The National Merit Scholarship Program recently announced the names of students in the Class of 2024, across the country, earning recognition for their academic achievement. This year, 17 Roxbury Latin boys have been recognized—nine named National Merit Scholar semifinalists, and eight others earning commendations from program officials.

In this 69th annual National Merit Scholarship competition, semifinalists have the opportunity to become finalists and compete for some 7,250 National Merit Scholarships, nationwide. The awards are supported by the organization and approximately 340 businesses and educational institutions, to “honor the nation’s scholastic champions and encourage the pursuit of academic excellence.”

Juniors from across the United States entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship program by taking the 2022 PSAT, which serves as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state. From the approximately 16,000 semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to become finalists. Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for academic success at the college level.

Roxbury Latin boys earning recognition this year include semifinalists Theo Coben, Leo Bene, Joseph Wang, Lucas Vander Elst, Aidan D’Alessandro, Akhilsai Damera, Eric Zhu, Dennis Jin, and Jack Tompros; and commendation recipients Ian Fuller, Hunter Lane, Ryan Lin, Ryan Peterson, Ayan Shekhar, Reid Spence, Justin Yamaguchi, and Evan Zhang.

On September 8, 42 new Sixies—along with nine intrepid Class I leaders and faculty chaperones—trekked to Beaver Brook in Hollis, New Hampshire, for a tradition that dates back sixty years. Upon arriving, Class VI boys were immediately met with their first challenge: a test of their knowledge of “the oldest school in continuous existence in North America.” Charged with successfully separating Roxbury Latin fact from fiction and producing the most correct answers in the questionnaire, Sixies face an uphill battle: Those well-versed seniors and teachers may purposefully throw them off track with bogus answers, allowing for the single time all year when our watchwords “honesty is expected in all dealings” go out the window.

The day, organized by Class VI Dean Elizabeth Carroll, continued with team building activities (including a low ropes course, communication and leadership games, and an orienteering challenge that required a crash course in terrain maps and compasses). After dinner, Sixies gathered in the barn for the annual viewing of the 1957 film Twelve Angry Men, with small group discussions to follow; these were animated but decidedly more civil than the ones depicted on screen. The evening ended around the “campfire” (a creatively concocted non-incendiary version, given the group’s move indoors due to the rain) where Mr. Opdycke taught new boys The Founder’s Song before it was time for s’mores. The boys then retreated to their sleeping quarters in the barn—having bravely survived both thunderstorms and bee stings!—for a short night’s sleep after a full and exciting day.

The following morning, after breakfast, each Sixie was given a hand-written letter from his big brother offering words of wisdom for the years ahead. Each boy then addressed a letter to himself, to be opened at his senior retreat five years from now. As they closed their notebooks, packed up their gear, and boarded the bus home, the Class of 2029 joined a brotherhood of RL men and boys who have, for sixty years now, sat around the campfire at Beaver Brook, singing about Roundheads and eating s’mores. It is a brotherhood that spans generations.

View photos from this year’s Beaver Brook trip.

Part of Roxbury Latin’s continuity is that we are always welcoming new people to our ranks—students, faculty, and staff. This year, four new members of the faculty are joining RL as teachers, coaches and advisors.

Matt Phillips joins us as a Penn Fellow, teaching a section of English 12, as well as two levels of dramatics, and directing all three of our theater productions as Director of Dramatics. Most recently, Mr. Phillips served as a Teaching Fellow at Groton School, at which he taught two sections of sophomore English, helped support students through a program of writing tutorials, and aided in the direction and production of several dramatic productions. Mr. Phillips graduated from a famous boys’ school, Saint Joseph’s in Philadelphia. His theater bug began there and blossomed during his four years at Georgetown. Mr. Phillips earned his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in English and Classics. A rare junior Phi Beta Kappa inductee, he received several prizes, among these the Regent’s Medal for outstanding achievement in the study of Classics and distinction for the best essay on any subject in the discipline of English. While Mr. Phillips was proficient in Latin, his passion and forte is Ancient Greek. As an undergraduate, Mr. Phillips acted in and directed a host of shows including Cabaret, The Rover, and J.B. At RL, in addition to directing the Senior Play, the Junior Play, and the musical, Mr. Phillips will teach and coach public speaking.

Jeff Ott comes to us from an array of education-related enterprises. Most recently, he served as a long-term substitute teacher at St. Mark’s School in Southborough. Before that, he was a senior behavioral designer for ideas42, a company intent on offering improving educational outcomes in various settings. Prior to that, Mr. Ott taught public speaking to students in Japan and developed an environmental science curriculum in Vietnam; that curriculum ended up being used by over 5,000 students. Mr. Ott also served for a year as a substitute teacher at Bromfield School in Harvard, MA, at which he taught environmental science and AP Psychology. An avid naturalist, Mr. Ott has worked for the National Museum of History in Washington, D.C., and has led numerous birding expeditions. Perhaps his most enduring project as a birder is on behalf of the Appledore Island enterprise in Maine, charged with recording migration patterns of 10,000 birds representative of seventy different species. A native of Chelmsford, MA, Mr. Ott enrolled in Belmont Hill School in ninth grade. He took the place by storm as a scholar and athlete. While a competitor in three seasons, he earned his most distinctive laurels in wrestling. Elected captain of that traditionally powerful team, he became one of the most decorated performers in that storied program’s history by earning four New England championships, as well as becoming the first national champion in Belmont Hill’s history. He was also named an All-American four times. Mr. Ott went on to Harvard College from which he graduated cum laude with concentrations in psychology and economics. At Harvard, he captained the wrestling team and was a four-time conference place winner, two-time academic All-American, and an NCAA qualifier. At RL, Mr. Ott will teach Introduction to Physical Science (IPS) to Class V boys, as well as AP Economics to seniors. He will also coach junior football and wrestling.

Karen Buitrago joins us this year as a Penn Fellow and as a member of the Modern Language Department. A Colombia native, Ms. Buitrago grew up in Maryland and attended Connecticut’s famous boarding school, Choate Rosemary Hall, for high school, after which she matriculated at the language beacon, Middlebury College. There she majored in French and Francophone Studies; she also studied art history on an immersion experience in Paris. Currently she is enrolled in Middlebury’s Master’s in Translation program. This time, Ms. Buitrago is concentrating on her native language, Spanish. Last year, Ms. Buitrago taught two levels of Spanish, supervised a dorm, and created several YouTube grammar videos to complement her 50-page grammar workbook—all at Worcester Academy. Now Ms. Buitrago joins us to pursue her graduate studies at Penn as well as to teach a section of French 1 and a section of Spanish 2, assist with debate, help coach junior tennis, and support RL’s social media presence.

Blake Sundel is a native of Northern Virginia, having attended Fork Union Military Academy in central Virginia. A well-established boys’ school, Fork Union offered Mr. Sundel countless opportunities to lead and achieve. Elected president of the student body, he excelled academically and as an athlete. Just last year, he was welcomed back as their commencement speaker. Mr. Sundel went on to Harvard College from which he graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s in history of art and architecture as well as history. All four years, he was a standout on the Harvard Swimming and Diving Team earning team champion distinction in 2014. Mr. Sundel also served as executive editor of The Harvard Crimson’s sports board, served as a teaching assistant in the Crimson Summer Academy, and as a Summer School proctor. For three years, Mr. Sundel taught English, government, world history, and African American studies to a range of boys at Belmont Hill. He also coached eighth grade soccer and the Middle School track and field team. Additionally, Mr. Sundel was active in admission work and spearheaded the creation of the Summit Scholars Program. This complemented his efforts on behalf of the Belmont Hill Diversity Committee. After a one-year hiatus in the consulting world, Mr. Sundel earned his MBA at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, at which he served as president of the honor committee. He heard the siren call of teaching, however, and headed back to the East Coast to teach at Washington, D.C.’s prestigious St. Albans School, again teaching English and history, as well as coaching the Middle School swimming and diving team to its most successful record in school history. He also led the essential Skip Grant Program, which provides support to traditionally underrepresented students at the school. Returning to Boston and working for the first time at RL, Mr. Sundel will teach sections of English 8, English 9, and English 10, and coach soccer and track and field. He will also be active as a member of our admission efforts.

Roxbury Latin’s Board of Trustees has announced the appointment of Dr. Sam Schaffer as RL’s 12th head of school, to succeed Kerry Brennan upon his retirement at the end of the 2023-2024 school year. Dr. Schaffer has spent the last two decades of his career at St. Albans School in Washington, DC, where he currently serves as Head of Upper School.

Message from the Board President

Dear Roxbury Latin community,

On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I am delighted to announce the appointment of Sam Schaffer as the next head of Roxbury Latin.  Sam will begin his tenure at the start of the 2024-2025 school year upon the retirement of Kerry Brennan on June 30, 2024.

Sam is currently the Head of Upper School at St. Albans School, an independent boys’ school in Washington, DC.  He has spent his entire career on two related pursuits: boys’ education and academic excellence.  Valedictorian, class president, and three-sport athlete of his high school class in Atlanta, Sam was a Morehead Scholar and Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina where he majored in history with a minor in Latin.  He spent a year teaching and coaching at Groton before moving to St. Albans where, in only his second year, the senior class awarded him the John F. McCune Prize for teaching.  After six years as a dorm parent, history teacher, advisor, and varsity football and basketball coach, Sam left St. Albans to pursue a graduate degree in history from Yale, where he wrote his dissertation on Woodrow Wilson’s generation and the South from 1884 to 1920.  After receiving his Ph.D. in 2010, Sam was named the Cassius Marcellus Clay Postdoctoral Associate in Yale’s Department of History and the Gilder-Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition.  From 2007 to 2011, he served as a fellow and coordinator at Yale’s McDougal Graduate Teaching Center, organizing workshops for teachers across disciplines. 

Sam returned to St. Albans in 2012 as the Assistant then Associate Dean of Faculty, while also serving as Assistant Director of College Counseling, teaching history, and coaching at various levels, before becoming Head of the Upper School in 2021.  As Associate Dean of Faculty, Sam worked closely with the dean of faculty in all faculty hiring, and developed and implemented a new and highly successful teacher evaluation program that a former teacher remarked “has now become part of the ether there and deeply embedded in the institution.”  Sam was also St. Albans’s representative at the Penn Fellows Teaching program where St. Albans, like Roxbury Latin, recruits and develops young teachers.  In these administrative roles, Sam has shown “a talent for seeing the potential in others” and was repeatedly referred to as a wonderful mentor who cares deeply for students “as well as for adults who care for students.”

However, as is always the case at our school, more important than his impressive resume is who Sam is as a person.  On this front, our extensive interactions with Sam as well as his references could not have been stronger.  Direct quotes from references included  “the most trustworthy and ethical person you will ever meet,” “his integrity and authenticity come out in everything he does,” “he’s unwavering in his commitment to do right by everyone,” and “I know how much Roxbury Latin cares about character, and Sam is an A++. Nobody is more dedicated and universally respected.”  Over the past three months the search committee got to know a remarkably “humble yet self-assured,” “highly empathetic,” “brilliant thinker.”  We saw firsthand the joy he exuded during lunch with the boys on his visiting day at the school, and heard his thoughtful and deliberate answers to questions about a classical general education versus specialization; academic rigor and mental health; and balancing tradition and change.  We met a teacher “more focused on students than any educator I know,” who attends every school event and now stands at the St. Albans circle each morning greeting each of the 325 boys of the upper school by name. 

Over our countless meetings and conversations with him, it became clear to the search committee that for Sam the moral, intellectual, and physical growth of young boys from all backgrounds and walks of life is a true calling.  In the words of Vance Wilson, the former head of St. Albans and former Roxbury Latin trustee, “Sam’s natural role in life is to create loving bonds between people through mutual respect, kindness, compassion, and sincere hope for the children’s future.”  Or in Sam’s own words, “my life as a teacher has been dedicated to boys from all paths and all places, and Roxbury Latin’s commitment to access and inclusion, to empathy and care, speaks deeply to me.”  We can say with great confidence that in this new role, Sam will ensure that every boy at RL is known and loved.

Sam is a devoted husband and loving father.  As you will read in his message below, he is very happy at St. Albans, his home for nearly 20 years.  But he was sent our role description, and the more he read and learned about Roxbury Latin, who we are and what matters most to us, the more he came to realize “the role of the Head of School at Roxbury Latin is a remarkable opportunity.”  An opportunity that, in the end I am pleased to report, moved him, both literally and figuratively.

I very much look forward to more formally welcoming Sam, his wife Dana, and 12-year-old daughter Ernie to our community and enabling you to get to know and love them over the months and years ahead, just as the eight members of the search committee were fortunate to have done over the past few months.  They are a delightful family who will be wonderful new residents of 57 Quail Street.  Until then, I can only thank you again for the time and feedback so many of you gave to the search committee and board during this process, the trust you have given us in making this most important decision and, as always, your love for Roxbury Latin.  I speak for all members of the board that it is truly an honor and privilege to serve you and our great school.

Ethan Berman ’79

Message from Sam Schaffer

Dear Members of the Roxbury Latin community,

What a wonderful thing it is to be invited to join The Roxbury Latin School.  I am at once excited and humbled and honored.  Excited because of the remarkable school and community that Roxbury Latin is; humbled because of the deep traditions of the school’s long history and the remarkable legacy left by Tony Jarvis and Kerry Brennan; and honored that the board of trustees believes that I can carry on the work and love and care of the generations of leaders and teachers and students who have come before me.  I am eager to get to know you all, to earn your trust, and to join you in the pursuit of the education of our boys.

Roxbury Latin is a special school.  That is something that you all know by experience, and it is something I have come to understand over the years—both through the school’s reputation and through chance encounters along the way, whether coaching against RL teams in my first year as a teacher, or working with RL faculty as a member of the Penn Fellows program, or encountering RL leaders at various boys’ school conferences.

And over the past few months through the search process, I have come to see what makes Roxbury Latin so special even more vividly.  As I read more and more about RL, deeply held and oft-repeated phrases such as “every boy is known and loved” and “accomplished generalist” have resonated powerfully with me.  As I spoke with faculty, I heard their passionate commitment to a rigorous liberal arts curriculum as well as to the school’s core emphasis on character development and relationships with students.  As I talked to boys at lunch and asked them their favorite thing about RL, to a man they gave some version of “community.”  As I chatted with parents, I listened to them praise what RL’s teachers and coaches and leaders have done for their sons.  And as I spoke with alumni, I heard the reverence with which they recounted the transformative nature of their time at RL and the importance of the school’s broad access to boys and families from all walks of life.  In each of these conversations, the love for the Roxbury Latin community was palpable.  And it was inspiring.  This is a special school.

It is also a school that aligns closely with my own values and aspirations as a teacher, a coach, a scholar, and a leader.  The focus on excellence, the dedication to the growth of boys, the emphasis on the intellectual, the physical, and the moral—all those are at the core of Roxbury Latin, and all those are at the core of the person I hope to be and of the place I hope to live and work and grow.  Indeed, I have had the great joy of being at a similar institution with similar values, St. Albans School in Washington, DC, which has been my home for nearly two decades.  The mentors that I have had at St. Albans, the faculty whose talent and dedication have inspired me, the boys who have challenged and taught me, all have made me a better teacher and leader and person.  I am grateful and forever indebted for their care and guidance and inspiration.  

But the pull of Roxbury Latin is strong.  In my time in schools, I have come to learn that at the heart of great institutions is not only a strong mission but also a healthy and aligned culture.  Culture at schools comes from big things: from core values such as a dedication to a “Classical education,” from special places like the Refectory and Rousmaniere Hall, from deeply loved traditions such as Exelauno Day and the Opening Day all-school handshake.  Culture also emerges in the small places—in the spaces in between—in the ways boys speak to each other, in the daily interactions in the hallways, in the classes that are offered and taken, in the behaviors that emerge in moments both challenging and triumphant.  That culture is so powerful at Roxbury Latin, and that culture has resonated with me and has drawn me to the school.  I am blessed and grateful to have the opportunity to contribute to both the school’s mission and its culture.   

So let me close by reiterating how excited I am to join the Roxbury Latin community.  I will do my best to honor and strengthen the school’s core values and traditions.  To continue to make RL a place where boys can flourish, where they can be inspired to a life of the mind, where they can sharpen both their creative and analytical instincts, where they can learn and sing and play and compete and laugh together.  To promote the school’s standards of academic rigor, emphasis on character development, and athletic and artistic excellence.  To reach out to and communicate its values and uniqueness to the community around it.  I will also strive to enhance the way in which the school carries out this mission, not only holding the core but also adapting to future conditions, responding to complexity, and embracing progress.  Boys’ schools are uniquely positioned to take on the challenges of the world that will face us, and none more so than Roxbury Latin.  I will do my best to approach these duties with humility and thoughtfulness and care.

I am so eager to get to know all of you and look forward to doing so in the days, months, and years ahead.  I am grateful for the opportunity.

Sam

Mere hours after Roxbury Latin celebrated the year’s Closing Exercises, dozens of students and faculty members departed for Europe and West Africa to partake in RL’s long-standing—and often transformative—cultural immersion programs. Students in French and Spanish courses are testing their language skills and experiencing life, language, and learning in France, Spain, and Senegal. For some students, this experience involves month-long stays in Caen, France, and Cádiz, Spain—including homestays with local families and academic work in their elected modern language. This June, a group of RL boys and teachers also traveled to Senegal for two weeks, where they are learning and enjoying much about the local people and culture, food and language, industry and natural landscape. This is Roxbury Latin’s second trip to Senegal, the home country of our own Monsieur Diop. Students in Senegal have visited the NBA Academy Africa in Saly, Mr. Diop’s mother’s medical office in Thies, the dunes of the Lompoul desert, and the Great Mosque of Touba, among other sites.

Read the students’ firsthand accounts and view photos from their adventures at the following RL travel blogs:

France

Spain