On April 18, Roxbury Latin celebrated in Hall the 11 members of Class I whose efforts and accomplishments have earned them membership in the Cum Laude Society. Each spring, the all-school Cum Laude ceremony honors the life of the mind—affirming that at the heart of a good school is scholarly engagement.

“This special event is intended principally to do two things,” began Headmaster Kerry Brennan. “The first is to recognize the most distinguished scholars of the First Class. In their efforts and in their accomplishments, they have put to good use the gifts they have been given… The second purpose of this annual ceremony is in many ways the more consequential, for it involves everyone else in this room. In honoring these 11 boys, we are honoring the life of the mind; we are honoring trying hard and doing well; we are affirming that at the heart of a good school is scholarly engagement. I admonish you to take to heart the example of the inductees… All of you boys have the capacity to strive, to grow, to change, and to know the satisfaction of ideas unearthed and potential realized.”

Delivering the morning’s Cum Laude address was Tom Batty, executive director of the International Boys’ Schools Coalition and former headmaster of Scotch College in Melbourne, Australia—home to 2,000 boys in grades Pre-K through Grade 12.

In his Cum Laude address, he spoke to the boys about balancing a rewarding and original interior life with the responsibilities and gifts we are all afforded by living in community. He wove those lessons through four powerful stories, peppered with great humor, beginning this way:

“We carry this stuff around in our heads that only we know about; our personal thoughts and internal conversations; our life in our mind. And we do this while trying to make some sense of all we observe and those we observe it with.

To add spice, there is paradox: We all crave our own personal freedom, but we are quite willing to restrict the freedom of others to get it.

We know that we have something unique to offer; we want our moment in the sun, but we are also conscious that the group can do things the individual can’t and that we can gain from this; that our quality of life is a product of the quality of lives of all around us, near and far.

But this brings restrictions to our freedom: the need for common codes, laws, and regulations. How do we find balance?

We sense when the balance is right: art that transcends culture to tell of our condition; song that inspires the soul; literature that moves us to tears; scientific advancements that reduce suffering; social advancement that leads to respect and dignity; mathematics that simultaneously thumps the heart and hurts the brain; rising to meet your mate’s cross to header the ball into the back of the net; or as I was on Saturday, hugging the stranger next to me at the Gtech when Brentford scored to get their first win in 10 games.

But we also know that when the balance is wrong it can be disastrous: anger; prejudice; greed; repression; persecution; bigotry.

Do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one or the few? Or are the needs of the many best served by protecting and advancing the needs of the one or the few? How do we find balance between all that is going on in our minds and all around us?”

Read the entirety of Mr. Batty’s remarks.

Between lively renditions of America the Beautiful and Jerusalem, For the Splendor of Creation and The Founder’s Song, Mr. Josh Cervas, president of RL’s Cum Laude chapter, provided a history of the organization before he awarded the twelve inductees their certificates: “By formally recollecting our origins each year, we also reaffirm our commitment to the Society’s original and abiding motto—three Greek words inspired by the three letters of the old Alpha Delta Tau name: Alpha stands for Areté (Excellence), Delta for Diké (Justice), and Tau for Timé (Honor). These three words, with deep roots in our past and far reaching implications for our future, raise qualities of mind and character which, ideally, each member of the Society will espouse as his own values and strive to instill in others throughout his life.”

以下是今年入选优等生协会的高年级学生。

Leo Bene
Theo Coben
Aidan D’Alessandro
Akhilsai Damera
Dennis Jin
Ryan Lin
Jack Tompros
Lucas Vander Elst
Justin Yamaguchi
Evan Zhang
Eric Zhu

On April 5, the internationally acclaimed novelist and short story writer Anthony Doerr delivered an energetic, inspiring Hall to students and faculty—all as a delightful retirement surprise to Headmaster Kerry Brennan. As a young boy, Mr. Doerr was a student and advisee of Mr. Brennan’s at University School in Cleveland, Ohio, where Mr. Brennan was a new teacher in the 1980s.

In Hall, on the Smith Theater stage, Mr. Doerr delivered a resonant message about the possibilities, joys, and potential of being intellectually curious, of being inspired by many different things, of being an intentional generalist. He spoke about the inspirations behind his prize-winning novels All The Light We Cannot See and Cloud Cuckoo Land, as well as his short story “The Deep,” which students had read prior in their English classes. He answered students’ questions about his writing life and process, about curating a generalist mentality, and about the positives and negatives of artificial intelligence and its impact on the arts. Mr. Doerr also spoke about the positive impact Mr. Brennan made, and the good advice he offered, during a memorable moment at University School, when Mr. Brennan assured the young, eager Doerr that having too many good ideas was far better than having no good ideas. After Hall, Mr. Doerr joined senior English classes to continue the conversation.

Anthony Doerr’s bestselling book Cloud Cuckoo Land was a finalist for the National Book Award, and All the Light We Cannot See—winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Carnegie Medal, the Alex Award, and a #1 New York Times bestseller—was adapted in 2023 into a dramatic miniseries available on Netflix. Mr. Doerr is also the author of the story collections Memory Wall and The Shell Collector, the novel About Grace, and the memoir Four Seasons in Rome. He has won five O. Henry Prizes, the National Magazine Award for fiction, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Rome Prize, among many others.

Roxbury Latin returned from winter break on January 3 with a special Opening of Winter Term Hall titled “On Amateurism,” during which Headmaster Kerry Brennan explored the idea of work, and the importance of finding joy within and outside our careers.

When I was younger,” said Mr. Brennan, “it was common for someone to ask about another kid’s parent, ‘What does he do?”

“Of course, we know now there was a problem with that question. What someone did was much greater than his or her job, but one’s job seemed to suggest the most important thing that defined them. Implicit in what the job was were all sorts of inferences about how much money they made, what kind of lifestyle the worker and their family enjoyed, how important they were in the grander scheme of an operating community or, writ large, a society. And what he did surely most important wasn’t what he was.”

“What about the rest of his life? What about what he did for his family? Or the fact he coached a Little League team or helped maintain the church property or was a Boy Scout troop leader or made his own furniture or kept a remarkably productive garden? In the main, these things were seemingly less important but, in fact, they more vividly defined him. Indeed, in the subculture of mid-century blue-collar Schenectady, where I grew up, these were the things that gave life meaning. These were the things that made one’s heart sing. These were the things that suggested contributing to the betterment of others and honoring a communal covenant. These were the things in which one chose to specialize and with which to be identified.”

Today, continued Mr. Brennan, RL boys will enjoy the opportunity to embark on careers that will satisfy more than the need for a paycheck, but will satisfy the soul. 

“My hope,” said Mr. Brennan, “is that in deciding what your job will be that you are pickier and that you do the work necessary to find out first of all who you are and what kind of pursuit will be right for you—that will satisfy your values and your talents and your particular ambition and will make a difference in the lives of others. Our modest attempt of RL@Work is a program in which at the end of boys’ Class II year we intend to introduce them to lots of different people and jobs. In part, that’s also why we invite into Hall or to your classes people with different life paths and careers. We do this so you can begin to conjure various possibilities. Most of all, I don’t want you to feel trapped or doing something that is not meaningful.”

“Today we will acknowledge that whatever your job is isn’t everything, continued Mr. Brennan. “All sorts of other parts of your life complement your job and together suggest who you are and what you care about. And in most cases, you will be pros at what you do.”

In that spirit, the Hall pivoted to a discussion of amateurism, a word, says Mr. Brennan, that is worth reconsidering.

“More than once in my young life,” said Mr. Brennan, “I remember my father characterizing someone as an amateur. When an athlete failed to make an easy play, he was an amateur. When a person treated someone unfairly, usually by demeaning through language, he was an amateur… Today I would like to alter your thinking about the amateur. In fact, the more classic definition of “amateur” had nothing to do with contrasting it with the professional. To be an amateur meant engaging with something for the pleasure of it. Engaging with something for the pleasure of it. In fact, the word “amateur” derives from the ancient French word “love of.” This is what I am talking about: a pursuit that endures because we love it.”

Mr. Brennan then welcomed several speakers to the stage—faculty and students—to share their passions and personal pursuits that provide purpose outside their lives in the classroom. Mr. Jeff Ott spoke about his love of birding, Ryan Peterson (I) introduced his classmates to his passion for beekeeping, Mrs. Kristen Gibbons shared her passion for flowers and floral arrangements, Mr. Alessandro Ferzoco shared his years-long discovery of his family’s genealogical roots, and Mr. John Lieb spoke about discovering his love for crossword puzzles.

“As you can tell from these stories,” concluded Mr. Brennan, “our friends love what they do. It gives their lives meaning and gives them pleasure. As you think of your own lives—of what’s important to you now and will be important to you in the future— think about the amateur spirit. We hope to help you discover and develop passions that will accompany and define you for the rest of your lives. Continue to cultivate these this winter. May this goal like the days ahead shine bright and with compelling promise. Oh, and at some point, in addition to all that, get a job!”

View a complete gallery from The Opening of Winter Term Hall.