“In my first year at Roxbury Latin, I have witnessed many wonderful things, and among those is the unparalleled generosity of this community,” Head of School Sam Schaffer wrote in an email to the RL community on July 22. His message was an expression of gratitude, thanking this past year’s donors for the more than $4,900,000 given in support of the Annual Fund in 2024-2025, setting a new fundraising record. The Annual Fund achieved 99% parent participation, 100% faculty participation, and over 50% alumni participation. The funds raised will continue to help cover the $32,240 gap between tuition and the cost of educating each boy, and will allow RL to continue to charge roughly $22,000 less per boy than other Boston-area schools. Ultimately, this support allows RL to democratically assemble the most capable, bright, aspiring group of boys, regardless of their families’ means, and to bring together and support the most talented, dedicated group of teachers to know and love those boys. “You may rest assured that we pass along this commitment to our current boys, who know that ‘from those to whom much is given, much is expected,’” Dr. Schaffer noted. “They, too, I am sure, will heed this call in the future.”

Every July since 2017, Roxbury Latin has hosted the now annual Boswords Summer Crossword Tournament—the brainchild of puzzle enthusiasts John Lieb, chair of RL’s Math Department, and alumnus and former faculty member Andrew Kingsley ’12. On July 27, in collaboration with the Boston Globe Globe Games team, Roxbury Latin will host the 2025 Boswords Summer Crossword Tournament on campus. The Boswords Summer Tournament is a one-day crossword competition in which participants solve five puzzles over the course of the afternoon and may participate either as an individual or as part of a pair. The Boswords team is expecting attendance from 200+ crossword enthusiasts for a day of fun and puzzle-solving.

Learn more about the tournament and the team—and register to be part of the fun!—at https://www.boswords.org/.

Mere hours after Roxbury Latin celebrated the year’s Closing Exercises, dozens of students and faculty members departed for Europe 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 and Spain. This experience involves month-long stays in Caen, France, and Cádiz, Spain—including homestays with local families and academic work in their chosen modern language.

在以下RL旅游博客上阅读学生们的第一手资料，并查看他们冒险的照片。

法国

西班牙

Additionally, be sure to follow Roxbury Latin on Instagram at @RoxburyLatin to stay up-to-date on student stories from the trips.  

The National Merit Scholarship Program has recently announced its selection of 2,500 scholarship winners, chosen from a pool of 15,000 talented high school senior finalists nationwide. Raj Saha, a recent graduate in the Class of 2025, earned a $2,500 scholarship toward college next year, representing less than 1% of the initial entrants. Raj will be attending Harvard College beginning in the fall. 

The National Merit Scholarship Program selection process began in October 2023, when roughly 1.5 million juniors took the PSAT, or the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. In addition to Raj, 28 Roxbury Latin boys were named—seven as National Merit Scholar semifinalists and twenty-one others earning commendations from program officials, equating to 50% of the class.

It is a great honor to have a National Merit Scholarship winner in a graduating senior class of 56. Congratulations to all of the RL boys who received recognition from the National Merit Scholarship Program this year.

In this 67th annual National Merit Scholarship competition, awards are supported by the organization and approximately 400 businesses and educational institutions, to “honor the nation’s scholastic champions and encourage the pursuit of academic excellence.” About 1.5 million juniors in more than 21,000 high schools entered the 2025 National Merit Scholarship program by taking the 2023 PSAT, which serves as an initial screen of program entrants. Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for academic success at the college level.

On May 31, the 380th year of The Roxbury Latin School culminated with Closing Exercises and the graduation of the Class of 2025. The traditional and intimate ceremony—which includes the seniors, their families, the faculty and trustees—took place in Rousmaniere Hall. Immediately after the ceremony, the 56 newest alumni of The Roxbury Latin School celebrated on the Senior Grass with classmates, family members, and faculty members. (View a gallery of images from the morning.)

Beginning with opening remarks from Head of School Dr. Sam Schaffer—which acknowledged the 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. The ringing of the school bell, chiming 2-0-2-5, officially marked the end of the school year.

Class valedictorian, elected by his classmates, was Raj Saha, whose speech explored the everlasting community formed while being a student at RL. “The joy of brotherly friendship, the grit forged through our struggle, the curiosity to understand and examine our world, the everlasting commitment to service—they are the gifts of RL that have found a home in us just as much as we have found a home in RL.” Read his remarks in full here.

The powerful and inspiring commencement address was delivered by Amanda Cook, Vice President and Editorial Director at Crown Publishing, and mother to graduating senior Oliver Cook and alumnus Aidan Cook ’20. Mrs. Cook explored the power of stories and storytelling, reflecting on some beloved books and extolling the many benefits of reading, for our minds and our souls.. She implored the audience to read, and insisted that in today’s world, in which technology demands so much of our attention, reading can be a radical act. Read Mrs. Cook’s address in full.

Following the ceremony’s addresses, Head of School Schaffer and President of the Board of Trustees Ethan Berman ’79 awarded diplomas to the 56 newest alumni of The Roxbury Latin School.

Three major Class I prizes were also awarded during the Closing Ceremonies:

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

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

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 Raj Saha.

On April 14, Mrs. Carroll and Zach Heaton (I), Ameer Hasan (III), Aspen Johnson (II), and Eliot Park (I) attended the James Tufts Pener Conference at Thayer Academy. The boys who attended are all members of RL’s Environmentally Concerned Organization of Students (ECOS) Club, with Zach serving as president and Eliot as vice president. The conference brings together students from public and independent schools who are interested in environmental issues for a full day of workshops and presentations. Participating schools this year included Roxbury Latin, Belmont Hill, Brooks School, Chatham Harvesters, Cohasset Center for Student Coastal Research, Dana Hall, Mass Oyster Project, Milton, St. Mark’s, St. George’s, and Thayer.

Eliot was one of the student presenters this year. His talk, “Tackling Recycling with AI,” focused on his work in utilizing AI to support recycling efforts.