A time-honored custom at Roxbury Latin is recognizing, as a school, important moments within various religious traditions. We do this, as Headmaster Kerry Brennan describes, not simply for the pursuit of knowledge, nor in celebration of our school’s great diversity, but because “in hearing about and from the witnesses to these different faith traditions, our own journey toward meaning and fulfillment can be most hopefully informed.”

In this year’s recognition of the Jewish High Holy Days, we welcomed Dr. Jerry Katz to speak to students, faculty and staff about his personal faith journey and the meaning of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Dr. Katz is head of school at Gann Academy, a coeducational Jewish high school in Waltham.

“These Jewish holidays mark ten days of intense reflection between when we believe ‘our names are written in the Book of Life’ (Rosh Hashanah) and when ‘the book is sealed’ (Yom Kippur),” said Dr. Katz. “For me, that means reflecting on ways I may have missed the mark over the year, and how I might atone for those missteps.”

After describing his family’s history of immigrating to the United States from Europe intent on assimilating, and then their purposeful, dedicated return to Judaism following World War II, he described how his own identity as a Jew has ebbed and flowed over the years, becoming more central at various points in his life.

Dr. Katz helped the audience understand that “there are more than 30 different expressions of Jewish belief in America, falling essentially into three bands: Orthodox, Conservative and Reform, oriented according to how they determine ‘What is truth?’”

A Reform Jew himself, Dr. Katz believes we do not ask forgiveness from God, but rather from our fellow human beings. For him, the fact that members of the Jewish faith commit to this reflection and renewal once a year implies commitment to a healthy, growth mindset, “always evolving, capable of changing, capable of improving.”

Dr. Katz has more than 40 years of experience as a teacher and school leader, including as former head of The Park School, which he led for 20 years. Between leaving Park and becoming head of Gann Academy, Dr. Katz served as head of school at Rodeph Sholom School, a K-8 Jewish independent school in New York City. Today he  helps educate young people to become confident, engaged, and responsible members of the Jewish faith.

Last spring, then senior Ben LaFond performed very well in the 2018 North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad—earning himself a spot representing the United States at the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) this summer in Prague. There his linguistic success continued.

Ben earned a gold medal in the individual contest of the 2018 IOL competition. His team (“USA Blue”) also earned first place in the team contest, receiving—in addition—an award for the highest average score on the individual contest. (Ben earned the highest individual score on USA Blue). Ben says the events themselves were gratifying, however the highlight for him was “hanging out with 200+ kids who are (almost) as interested in linguistics as I am. I wouldn’t have expected it, but there are other kids in the world… who have a “favorite phoneme.”

The IOL is one of 12 International Science Olympiads for secondary school students. It draws teams of young linguists from around the world, armed with logical and problem solving abilities, outside-the-box thinking, patience, and creativity, to test their minds against the world’s toughest puzzles in language and linguistics. In this 16th annual competition held in July in Prague, Czechia, 49 teams from 29 countries participated, competing to solve problems on diverse languages including Creek, Hakhum, Mountain Arapesh, and Xavante.

The jury awarded 60 medals (13 gold, 17 silver, and 30 bronze), as well as 19 honorable mentions, six team contest trophies, a team cup for highest average score, and 11 best solution prizes. Ben placed sixth out of all participants with an overall score of 81.4. Prior to traveling to Prague to compete with his teammates, Ben trained alongside them for four days at Carnegie Mellon University. Ben has since begun his first year at Harvard.

“Privilege is not in and of itself bad; what matters is what we do with privilege… Privilege does not have to be negative, but we have to share our resources and take direction about how to use our privilege in ways that empower those who lack it.” Headmaster Kerry Brennan enlisted the words of the famous African-American author, feminist, and social activist Ms. bell hooks, as he addressed the students, faculty and staff during Roxbury Latin’s Opening of Fall Term Hall on August 29.

While the record-breaking heat may have dampened the brow, it did not dampen the spirit as Roxbury Latin began its 374th school year. Before classes began, Headmaster Brennan addressed the school in Hall—a student body of 303, including the 45 boys that comprise the new Sixth Class along with 15 boys added to Classes V, IV, and III—on the privilege of attending Roxbury Latin, and on the term privilege as it stands in today’s culture. Mr. Brennan, in his own terms, likened privilege to “the secular equivalent of grace” and ultimately asserted that “privilege always suggests opportunities.”

Before the Headmaster’s address, Class I president Kevin Demore read John F. Kennedy’s 1961 address to the Massachusetts General Court: “For of those to whom much is given, much is required. And when at some future date the high court of history sits in judgment on each one of us—recording whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our responsibilities to the state—our success or failure, in whatever office we may hold, will be measured [by whether we were] truly men of courage, judgement, integrity, dedication.”

In his talk, Mr. Brennan offered his own response to JFK’s time-honored words, affirming that these qualities of character are the same we aim to instill in every boy during his RL years. Headmaster Brennan concluded:

“As we start our school year, Roxbury Latin’s 374th, remember that our most important reason for existing is in order to prepare you and inspire you to seek justice, to improve our society for all its members, and to insure that the privileges we have known are utilized on behalf of revelatory, transformative, generous causes. Don’t squander what you’ve been given. But don’t be ashamed of it either. I wish you a year in which we all can begin or continue that good work.”

The opening day ceremonies concluded with the traditional all-school handshake, which serves to welcome people new to the RL community—boys and adults—and for all to wish one another a happy and strong start to the academic year.Watch the Headmaster’s address in full here, or read it here. View photos from the day here.

Thanks to the generosity and hard work of many, Roxbury Latin has experienced another record-setting year in fundraising, exceeding ambitious goals for both the Annual Fund and capital giving. 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 $25,000 gap between tuition and the actual cost of educating each boy. They also save students and their families an average of $15,000 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 2017-2018 year in fundraising will appear in the October 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.

$3,785,546  An Annual Fund record

$1,425,956  A new record for parent giving

$1,130,705  Alumni Leadership Giving Committee tops $1M for fifth consecutive year

2,082  A record number of donors

99%  Parent participation (average at other Boston-area schools is 80%)

52%  Alumni participation (average at other Boston-area schools is 27%)

$25,400,540  Total raised in capital campaign gifts, finishing one year ahead of schedule

On July 29, faculty members John Lieb (mathematics) and Andrew Kingsley ‘12 (English) hosted the Second Annual “Boswords” Crossword Tournament in the Palaistra on Roxbury Latin’s campus. This year the event drew 165 competitors—many for whom this was a first crossword tournament. (Leading up to the tournament, Boswords even earned a plug by The Washington Post crossword constructor, Evan Birnholz.)

The now-popular event draws young people and adults who can register for the advanced or novice divisions, or as a pair. Over the course of an afternoon, they solve puzzles developed by eight different constructors. (Puzzles from this year’s tournament, as well as last year’s, are available on the Boswords 2018 website.)

In the championship round, the top three solvers squared off for the Boswords title, which ultimately went to solver Katie Hamill. Prizes ranged from the entry fee to the 2018 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, to subscriptions to the American Values Club Crossword, to a crossword book of the winner’s choosing. In addition to crossword puzzle solving, Boswords-goers had the chance to connect with other solvers from around the area.

At the edge of Roxbury Latin’s 50 acres of undeveloped forest is the school’s newest—and most unusual—campus addition: an outdoor classroom seating 80 students, equipped with a secured white board and a teacher’s table that doubles as a water-tight storage container. The classroom was completed in May and has already seen use—most recently by faculty during end-of-year meetings. When classes begin in August (and when weather permits!) the classroom will host a steady stream of students and faculty throughout the school year.

Faculty from all academic departments are eager to take advantage of the new space—none more so than science faculty member Elizabeth Carroll, whose Class VI Natural Design students spend the first four weeks of the school year working daily in the R.L. forest, learning the fundamentals of the scientific process: how to make scientific observations, collect data, formulate a hypothesis, and test it. The new outdoor classroom will enable seamless transition between traditional instruction and students’ exploration in the field. Similarly, Mrs. Carroll’s Class I Environmental Science class spends several weeks outside in the fall learning how ecosystems function and how to “read the forested landscape”—observing the details of current forest conditions and determining the history of that particular site.

The outdoor classroom was made possible by generous contributions from members of the R.L. community. The Arthur Vining Davis Science Fund awarded a grant to the school toward construction of the space, and Liberty Cedar Company of West Kingston, Rhode Island, provided the classroom’s 16 reclaimed oak log benches.

Brendan Gibbons (II) reported on the new classroom space in the spring issue of The Tripod; in that article he quoted Cam Keough (II), who is eager to experience class in the great outdoors: “[It’s] exciting that R.L. is branching out and implementing new education methods that challenge traditional learning.”

This spring marked year two of the popular RL@Work program. Led by Andy Chappell, R.L.’s Director of Studies and Strategic Initiatives, the program provides boys with an off-campus experience of discovery and growth—through visits to places of work, encounters with professionals, facilitated group discussions, individual reflection, and engagement in hands-on design challenges and case studies. Consistent with the school’s mission, the program helps boys imagine how they might “lead and serve” in the years ahead. RL@Work offers boys exposure to various professions and types of leadership, challenging real-world problems, and solutions in-the-making, preparing them for citizenship, service, work, and the world.

More than forty generous alumni, parents, former R.L. parents, and friends of the school—writers, lawyers, doctors, engineers, judges, developers, investors, professors, business owners—shared their time and passions with 53 Class II boys during the final days of the school year. Boys trekked throughout Boston and Cambridge over four days, many getting their first taste of the MBTA commuting experience.

The first of the program’s four days focused on science and medicine, during which small groups of Class II boys spent the morning at various medical and research institutions. At Harvard’s MEDscience Simulation Lab, boys sewed sutures and assessed vitals on high-tech practice “dummies” designed to blink, bleed, pulse and cry as appropriate. One group practiced their laparoscopic surgery skills at the STRATUS Center for Medical Simulation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Another group visited Boston Sports and Shoulder Center and a local medical supply company where they repaired shoulders and knees, using state-of-the-art simulation dummies. Finally, six boys had the once-in-a-lifetime experience of scrubbing into two heart bypass surgeries, care of Dr. Streckenbach, an anesthesiologist with Mass General Hospital and parent to two R.L. boys. The entire group convened later that afternoon on MIT’s campus to hear from Mr. Iqbal Dhaliwal P’21 and his team at the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) where researchers are combating poverty around the world with tangible solutions, based on economics.

Days two and three of the program focused on entrepreneurship of all kinds. One morning began with a presentation by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and R.L. parent Gareth Cook, who spoke with boys about the rewards and perils of journalism in today’s climate. After a discussion with Mr. Cook in the Evans Choral Room, the boys and their chaperones walked to the nearby commuter rail station to head further into the city, for meetings and activities with tech startups, real estate investors, designers, and a range of individuals working on innovative, interdisciplinary solutions through MIT’s Media Lab, coordinated by R.L. parent John Werner.

The final day of the program focused on law and public service, and, in small groups, students met with nearly twenty men and women whose life’s work is focused, in various forms, on justice. From an assistant U.S. attorney, to a white-collar criminal defense attorney, to a real estate and property lawyer, to a panel led by Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley P’14, boys gained a perspective on the many forms that a law career, and a career in public service, can take.

The culmination of the four days found the boys in the Champions Club at Fenway Park with three members of the Red Sox franchise, including Mike Regan ’04, Assistant Director of Baseball Administration; Steve Kelley ’09, Manager of Business Development; and Tim Zue, Executive Vice President and CFO of the Boston Red Sox. The trio reinforced to the boys, by virtue of their own professional experiences, the themes that over four day had become familiar in any successful pursuit, regardless of the profession or discipline: the importance of teamwork and communication; willingness to fail and learn from that failure; creating networks and developing relationships; being open to the unknown, and to exploring new ideas; working hard and being persistent; and understanding that the path to meaningful success isn’t always traditional or straightforward. (Afterward, the boys stayed with members of the faculty to watch the Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-3, under sunny skies.)

The boys take away lots of lessons and inspiration from four intensive days. One reflected, “As Marvin said at Mass General: ‘Do something that—no matter how stressed you may be at work one day—still makes you happy to go back the next day.’” Another said, “It’s clear that R.L. is preparing me for a life of work and service. Now I can truly see what I am working for.”

We are grateful to the more than 40 men and women who generously shared their time, talents and spaces to provide our boys an insider’s view on so many possibilities and paths toward meaningful pursuits:

Andrew Eyre ‘02, Stratus Center for Medical Simulation, Brigham and Women’s Julie Joyal and Dr. Britt Lee P‘22, Harvard Medical School, MEDscience Simulation Lab Scott Streckenbach P’19, ‘22, Mass General Hospital Paul Weitzel ’86, P’16, ’18, ’20, ’22, Boston Sports and Shoulder Center, New England Baptist Hospital Iqbal Dhaliwal, P’21, Executive Director of Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action LabGareth Cook, P’20, New York Times Magazine, Contributing Writer Peggy Eysenbach, Nancy Adams, and Matt McCambridge ’94, MIT D-Lab and Edgerton Center Lou Goldish, MIT Venture Mentoring Service Dave Grossman ‘97 and Jake Grossman ‘00, Grossman Companies Gavin Murphy ‘98, Annkissam Eben Pingree ’00, Evertrue John Werner, P’21, MIT Media Lab, CEO of Aria and Vice President of Meta Michael Berk P’19, ’21, TA Associates Chris Mitchell ‘89, Spectrum Equity Greg Schmergel ’86 and Rahul Sen, Nantero Ron Allen ’95, Shire, and Dave Giordano ’96, Giordano and Chavous Mark Balthazard P’13, ’14, Assistant US Attorney, and Greg Noonan ’94, Hogan Lovells Paul Evans ’03, and Bob O’Connor ’85, DLA Piper Guy Green ’13, Peter Walkingshaw ‘06, Peter Rosenberg P’05, ’09, and John Wang, P’24, Ropes and Gray Tim Silva ‘88, and Arjun Jaikumar, ’01, WilmerHaleDan Conley, P’14, Suffolk County District AttorneyAttorneys Frank Kanin ’06, Pat Haggan, Peter Pasciucco ’01, Ramon Pascual ’07, Gavin Pittore ’12, Rob Settana ‘01, Ed Zabin, P’23 Tim Zue, Steve Kelley ’09, Mike Regan ’04, Boston Red Sox Organization

On Saturday, 2 June, Class III French students boarded a plane for Caen, France and Class III Spanish students embarked for Cadiz, Spain. Both groups make up RL’s signature month-long language immersion program, now in its eighth year.  The students are keeping blogs of their studies and adventures, their adoptive (homestay) families, and their own reflections and discoveries. Follow them as they unfold via the links below: Caen, FranceCadiz, Spain 

On the morning of 2 June, the 373rd year of The Roxbury Latin School ended with Closing Exercises and the graduation of the Class of 2018. When Headmaster Brennan finished reading the names of the 48 members of Class I, and each had received his diploma from Board Chair Bob O’Connor ’85, thunderous applause burst forth from the family members, friends, and faculty who filled Rousmaniere Hall. Following the benediction, the tolling of the school bell, and a rousing rendition of The Founder’s Song, all in attendance streamed outside onto the Senior Grass for hugs, handshakes, and farewells. (See photos)

Class valedictorian Thomas Bulger spoke on the subject of humility, a quality he saw in his classmates and which, among other things, “made this class special.” An accomplished student of the Classics, Tom began by offering Socrates as an example of what humility is not. (“Students appreciated that he recognized how much he did not know, but for a man who recognized how little he knows, he sure liked to show people how much he did know.”) Tom went on to describe in poignant anecdotes the many examples of humility shown by his classmates over their six years together. In closing, he said,

“There is no better example of character than taking time from your own life to help a person in need, especially when it would be all too easy to keep your extraordinary talents to yourself. …It’s not about whether or not you all change the world, because I am confident that you will. It’s about the manner in which you do it. I call on you today to keep your humility and to keep your character…. Continue to lend a hand to the struggling man, not in hope that it may one day be reciprocated, but because you all know it is the right thing to do.”

The commencement speaker was faculty member Dr. Sally Stevens, retiring this year after eleven years with the school. Having taught many of the Class of 2018 in her economics and history courses (and guided as many through the college application process), Dr. Stevens took this opportunity to draw deeply from her own expertise to address “some challenges facing the United States that will engage the Class of 2018 now and as adults when they are long gone from their seats of honor.” She discussed the ways in which Russia, China, and the US have evolved since WWII and the ways that the resulting relative power shifts are challenging what binds our nation together: “Not blood, not religion, not race, but a secular liturgy that proclaims all men, and women, are created equal.…”:

“The United States is not entitled to forever enjoy the privileged position it held after WWII and after the end of the Cold War. Yet, without correcting flaws in our economic policy, we will find our remaining privileges waning in the years ahead. Without paying attention and exercising our citizenship responsibilities, we risk compromising our political system. The task for you—the Class of 2018—is to ask questions, to search for what is true, and to be active and involved citizens in the long-term future of the country that has given you so very much.”

Three major senior prizes were also awarded during Closing Ceremonies.

The Richard A. Berenberg Prize, for generosity of spirit and concern for others, was presented to Reis White.

The Class of 1913 Award, for significant contributions to the life of the School, was presented to Andrew White.

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 two boys: Ben LaFond and David Ma.