conversation with you, about a topic that we in the adult world have launched on you, but haven’t quite figured out how to talk about yet,” began Harry Levant in Hall on January 13. Dr. Levant is the Director of Gambling Policy with the Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) at Northeastern University and is an Internationally Certified Gambling Counselor, mental health therapist, and Doctor of Law and Policy. He is also a former gambling addict.

During his talk, Dr. Levant discussed the prevalence of the sports betting industry, which has become not only normalized but also romanticized, due to companies like DraftKings and FanDuel. He distinguished this type of betting from the standard casino or in-person gambling that existed when he was younger. “I am in favor of the properly regulated legalization of sports gambling. I’m for it,” he said, acknowledging it as a cultural pastime that goes back centuries. “However, what we have launched is not properly regulated and is not safe. In fact, it’s an entirely new kind of gambling.” He then demonstrated that access to gambling today is as simple as downloading an app onto your phone.

Before opening the room up to questions, Dr. Levant touched on several noteworthy dangers or tricks hidden in sports betting platforms, such as new offers that are too good to be true. For example, he showed the audience an ad that said a $5 bet would earn the user $300. However, while some might think this is actual money, it is actually just in-game credits that fuel the game’s chase. He also explained how games on your phone with in-store credits are structured to prime users to get accustomed to unlocking rewards and bonuses through progress and playtime.

After the Hall, Dr. Levant spent time with Class V in their Health and Wellness class, discussing some of the parallels between online sports betting and the video games kids begin playing at a young age. He also met with advanced math students in Class I and II, where the boys asked more questions, about prediction markets, game theory applications in sports betting, and about what would make this type of gambling safer. The evening before he spoke with boys in Hall, he also gave a presentation to the Parents’ Auxiliary.

As the Director of Gambling Policy at PHAI, Dr. Levant works to bring about much-needed change in how gambling is regulated and promoted. His department believes that the current state of the industry, with its easy accessibility and aggressive advertising, poses a looming public health crisis, akin to that of cigarettes decades ago. Mr. Levant holds a Doctorate of Law and Public Policy from Northeastern University, and a Master’s in Professional Clinical Counseling from La Salle University. He has testified before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee about the potential public health crisis caused by sports betting, and his work has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, 60 Minutes, and CNN.

“It’s part of my mission to convince you that all of us are mathematical people, by virtue of being human people, and if we could see the human parts of mathematics, we might have a different relationship with it,” began Dr. Francis Su during Hall in the Smith Theater on December 9. Francis Su is the Benediktsson-Karwa Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College, and a former president of the Mathematical Association of America. His research is in topological and geometric combinatorics and applications to the sciences, including game theory, voting theory, and the mathematics of fair decisions.

During his talk, Dr. Su encouraged the RL community to seek and value the wonder in math and education, rather than viewing them as transactional, or as a means to get ahead or enter an impressive career. “Think about education as something that forms you—it changes you, it builds your character. It changes your attitudes toward things, and it gives you certain habits of mind, certain dispositions that shape the way you move in the world.”

At the beginning of his talk, Dr. Su performed a card trick during which he perfectly and continuously selected pairs of one red and one black card from a shuffled deck, which he later explained was just a mathematical pattern. From this point forward, both students and faculty were deeply engaged and intrigued, some perhaps seeing math in a new light, as something that can be fun and enlightening. “You are all learning how to look at the world differently through your education,” he said. “You are starting to see things more closely, more deeply, whether that’s a deck of cards and a card trick, whether that’s trying to figure out if someone’s trying to dupe you or take advantage of you, whether that’s being able to look at the beauty of the world and see something wonderful about it. These things make your life richer.”

Dr. Su has a passion for teaching and popularizing mathematics through writing and public engagement. His work has been featured in Quanta Magazine, Wired, and The New York Times. He authors the popular Math Fun Facts website, and three of his articles have been featured in Princeton Press’s Best Writing on Mathematics. From the Mathematical Association of America, he received the 2018 Halmos-Ford award for mathematical writing and the 2013 Haimo Award for distinguished teaching of college-level mathematics. Dr. Su earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin and his doctorate from Harvard University.