Paul Kuechler ’18 is currently living in Spain, employed by the New York Yacht Club American Magic as their boat, Patriot, sailed and competed in the 37th America’s Cup sailing race. Paul works as a mechanical design engineer for the team, a role he has had since graduating from Harvard College in May of 2022, where he earned his degree in mechanical engineering. 

Paul is a long-time sailor and sailing instructor, going on to sail for Harvard during his time there. For someone with a passion for sailing and engineering, it is hard to envision a more perfect role than as an engineer on a team in the most prestigious sailing competition in the world. “I’m on the boat every day; I help support all aspects of it,” says Paul.

For someone like Paul, whose life revolves around both the precision of engineering and the unpredictability of the sea, the intricacies of yacht maintenance and safety are never theoretical; they are a daily, hands-on responsibility that can mean the difference between victory and disaster. Every component of a high-performance racing yacht must be meticulously inspected, maintained, and tested, from the hydraulic systems to the hull integrity, ensuring that the vessel performs flawlessly under extreme conditions.

This kind of diligence extends beyond competition yachts to the broader world of marine vessels, where even small oversights can compromise safety and functionality. Resources and guidance for proper upkeep, accessible through their website, offer insight into the rigorous standards that keep yachts seaworthy and crews safe, highlighting how maintenance is as critical as design in any marine operation.

For Paul, mastering the balance between engineering excellence and practical seamanship exemplifies how the art and science of yachting intersect, reinforcing that true expertise lies in both understanding the mechanics and respecting the demands of the water. He attributes much of where he is now to his time at RL. He participated in the first iteration of RL’s Topics in Engineering and Design class, a course designed and instructed by Mr. Greg Sokol, now in its ninth year. “Much of my job is rapid prototyping and 3D modeling,” says Paul,  “and that class was my first formal introduction into engineering.” The course consists of small units, each covering a different type of engineering and often building upon past units. Structuring it this way exposes students to the breadth of engineering rather than just one specific area. 

Mr. Sokol recalls, “Paul was an exceptionally bright and mature student, exactly the kind of participant I needed in the very first iteration of my Topics in Engineering and Design course in the 2016-2017 school year. He was a confident and creative leader in all aspects of the course, as well as a responsive collaborator. He and his peers helped me in a fundamental way to shape my course for the years to come.”

The America’s Cup runs through the end of October. Unfortunately, NYCC American Magic lost to Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli after a hard-fought comeback in the semi-finals. As for what’s in store for Kuechler now? A question that has been on his mind. “It would be nice to come back home to the U.S.,” he ruminates. Perhaps a trip back to RL and the course that started it all is in his future.

Dear Roxbury Latin community,

At this time a year ago, at the announcement of my appointment as the next Head of The Roxbury Latin School, I wrote of how honored and humbled and excited I was to be joining this community. In the twelve months since, those feelings have only grown.  As I have visited campus this year, talked with so many of you, and witnessed the school in action, I have been struck again and again by Roxbury Latin’s values and its strength. Whether eating lunch with Class II boys in the Refectory; or witnessing the magic that happens in Mr. Diop’s French class; or chatting with faculty members between blocks in the faculty room; or hearing Mr. Opdycke recount the exhilaration of singing in St. Peter’s Basilica on the spring break trip; or watching the livestream of Exelauno Day declamations; or joining the boys in heartily singing “give an Alpha, Beta, Gamma” in Hall; or meeting proud RL graduates at a Washington, DC, alumni event; or having coffee with Trustees eager to talk about our school; or meeting current parents as I toured schools with my daughter; or following our sports teams’ incredible successes on Instagram; or spending hours absorbing Mr. Brennan’s wisdom about Roxbury Latin, I have seen these values in action. I have seen boys flourishing. I have seen a dedication to excellence and to character and to a rigorous liberal arts curriculum. I have seen the importance of a broad access to education. What a remarkable school and what a remarkable community to join. I am so grateful for the opportunity.

And what more fitting place to begin my tenure than where I currently am, at the annual conference of the International Boys’ School Coalition, a group dedicated to the education of boys that was founded some thirty years ago in large part by Tony Jarvis, and of which Kerry Brennan has served as Chair of the Board. It is a group that owes much of its strength and legacy to RL. And so as I begin my time in the Roxbury Latin community, I am not only surrounded by teachers and leaders from boys’ schools all over the world, but I am also spending time with Headmaster Brennan, who is here celebrating his remarkable tenure with friends and colleagues, and visiting workshops and panels with Dr. Dunn and Ms. Salas and Mr. Smith and Mr. Teixera and Sr. Solis, and contemplating how we can make the experiences of our RL boys even richer. It’s invigorating and fulfilling and fitting. So while I am not on campus this first week of my official time at Roxbury Latin, I am with the school in spirit and in purpose and, in part, with its people.

I will close this greeting—for it is indeed a greeting—by reiterating how grateful I am to join the Roxbury Latin community. I am so eager to be a part of the school, to take part in its traditions, to promote its standards, to communicate its uniqueness, to build on the great work of those who have come before me, and to continue to make Roxbury Latin a place where boys can learn and grow and thrive. I am deeply humbled to follow in the footsteps of Kerry Brennan, and I will do my best to serve the school and the boys with thought and care. And I am so excited to begin. I should say that we are so excited—my wife Dana, my daughter Ernie, and I—to begin, to begin this next chapter in our lives and to get to know you all in the days and months and years ahead. In the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful, restful, and restorative summer. I will see you very soon.

Sam

Dear Friends:

And so it comes to an end. I sit finally at my desk in the Headmaster’s Office, one that has been occupied with distinction by my predecessors—beginning with Daniel Varney Thompson, during whose administration the school moved from Kearsarge Avenue in Roxbury to its spatial digs here in West Roxbury. This perch has seen its fair share of travails and joys over the years, but no pleasure is more significant than the perspective it affords on the life of the school, the joyful churn of our boys about their business, and the opportunity between classes each and every day to be reminded of our central focus: to know and love every boy.

Since in February 2023 I announced my retirement, people have been extraordinarily thoughtful in their accounting of what my twenty years as Headmaster have meant to the school, and how we would together look forward to my remaining time in this role. But the past few, fleeting months have offered joyful affirmations of our time spent together—too many and too much to recount appropriately in this missive. Suffice it to say that I have felt affirmed and appreciated through these flattering valedictions. I am so grateful for the many kindnesses shown me over these past few months. I hope people will forgive me if I do not respond personally—as I should—but offer here my profound, humble thanks to all of you for your remarkably generous remembrances and good wishes.

As I have said repeatedly, it is I who should be offering thanks. First, for hearing the call to this vocation—so meaningful and so enriching. Next, that in 1978, and again in a new capacity in 2004, that I should be matched with a peerless school whose distinctive mission changes positively the lives of a democratically gathered group of boys who themselves will change their various communities and our world for the better; and, finally, that I should be drawn together with a peerless set of colleagues, blessedly supportive trustees, trusting parents, loyal alumni, and, best of all, talented, committed, caring, quirky, funny, loving boys who want to do their best and want to be their best. In this calling, I could not have had a more challenging, satisfying, meaningful life. For that, I shall always be grateful.

Tomorrow, my friend, Sam Schaffer, takes up the baton as our leader. As you have read, Sam has distinguished himself as an educator, especially as a brilliant teacher. He has cut his teeth at a wonderful boys’ school, St. Albans, and has served in a number of significant capacities there. His own intellectual fervor and his sense of excellence will serve him well at RL. Best of all, though, Sam loves kids. He is engaged by and delighted by the boys in his care. He has already found RL boys irresistible. You can imagine that I am especially reassured that we share that priority: always boys first. As you have done for me, I ask you to do for Sam: to be supportive, encouraging, and patient as he comes to know Roxbury Latin, its programs, its principles, and its people. He deserves the earnest hopes and prayers of all of us.

Finally, as I continue to live in Boston, I hope that our paths will cross regularly. I have pledged my support for Sam, and I will be delighted to help as needed. I am especially eager to extend and deepen the relationships you and I share, and I hope I will see you often. Thank you for all you have said about me, all that you have done for me, and all that you have meant to me. I have felt known and loved. Ave atque vale.

Sincerely,
Kerry P. Brennan
Headmaster

This month, more than 800 alumni and parents, faculty and friends joined together to honor Headmaster Kerry Brennan’s 20 years of dedicated service in leading Roxbury Latin, and to celebrate his retirement at the end of this school year. On May 11, in the McNay Palaistra, guests gathered to hear from several of Mr. Brennan’s beloved friends and colleagues about what he has meant to them, to this school, and to the hundreds of students that he has known and loved over the course of his career and years at RL.

Father John Unni, pastor of Saint Cecilia Church in Boston, opened the program with an invocation, followed by warm welcome remarks from Tom Guden ‘96, Assistant Headmaster for Advancement. In typical Kerry Brennan fashion, the program was full of song, featuring performances by RL’s Latonics (of “Been In The Storm” and “Valerie”), as well as two songs performed by Mr. Brennan’s own all-male a capella group The Sly Voxes (“Will The Circle Be Unbroken” and “How Deep Is Your Love”). The two groups then combined to perform “An Irish Blessing.”

Dennis Kanin ‘64, former president of RL’s Board of Trustees, delivered the first of three dedicated remarks, followed by Mike Pojman—member of the Roxbury Latin faculty for 43 years—and, finally, Rick Hawley, Headmaster Emeritus of Cleveland’s University School. Each spoke to the remarkable impact that Kerry has had on RL’s program, its campus, and—most important—its people.

Dennis described how he served on the search committee that led to Kerry’s appointment as headmaster 20 years ago. “The night before Kerry was introduced as the 11th Headmaster of Roxbury Latin, John Kerry won the New Hampshire presidential primary. Talk about serendipity! The next morning a triumphant Kerry Brennan stood on the stage of Rousmaniere Hall and held up a copy of that day’s Boston Herald. The full-page headline read “Kerry Riding High!” That morning, Kerry pledged, as he put it, to be ‘both the respectful guardian of this great School’s tradition and the hopeful advocate of its promise.’

“The hopeful advocate of its promise. What better description of the era of Kerry Brennan than those six words. The philosopher William James wrote that faith is the courage to act when doubt is warranted. Kerry has that kind of faith. It was with that faith in the future that he led the School to purchase almost 50 acres of adjacent vacant land for the benefit of generations of RL boys to come. It was that faith that led him to boldly freeze tuition for two years—and to the surprise of many, parents who could stepped up to close the gap and bring the Annual Fund to a whole new plateau. It was that boundless faith, and perseverance, that led him to take on the ‘nimbys’ and the doubters and build the hockey rink and the Indoor Athletic Facility. Indeed, the Choral Room, the Idea Lab, bringing Broadway to 101 St. Theresa Avenue, the Penn Fellows program, the revolutionary installation of air conditioning at Roxbury Latin(!), and the far-reaching Strategic Plan that embodied Kerry’s vision of the School’s future—all stand as testament to that faith.”

Mike Pojman shared, “A school head must juggle five constituencies—the students, the parents, the faculty, the trustees, and the alumni—ever-sensitive to the needs of each group individually while shepherding all five onto common ground. When managed effectively, they fill the fingers of a well-tailored glove. If any one group goes into spasms, however, the glove no longer fits. Each has its own perspective; one may be blind to the needs of the others; sometimes they have conflicting agendas. By knowing, appreciating, and hearing—but not indulging—Kerry has successfully kept everyone moving in the same direction, sustaining a remarkable community with shared values based on mutual respect. It’s an elegant foxtrot, but anyone who has seen Kerry on the dance floor knows that the guy can cut a rug.

“Serving so faithfully and so tirelessly throughout his two decades at the helm, Kerry has accomplished more than I can put into words. The buildings, the programs, the initiatives, they are his profound and enduring legacy. But most consequentially, from the moment he stepped onto this campus, it has been all about the boys. They have been his number one priority, always. Kerry puts everything he has into supporting the faculty and staff as we dedicate ourselves to loving, nurturing, and challenging these boys—doing our best to set them on a path that empowers them to find their way as they strive to be all that they aspire to be.”

Rick Hawley concluded, “In a profession in which the mission is to promote learning, it helps that Kerry is himself a devoted lifetime learner. He was a prodigious scholar at Amherst and Columbia. He is a constant and deep reader, who has an informed passion for American politics and history. He devoted his Master’s degree studies while a Klingenstein Fellow at Columbia to the under-sung but essential place of the arts in school life, and he has enhanced the arts dimension in every school he has served, no more so than at this one. He understands what too few of his colleagues in school leadership understand: the primacy of relationship—the knowing and loving—in school life, and that knowing and loving must be prior to scholastic distinction, prizes, and victories that schools can be too quick to trumpet. It helps that Kerry does not merely know these things; he is able to communicate them persuasively and eloquently.”

Following these remarks, Ethan Berman ’79, president of the Board of Trustees, presented Mr. Brennan with several gifts including a scholarship in his name that will financially support the tuition of several RL boys each year; the dedication of RL’s Director of Music position in his name; a commissioned portrait which now hangs in the schoolhouse’s main hallway; a book of his Hall talks representing 20 years; a watercolor painting of the Indoor Athletic Facility created by Erik Zou ’19; and a bound book of well wishes from decades of his friends and fans.

Finally, Mr. Brennan himself took to the lectern to deliver poignant, powerful—even funny—words of gratitude for the career he has loved and for the many people who have given him “a life worth living.”

Following the program—which concluded in a rousing rendition of “The Founder’s Song”—guests repaired to the Gordon Fieldhouse for food, drink, and fellowship.

On May 23, alumni parents from over Mr. Brennan’s tenure gathered on campus to celebrate his retirement and wish him well, and after this year’s culminating Prize Day Hall, Roxbury Latin students and college-aged grads will celebrate Mr. Brennan with a barbeque lunch.

Watch the entirety of the May 11 celebration program, including complete remarks from all speakers.

View a gallery of photos from the May 11 celebration.

Ronald “Trey” Sullivan, member of RL’s Class of 2019 and a senior at Harvard, was selected as one of 51 students nationwide to be named to the Marshall Scholarship Class of 2024. Recipients will spend the next two years in the United Kingdom to pursue graduate studies at the college or university of their choice.

At Harvard, Trey is pursuing his bachelor’s degree in history and literature, with a language citation in French. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year, Trey also received the Lucy Allen Paton Prize for excellence in Humanities and the Fine Arts in the same year, which is awarded to a member of Harvard’s junior and senior classes, respectively, who shows great promise in the fields.

Trey is a founding member and editor for Indigo magazine, the premier Black literature and arts publication of Harvard’s undergraduate community. He is a member of the university’s Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program, which seeks to promote diversity and emphasizes the path to doctoral studies in the humanities and social sciences for talented undergraduates in the fields. Trey has also served as chair of the Politics of Race and Ethnicity program at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, a program that focuses on the intersection of race, ethnicity and politics, and provides a welcoming space for learning and reflection through discussion.

According to The Harvard Gazette, Trey has focused his undergraduate studies on “the organization of labor and distribution of land in the French Caribbean after France abolished slavery in its colonies in 1848, and how 19th-century ideologies shaped the way Black labor laws and land rights were legislated.”

As a Marshall Scholar, Trey will pursue a PhD in history at the University of Cambridge, and engage in a comparative analysis of labor policies across the French and British Caribbean, as well as the American South, in the aftermath of the abolition of slavery.

Photo courtesy UK Consulate Boston

Thanks to the generosity and hard work of many, Roxbury Latin has completed another record-setting year in fundraising, exceeding our goals for 2022-2023. Gifts made to the Annual Fund this year totaled more than $4,831,000—setting a new record for the 14th year in a row. We are grateful for and humbled by the benefactions, each year, that allow us to welcome and support the most talented, interesting, aspiring, eclectic cohort of students in Greater Boston; to attract, develop, compensate, and retain a uniquely gifted, effective, and committed faculty; and to maintain the distinctive financial model that supports our mission and allows us to educate dedicated and deserving boys from in and around Boston, regardless of their families’ ability to pay.

These gifts allow Roxbury Latin to fill the nearly $29,000 gap between tuition and the actual cost of educating each boy. They also allow us to charge an average of $19,000 less in tuition compared to other Boston-area schools.

Below is a glance at the year in fundraising “by the numbers.” A more comprehensive assessment of Roxbury Latin’s 2022-2023 year in fundraising will appear in the Fall issue of the Newsletter. Thank you to all those whose belief in this school has helped to make a difference in the lives of Roxbury Latin boys today and in the future.

On June 3, the 378th year of The Roxbury Latin School culminated with Closing Exercises and the graduation of the Class of 2023. The traditional and intimate ceremony—which includes the seniors, their families, the faculty and trustees—took place in Rousmaniere Hall. Immediately after the ceremony, under cloudy skies, the 52 newest alumni of The Roxbury Latin School celebrated on the Senior Grass with classmates, family members, and members of the faculty. The light drizzle of the morning did nothing to dampen spirits. (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 America The Beautiful, Commemoration Hymn, and The Founder’s Song, as well as a performance of Ave Verum Corpus sung by The Latonics, featuring eight of the day’s graduates. The ringing of the school bell, chiming 3-7-8, officially concluded the school year.

Class valedictorian, elected by his classmates, was Akshay Kumar, whose speech expounded upon the personal meaning and relevance of poet Anne Bradstreet’s line, “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant.” Akshay’s address drew a standing ovation from his classmates; you can read those remarks in full here.

The elegant and powerful commencement address was delivered by The Reverend Morgan Allen, rector of Boston’s venerable Trinity Church, and father to graduating senior Michael Allen. Father Allen shared with the graduating seniors three beautifully drawn and important lessons—about what they’ve been given, and what they might choose to do with those gifts—through the 1864 essay titled “The Generous Gambler,” by Parisian poet Charles Baudelaire. Read Father Allen’s address in full.

Following the ceremony’s addresses, Headmaster Brennan and President of the Board of Trustees Ethan Berman ’79 awarded diplomas to the 52 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 Owen Butler and Emmanuel Nwodo.

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

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 Akshay Kumar.