Roxbury Latin T HE N EWS LET TER
WINTER 2019
Founder’s Day looks back at the events of 1968.
headmaster
Kerry P. Brennan assistant headmaster
Michael T. Pojman director of external relations
Erin E. Berg director of development
Thomas R. Guden ’96 photography
Gretchen Ertl, John Gillooly, Marcus Miller, Mike Pojman, Adam Richins, Evan Scales, John Werner design & editorial
Erin E. Berg Marcus C. Miller Meredith H. Reynolds the newsletter
The Roxbury Latin School publishes The Newsletter quarterly for alumni, current and former parents, and friends of the school. contact information
The Roxbury Latin School 101 St. Theresa Avenue West Roxbury, MA 02132 Phone: 617-325-4920 change of address?
Send updated information to julie.garvey@roxburylatin.org. alumni news
Send notes and correspondence to alumni@roxburylatin.org. cover photo 1968 seniors walk the halls (from
The Roxbury Latin School archives). Š2019 The Trustees of The Roxbury Latin School
The Newsletter
RL Nation crowds the boards as the varsity hockey team celebrates a goal during its Winter Family Day game against Pingree. Photo by Adam Richins
WINTER 2019 | VOLUME 92 | NUMBER 2
Features 8
Bridge Building, Compression Testing, and‌ Lunch Lines? Students apply an engineering approach to problem solving. by Erin E. Berg
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Humility and its Essential Expressions by Headmaster Kerry P. Brennan
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The 15th Annual Jarvis Lecture: Former CIA Director John Brennan speaks to students.
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Founder’s Day: Looking back 50 years to 1968
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Remembering Tony Jarvis
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Annual Fund Kickoff Dinner
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Homecoming and Fall Family Day
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The Uprising: A Watercolor Mosaic
Departments 4
RL News
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Arts News
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Hall Highlights
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Class Notes
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Alumni Gatherings
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In Memoriam
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Varsity Teams
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Staff Spotlight: Misty Beardsley
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Ramblings from the Archives: Women of Roxbury Latin
rl news
RL Boys Take Grand Prize at College-Level Hackathon Over a weekend in mid-October, Roxbury Latin juniors IAN RICHARDSON and CHRIS ZHU, along with recent graduate ROBERT CUNNINGHAM ’18, participated in the Hack UMass Hackathon—36 hours of creativity, concentration, coding, and competition. Their team—which also recruited two female computer science students from UMass—won the Hackathon’s Grand Prize out of more than 250 teams—mostly comprising college students.
Robert Cunningham, Ian Richardson, and Chris Zhu
In the competition, teams must conceive of a project and then build it on-site over a 36-hour period, integrating hardware and code. The Hack UMass event was attended by nearly 1,000 college students, but allowed also for a small number of high school teams. This was the first hackathon for both Chris and Ian, who teamed up with Robert heading into the Hack UMass event. “Ian and I both like creating hardware and software,” says Chris, “so we thought this would be a great way to apply these skills and have fun. It’s almost like spending the weekend competing in a sporting event. “The event coordinators supply teams with a bunch of hardware and time, basically. From there, you can create whatever you want. At the end you have to pass some basic judging criteria: first, it has to work! About half of the teams have these great ideas, but by the end their implementation is only halfway there, or their final product doesn’t work in quite the way they’d imagined. Secondly, the judges assess whether the product is new and innovative—whether it pushed you out of your comfort zone.” Their team’s product was a program they titled “Codability”—an interface that allows people to code without their hands— perfect for those with carpal tunnel, repetitive stress injuries,
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or who are amputees. “One of the girls on our team has a sister who has early onset arthritis,” says Chris, “and that really sparked our idea.” In Codability, the team built speech and text software that formats code, converting English language commands into proper syntax for code and proper coding symbols. The team even developed and incorporated foot pedals that allow users to move a mouse. While other software exists to translate speech into programming code, most require users to speak every symbol, or depend on lots of custom coding language. “The learning curve on these languages is impossibly high, so we wanted to make something that was user-friendly and would create ease of navigation for people,” says Chris. Both Ian and Chris are currently taking AP Computer Science with Mr. Nick Poles, and both are members of RL’s robotics team, “which did help us a lot in designing this project,” Chris says. Robert is spending a gap year before heading off to MIT. The Hack UMass event is part of Major League Hacking (MLH)—the official student hackathon league. Each year, Major League Hacking powers more than 200 weekend-long invention competitions that inspire innovation, cultivate communities, and teach computer science skills to more than 65,000 students around the world. MLH describes itself as an engaged and passionate maker community, consisting of the next generation of technology leaders and entrepreneurs. //
RL Hosts IBSC Conference Avi Attar, Daniel Sun-Friedman, and David LaFond
High Points for RL Boys at International Public Speaking Competition Three of Roxbury Latin’s most promising debaters travelled to St. Clement’s School in Toronto, Ontario, in October for the International Independent Schools’ Public Speaking Competition—a four-day tournament for 146 competitors from 46 schools in seven countries. In two preliminary rounds, DANIEL SUN-FRIEDMAN (III), AVI ATTAR (II), and DAVID LAFOND (II) competed in three events each. For Daniel’s memorized, 13-minute speech in the Persuasive Speaking category, where he addressed the abuse of online personal information, faculty and parent judges awarded him very high marks—points in the 90s. In the category of After-Dinner Speaking, Avi advanced to the final round by offering cleverly rollicking advice to an imagined society of debaters who aspire to be rappers. Avi finished tied for second, the only American to medal in any of the nine events. (The student audience’s laughter, however, seemed to indicate that Avi earned “the people’s choice” award.) David advanced to the finals of Impromptu Speaking, where he was given only two minutes to prepare a speech on the topic: I am a man more sinned against than sinning. David earned exceptionally high marks as well in Cross-Examination Debating, where he argued both sides of the question, “Should governments remove monuments that no longer align with modern day values?” Overall, David finished fourth among 21 American students from seven different schools. Thank you to Dean of Faculty Dr. Phil Kokotailo for helping prepare the students for competition and for traveling with them to Toronto. //
During the final weekend in October, Roxbury Latin welcomed 40 educators from the United States and Canada for the annual International Boys’ Schools Coalition’s “Teachers New to Boys’ Schools” conference, led by Director of Studies Andy Chappell. New teachers attended seminars and engaged in discussion about the mission of boys’ schools; the social-emotional development of boys; giving boys a voice; the “ecosystem” of boys’ schools; and teaching boys in contentious times. Veteran RL masters taught seminars and led discussions, and students shared experiences in presentations and on panels. Teachers also broke into small groups and visited classes at RL as well as at Catholic Memorial and Fessenden. The conference included a hands-on session in RL’s IDEA Lab. Under the direction of Class I students MILAN ROSEN and GIL ROSENTHAL, and with the guidance of Director of Technology Nate Piper, teachers tested their design and construction skills. They were charged with using the tools and materials at hand to create a vessel that would travel the length of a zip line upright, without toppling the small, orange bear intended to ride on it. Trying out their creations, many were pleasantly surprised with their makerspace success. //
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Rare Volumes Donated to School Dr. Sue McCrory’s Art & Technology class is preparing finished drawings for the production of fresco paintings, and using a threevolume series of photos of the Sistine Chapel as a guide. The rare books were donated by Margarita and JACK HENNESSY ’54.
Juuling and Schooling: Dr. Jon Winickoff ’88 on the Dangers of E-Cigarettes This fall, Roxbury Latin’s Parents’ Auxiliary and the Headmaster’s Council heard from DR. JON WINICKOFF ’88 about the important topic of vaping. Teen vaping in the United States is an epidemic, and Dr. Winickoff shared worrying information about middle and high school trends across the country. He also highlighted the important advocacy surrounding enforcement of the new Tobacco 21 Law and banning e-cigarette flavors. Dr. Winickoff, a pediatrician at Mass General Hospital and a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, is a leading expert on e-cigarettes. In addition to authoring more than 100 original research publications, he has drafted key tobacco control policy and served as a scientific advisor for many state and national programs and organizations. These conversations were part of a larger effort by the Headmaster’s Council to focus explicitly on the physical and emotional wellbeing of RL students. Dr. Winickoff will return to campus on March 5 to address vaping and substance abuse with students as part of RL’s health and wellness program. //
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Each boy was amazed by the quality of the photos, and the generosity of the Hennessys’ gift. //
A Behind-the-Scenes Visit to Fenway Class III students JOHN WILKINSON, ESTEBAN TARAZONA, and ETHAN PHAN met Jackie Bradley, Jr. at Fenway through the Red Sox Foundation’s Red Sox Scholars program, of which Esteban has been a part since seventh grade. Red Sox scholars are City of Boston boys and girls from diverse backgrounds who have demonstrated perseverance and incredible initiative to succeed. “The program exposes me to many different job opportunities, and at the same time provides distinctive experiences like this one,” says Esteban. “Jackie Bradley, Jr. is the Red Sox player representative for the Red Sox Foundation, which is why I had the chance to bring two friends and meet him on the field.” Photo courtesy of the Boston Red Sox. //
Varsity Cross Country repeats as New England Champions On November 10, the Roxbury Latin Cross Country team faced 15 schools at the New England Preparatory School Track Association Division II Cross Country Championship at Governor’s Academy. RL emerged victorious at the end of a tough race, defending its 2017 championship.
The days leading up to the race brought nasty weather, resulting in last-minute course alterations and slippery terrain on a course that proves challenging even in favorable conditions. RL’s runners adjusted accordingly and prepared to face whatever conditions the course could throw at them. Though the newly formed starting line forced teams to start in shoulder-to-shoulder, single-file lines, the RL pack was able to get off the line quickly, and each runner had found his desired position in the pack before the one-mile mark. Positions didn’t change drastically for RL runners over the course of the remaining two miles, but where other teams’ runners fell back here or there, RL’s harriers hung in their respective packs and worked to control the pace. Knowing every point would matter, especially against a strong Tabor squad that had defeated RL by one point at the ISL Championship the week prior, RL runners attacked the final downhill mile of the course looking to pick up spots wherever they could. In the end, RL posted 59 points to Tabor Academy’s 79 points. RL placed five runners in the top 20, earning each of them All-New England Honors, and the team’s sixth and seventh runners marked respectable 31st and 34th place finishes.
RL New England Finishes 5th: 6th: 13th: 16th: 19th: 31st: 34th:
WILL COTE (III) QUINN DONOVAN (III) MARK HENSHON (IV) JAVI WERNER (III) DANIEL GILLIS (II) NOLAN MCKENNA (III) GEORGE MADISON (IV)
The NEPSTA Division II Championship capped off a 12–1 record and a close second-place finish in the ISL. The Junior team finished its season with a record of 16–0— running many perfect races throughout the fall. They ended the season by earning first place at the Junior Jamboree on November 7 at Roxbury Latin. The Junior Varsity team also shone this year, offering lots of promise for the future of the program. The JV squad earned first place in both the ISL and in New England, culminating a regular season record of 10–1.
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Bridge Building, Compression Testing, and… Lunch Lines? Students apply an engineering approach to problem solving. | by Erin E. Berg Topics in Engineering and Design—a popular science elective offered to Class I and II boys—is in its third year with Mr. Greg Sokol at the helm. Greg, a mechanical engineer by training with experience in the field, joined the RL faculty in 2015. The survey course allows boys to explore and apply skills in mathematics, science, and art to problems with global significance. Boys develop a framework for analytical problem solving and decision making through a series of directed challenges. They learn basic principles of mechanical, structural and electrical design, material science and programming, and then extend these principles and techniques to more complex human and environmental systems. Students come into the course with a range of experience and awareness of what engineering entails. Greg has the boys fill out a brief survey at the outset, to gauge students’ interests and hopes. Because it’s an elective, the course is flexible, so Greg can add, extend, or shorten units depending on boys’ interests. “Some boys intend on studying engineering, and some simply want 8
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to be exposed to an engineering way of thinking,” says Greg. “I want the course to be interesting and educational, and I want the students to be excited by it and get a feel for what’s possible.” Eager to extend the boys’ learning beyond the IDEA Lab, Greg introduces his students each year to professionals in the field who are applying engineering in a variety of ways. This fall, that external expertise came in the form of a class visit from Scott Schreiber, a structural engineer with CDM Smith in Boston. Scott is a licensed professional engineer, which means he’s able to approve documents for projects in which public safety is involved. His work has included bridge design and inspection throughout the state; he has worked on bridges of all shapes and sizes, from small, stone arch bridges in rural western Massachusetts to Boston’s now-iconic Zakim Bridge. Two weeks later, RL’s engineering students took a field trip to Instron—one of the most well-respected materials testing companies in the industry, located just down the street in Norwood. Founded in 1946, the company is trusted by
scientists, engineers, and quality managers across all industries. Instron machines test a huge range of materials for any imaginable use and impact—from concrete beams to bone screws, from athletic footwear to marinated tofu. “Any mechanical or materials lab has an Instron machine,” says Greg. “In most places they call it ‘The Instron’—it’s the Kleenex of materials testers. In my engineering career, Instron was my client, so I spent some time on the floor, working on automated systems there. It’s an impressive local facility, with really welcoming people, doing really interesting things. “Scott and both of our hosts at Instron are younger professionals, so I was interested in having them speak to the boys not only about their work, but also about their path to it—from their high school interests, to what they focused on in college, to their first jobs out of school. I think it’s important for our students to know that there are lots of options available to them—some they might not even know of yet!” Greg believes that experience reflects the course: “We start off learning this analytical problem solving framework, and then we apply that to traditional engineering disciplines. Boys see that problem solving experience reflected in each of those different industries, each in a slightly different way. My goal is to help them see the applicability of what they’re learning in a variety of careers—whether in engineering or a different field entirely.” This winter the students are studying CAD (computer aided design) and 3D modeling, so Greg plans to connect the boys with a mechanical designer who will share some of his models. Following that, during a unit on programming, Greg hopes to
introduce the boys to a software developer. Toward the end of the year, he intends on bringing to class someone who works with non-technical systems in an engineering way. This final element is important, since it allows students to apply what they’ve learned to problems they see around them every day. So, Greg enlists what he calls a silly example, but one that RL boys relate to and care deeply about: the lunch line. Three hundred students descend upon the Refectory en masse each day and can sometimes face long wait times. So, Greg has the students approach the problem with an engineering mindset: “What are our requirements? That every boy has to be fed, that we have options to address allergies. What are our constraints— on space, on personnel? It’s a big, non-technical problem, but there are certainly creative ways to solve it, and [our dining services partner has] made some progress by enlisting creative solutions. Everyday examples like this show the students how they can improve things around them by enlisting that analytical, engineering approach. “I'm actually a prime example of this myself,” Greg laughs. “I think studying engineering was the best preparation for teaching that I could have received. You learn to solve problems, not just of a technical nature. (Most problems you face in any career aren't of a technical nature.) You learn to analyze problems in terms of constraints, of specifications, and that thinking is applicable to any dynamic issue—interpersonal, environmental, institutional. A classroom full of adolescent boys is about as dynamic as it gets! I consider myself an engineer, even though my job title today doesn’t reflect that, so regardless of what studies or careers my students move on to, I hope they see the applicability of what they learn in a variety of industries.” N e w s l e t t e r o f Th e R o x b u r y L at i n S c h o o l
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opening of winter term address
Humility and its Essential Expressions by Headmaster Kerry P. Brennan
A traditional part of New Year’s recognition, the flip of one calendar to another, is a personal accounting. What was that year past like? How did I fare as a person, as a family member, as a friend? Were there things I meant to do, ways I intended to be, that I failed to accomplish? What ended up being surprising about the year past? How had I responded to unexpected challenges or pleasures? How did I do in the relationship department? Did I make new friends? Did I deepen relationships with family members? Did I get in touch with long lost people who had at one time been important in my life? Did I find a soulmate? Perhaps more important than the totting up of what may or may not have happened in the year past is the opportunity to look forward, to imagine ourselves over the next twelve
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months. The god Janus—the god of beginnings, for whom January is named—represents that dual nature: the one that looks both in the rear view mirror and in the windshield. Today I want to speak a bit about our New Year’s resolutions and propose a few simple but difficult phrases that will conjure up all kinds of images of what might be. It seems to me that these phrases suggest a way of being that is at once beneficial to us individually, and in the depths of our souls, and they are essential to others whom we encounter regardless of the nature of those relationships. These are indeed fundamental assertions that resonate within faith traditions and in civic practice, ones that are evocative of what it means to be human, what it means to be in full community. They are obvious and they are essential. But they are also difficult and frequently sorely absent.
“I’m Sorry.” The first is “I’m sorry.” How necessary this phrase is but how difficult it often is for us to utter it. Several times each day we are confronted with situations in which it would seem appropriate to say “I’m sorry.” Do we say it easily? What gets in the way if we seem not to be able to say it? Do we mean it or has it become another verbal reflex that simply rolls off the tongue in the hope of making a difficult situation better and moving on? There are plenty of situations in which we find ourselves expected to say something we really do not mean. Is it better to offer the expected response even if we don’t mean it? Over the break I had occasion to see a four-year-old opening Christmas presents. You may have experienced that phenomenon when you have worked especially hard to find just the right present for somebody, and the gift falls flat. This little boy opened the box with gleeful expectation and then he pulled out a strange, holiday sweater. His parents were oohing and aahing, and he said, “I really don’t like it. It’s not very pretty.” The rest of us had all we could do to contain our laughter. But the dad said, “Oh honey, of course you like it. Aunt Mary picked it out just for you.” He replied, “No, I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.” As we grow older we learn to mitigate our true feelings in order not to hurt the feelings of others. But there remains a bit of an ethical tension when one doesn’t feel the sentiment that is required to be expressed. One of my own examples of this occurred with the phrase “I’m sorry.” As we often did, my next-door-neighbors and I were playing in the snow in the alleyway between our houses with the ultimate goal of designing and building a world class snow fort. We were about eight years old and all had gone well for a couple hours, but for some reason my neighbor Paul at some point suggested that we didn’t want the fort to go over on “their property,” which amounted to about a two-foot slice of land next to their house. This business of “our property” and “your property” was a chronic preoccupation with him and especially his overly possessive grandmother who lived in the house as well. I think I said something like “You’ve got be kidding. We’ve built this fort and it’s on both of our properties.” He suddenly started to destroy part of the fort we had built together. I was not going to simply stand there while this happened, so I pinned him to his house and rubbed snow in his now tearful face. I expect that much worse might
have happened, but soon there was a rapping on my dining room window and my mother was wagging her finger to leave him alone. At that point his nose was bleeding, so there was even a more dramatic spectacle. He ran home and my mother beckoned to me to come in the house. I did. And I wasn’t happy. Neither was she. I imagine she saw most of the buildup to the incident and, in characteristic fashion, chose not to intervene (my parents were very much of the “kids should fight their own battles” school) until it looked like someone (in this case, Paul) might get hurt. She said, “I want you to go next door and tell Paul you’re sorry.” “But I’m not sorry. He deserved it. Did you see what he did?” “I don’t care. You hurt him and need to tell him you’re sorry.” “I don’t want to. That would be humiliating.” “Believe me,” she said, “it will be much more humiliating for you if you don’t march right over there and tell him you’re sorry.” Grudgingly I went next door, knocked on the door, and was greeted by his mother whom I told I wanted to see Paul. She said he was in the bathroom cleaning his face. But she would call him out. Out he came. Still with tears in his eyes. And I said, “I’m sorry.”
These are indeed fundamental assertions... They are obvious and they are essential. But they are also difficult and frequently sorely absent. He didn’t say a word. He just turned and shut the door. I had done what I was asked to do. But it wasn’t pretty. I did not feel sorry. Nor did I feel that I should be telling him “sorry.” As is often true in these kinds of disagreements, I thought he ought to tell me “sorry.”
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This was just one of many times in my young life that I was expected to say something I did not feel. A friend with whom I had discussed this moral challenge, of actually lying versus apologizing or offering a compliment, confessed his own recent ethical dilemma. He had visited his friends who had just had a baby. As you may know there is often plenty of cooing and exclaiming when someone sees a new baby for the first time. Usually newborn babies are not very attractive. They’ve been through a tough battle, and often their heads and features are a tad misshapen. My friend resolved he was not going to lie anymore about a baby who clearly was quite ugly. He wasn’t going to say the seemingly obligatory “What a beautiful baby!” Instead, when confronted with a new baby, he was always simply going to say, “Now there’s a baby!” and leave it at that. One place in school life that someone finds saying “I’m sorry” difficult is in a disciplinary situation. Over the years I’ve been part of dozens of hearings in which the expected denouement is the pronouncement by the student in question of “I’m sorry.” There’s an old vaudeville line when a particularly elusive joke has not elicited the expected laughs from the audience. It is “Wait for it. Wait for it.” It suggests that once the audience thinks a bit more about what you’ve said they will laugh uproariously. The inexpert vaudevillian will not know enough to pause and may even step on the ultimately satisfying gales of laughter. Often in discipline hearings, those gathered have had to “wait for it.” Eventually the guilty party will realize what it is he should say finally and he makes us all feel better by saying “I’m sorry.” The best response by a student at another school who had cheated on an English paper that I can remember was “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I cheated. I’m sorry I didn’t plan well enough and sit down and write this paper sooner than I did. I’m sorry I felt in a bind and didn’t ask the teacher for an extension or help. I’m sorry that all of you have to take time out of your days to deal with me and this stupid situation. I’m sorry to have put Mr. Smith, whom I really like, through this. He has been nothing but kind to me. I’m sorry mostly that all of you will think less of me for this, that my reputation is ruined and that I may never earn your trust back.” After that I not only didn’t want to suspend him for a day, I wanted to name him headmaster. I explained to him that given what he said and what I believe he felt that, in fact, my esteem for him had grown.
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“I Was Wrong.” That leads to the next difficult statement: “I was wrong,” or its sibling, “I made a mistake.” There are countless times every day when I realize I was wrong—sometimes about small things, sometimes about big things. For me, and perhaps for others, my biggest mistakes these days are sins of omission versus sins of commission. There are so many times that I wish I said something or something different to another person, that I had remembered she had been through a bad personal time with her family and offered my support, or that a student had had a great game the previous Saturday and I had forgotten to compliment him. Or I had failed to get a document ready on time and expected Mrs. Driscoll to drop everything and help me out. Or I put off and then forgot to write the note of congratulations or sympathy or gratitude. Sometimes my sins of omission have to do with not answering emails promptly, or failing to answer phone calls when someone leaves a message. I hate talking on
The companion query to “I need help” is “Can I help you?” To my mind, this is one of RL students’ greatest virtues—your willingness to offer help. the phone, and it doesn’t take much for me to avoid it. Sometimes I’m too hard on other people. I ascribe certain motives to them when there is no proof. I allow an earlier experience to color my ongoing assessment. Sometimes my mistakes are big. Sometimes they have to do with an appointment of a faculty or staff member who hasn’t worked out. Sometimes they have to do with a personal affront to someone I really care about but can’t get over my pride and fail to make amends.
Strangely, I think that as we get older we’re much more likely to admit a mistake or admit being wrong. Experience has taught us that it’s better to fess up and not let an indiscretion fester. As I expect with many of you, when I was a teenager I had a hard time admitting I was wrong. This usually got me in hot water with my mother. But it also got in the way sometimes of my dealings with teachers and friends. And occasionally it affected my relationships with cops. I have usually steered clear of criminal offenses, but occasionally in one’s young life, each of us comes up against a situation that is uncomfortable, and temporarily confusing, and has to do with the law. I believe that I’m a decent driver. After all, I did pass my driver’s test on only the third time I took it. But I usually tried to “drive defensively,” as was the mantra of our driving in those days, and to obey the various laws, some more esoteric and less intuitive than others. That said, there have been a few times in my life when I have heard the ominous siren and seen the flashing lights in my rear view mirror. I almost always knew why I was being stopped. But somewhere along the line I had picked up the idea that an encounter with a cop on the road was intended to be a game. I know in part my reaction to state troopers stems from their overtly macho ways and distorted sense of authority. It didn’t help that I thought a uniform with those pants that poofed way out at the hips, the hat’s brim down to the nose, and the sunglasses were ridiculous and intended to heighten the intimidation factor. I suppose all that, in fact, contributed to my usually shocked reaction to being stopped during my younger years. “Oh, no, officer, there was no way I was speeding. How did you arrive at that number? With the radar gun? Is it possible there’s something wrong with the gun or that it actually recorded the guy who passed me who was obviously going much faster than I was?” All this simply annoyed the cop more. And, more often than not, he would find another violation to add to the ticket—my tires were not inflated with the proper poundage, or the inspection sticker, though up to date, was not in precisely the right spot on the windshield, or I was wearing my eyeglasses when there was no indication I needed them on my license. One time, having been in this situation on a few previous occasions and feeling I knew the drill, I got my registration out of my glove compartment before the cop arrived at my window. When he got to me he said, “Well, I stopped you because you were speeding, but I see you’re not wearing your seat belt.” “I took it off when I saw you coming
so I could get my registration.” “Why should I believe that?” he said with feigned incredulity. I have learned something over the years and it has to do with admitting a mistake. On the rare occasion lately when I have had a roadside encounter with an officer of the law, I approach the conversation differently. I keep my seat belt on until he arrives at my window. I get my registration and my license. And then I say, “Sorry for the bother, officer. I understand I was going a bit over the speed limit and I am sorry.” Sometimes he sees an opening and decides to give me a lecture about how speeding is second only to child abuse in the pantheon of deadly sins. But usually the cop appreciates the frankness and taking of responsibility and speedily writes up the ticket. Though it’s not why I behave this new forthcoming way, occasionally the cop will even lower the charge. So many times our fear of the response, or our temper, or some sense of pride will get in the way of our owning up to a mistake. You know that we often encourage you as students to venture into uncharted waters. This is a school that expects people to operate outside of their comfort zones; it’s a place in which explorations and reasonable risk taking are admired and encouraged. Given the fact that you are consistently admonished to try on new identities and to embrace challenges that are novel, you are bound to make mistakes. We always say that it isn’t that one makes a mistake that is the sin; rather, it’s when nothing is learned from the error and the pattern continues that is the real sin. I’m hopeful that we’ll make fewer mistakes in the New Year, but, most important, I’m hopeful that our unwillingness to own up to a mistake made will not be one of the biggest mistakes we make.
“I Need Help.” Third, “I need help.” I do. And you know it. It’s not just that I’m some pitiful, fallible fellow. It’s that we all need help. Each of us is a flawed character. We don’t know everything we ought to know. We don’t always use the best judgment. We sometimes feel conflicted and confused. We need help with our school work. We need help with our occupations. We need help in our personal relationships. We need help to understand why we’re on this earth and how we might lead more meaningful lives. I don’t imagine anyone would quibble with that laundry list of instances in which we need help. But I would imagine,
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that if you’re like me, you find it hard to utter those words, “I need help.” We are creatures with egos. We are eager that others will think well of us, admire us even. We create false impressions about who we are. We project fictional ruses of perfection. I need help doing so many things. Just ask Mr. Piper and Mr. Poles and Mr. McLaren. If they are honest they will admit that I’m a technological imbecile and in need of regular help. The other day at the Holiday Concert I had gladly agreed to accompany a piece on the piano for the Junior Chorus. Mr. Opdycke suggested I could probably use a page turner. I allowed that the system I had concocted—of taping the pages to a piece of cardboard and removing the large document only three times during the piece— would be easily manageable by me. I was wrong. I needed help. And the result of my hubris was my pulling one too many pages off the music stand and leaving JuCho to sing a cappella for 10 seconds or so! I needed help. I had a flat tire the day before break. I had bumped a curb in the parking lot a bit too energetically. I have changed tires in my past life—even occasionally on a highway where cars are going by at 70 miles per hour—but it was such a pleasure to say to Mr. Chauncey that I needed help, and to have him and his skillful colleagues accomplish the task in about a tenth of the time it would have taken me. I needed help. My father turned 99 on December 21. He is bedridden and can’t do much for himself. His life is one sustained plea for help these days. But on his behalf, so too is mine. Without the angelic aides who take care of him 24/7, his life and mine would be very, very different. I am aware every day of the way in which these committed, caring, effective women have answered my call for help. We are much more explicit these days as we orient new boys to Roxbury Latin that it is expected that this will be a journey—academically, athletically, artistically, and socially— in which everyone will be expected to ask for help. I don’t have to tell you that the demands and ways of RL can be a blow to the gut and many boys need help from many people. Perhaps the wildest version of help seeking can occur far into a boy’s tenure at the school, when an especially challenging course—one that demands novel thinking or a certain kind of assessment or complex projects—can throw even a seasoned, high-accomplishing student for a loop. Something similar happened at other schools at which I worked. In one vivid case
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That we are imperfect is no revelation. We are. But we are also gifted, when we are fully thinking and fully feeling, with a profound sense of humility. Humility. This gives us cover when we are frustrated or disappointed in ourselves. We are human. We are not yet fully formed. And we will make mistakes. it took the spectre of a “C” in an upper level, AP course before an especially prideful advisee would heed my advice and seek out help from his teacher, from his classmates, and from older boys. His acknowledging his need for help made all the difference, and soon he was on his way to achieving success in the course—but he could not have done it alone. He needed help and finally asked for it.
Of course, the companion query to “I need help” is “Can I help you?” To my mind, this is one of RL students’ greatest virtues—your willingness to offer help. Sometimes you drop everything to help a schoolmate in a particular instance, but more often you sign on to be a regular source of help through a pesky unit or challenging athletic season or demanding set of Glee Club rehearsals or for the whole year. That is a wonderful instinct of RL boys. Every day I hear countless times a version of this instinct when Mrs. Driscoll says to anyone who enters her office or calls on the phone, “How can I help?” Mrs. Driscoll is preternaturally kind and effective, and she takes the earlier, gentler “Can I help you?” to a new level by knowing that everyone needs help and asking, “How can I help?” She doesn’t just ask; she helps.
“Thank You.” “Thank you” is one other phrase worth being reminded about. To be polite and acknowledge something someone else has done for us, or said to us, should suggest a reflexive “thank you.” To be truly grateful, to recognize how lucky we are that others care for us and about us, to admit that we are flawed, incomplete, wanting in many departments, and that we are the beneficiaries, nonetheless, of gifts and grace and goodwill, to be truly grateful, however, requires work, practice, reflection, honesty. While we give special point to the importance of gratitude at our annual Thanksgiving Hall, it is an instinct about which we should be reminded often. I am grateful for so many things in my own life—for life itself, for a loving family and caring friends, and especially for a vocation that has called me to be in your midst, to know your many kindnesses and gifts, to benefit from your understanding and freely offered friendship, and to do work that has meaning and affects the future. And for forgiving me my sins of which there are many, despite my best efforts. All of that makes me glad and causes me to be grateful.
Humility is the Key
is sorry, the person is usually, also, asking for forgiveness. In repairing any situation, in repairing any relationship, it is hard to ask for forgiveness, and often as hard to forgive. But both are required if we are to live in community, if we are likely to thrive with one another. To admit a mistake requires forgiveness, as well. In the fullness of our humanity we are eager to acknowledge the good will of those in our orbits, and to “come ‘round right.” As I mentioned earlier, the seeker of help needs a responsive partner in order to make matters better. I have found that it is usually easier to offer help than to ask for it, but, again, both are necessary in order to contribute to a loving, caring community. All of these and the desirable “thank you” emanate from a deep sense of humility. Sometimes we get a bit full of ourselves. We allow pride of accomplishment or association (like getting into a particular college, or winning an especially well-contested game against a rival, or earning the top grade on a test in a given class) to alter our sense of who we are. We are flawed, unfinished, aspiring human beings. Part of the joy of living is living until we get more and more right. But the reality of living, of trying new things, of befriending new people, of going new places, of challenging our faculties, is that our imperfections will continuously be made known to us. That we are imperfect is no revelation. We are. But we are also gifted, when we are fully thinking and fully feeling, with a profound sense of humility. Humility. This gives us cover when we are frustrated or disappointed in ourselves. We are human. We are not yet fully formed. And we will make mistakes. Today I leave you simply with the wish that all of us will more freely and authentically summon up the instincts to say I’m sorry, to say I was wrong, to say I made a mistake, to say I need help, to say thank you. And increasingly that these habits of expression will reflect a deep wellspring of feeling, of selfknowledge, and of community. In this New Year may we all strive to be better in these ways. Thank you.
Finally, this morning, let’s provide a bit of context for all the statements that represent ideal ways of being, of behaving, of interacting. “I’m sorry.” “I was wrong.” “I made a mistake.” “I need your help.” “Thank you.” In each instance our willingness to express what we’re feeling requires a reciprocal response. Sometimes these are even harder than the initial feelings and statements. For example, when someone says he or she
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Stella Polaris
The 15th annual Jarvis Lecture welcomed Former CIA Director John Brennan, who spoke to students about his past, their futures, American exceptionalism, and north stars.
The Jarvis Lecture, supported by the Jarvis International Fund, is a gift of Jack Hennessy ’54, and his wife, Margarita. Named for RL’s 10th headmaster, The Reverend Tony Jarvis, the fund honors his commitment and life’s work and also affirms the Hennessys’ conviction that Americans benefit from greater exposure to issues concerning the United States’ place in the world. This year’s Jarvis Lecture had particular and poignant significance, as Tony Jarvis died just weeks prior, after a long battle with cancer. The following is a transcription of John Brennan’s remarks, delivered on October 28. Thank you and good morning everyone. It is wonderful to be here at Roxbury Latin, especially since I know that your founder, John Eliot, had talked about the purpose of education being in the service of Godly citizenship, public service. As your headmaster mentioned, I have spent a fair amount of my professional life, indeed my entire life, trying to give back to this wonderful country of ours.
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I must say, it feels a bit strange, if not treasonous, to be here in the Boston area as a lifelong Yankees fan on the first day of the World Series, but hopefully you’re not going to hold that Yankee affiliation against me. As I was walking around bustling downtown West Roxbury last night, I went to the pizza parlor, and was thinking about what got me to this point. I still pinch myself because, believe it or not, I still envision myself as a high school student in West New York, New Jersey—much like you, not knowing what was ahead of me. When I look back now on my career as the director of CIA, having had the opportunity to do so many things in my life, I never had the least inclination that this was going to be my life’s path. So, what I want to do this morning is share a little bit about my experiences and offer some bits of recommendation or advice from somebody who has been in your seats before and didn’t know what was ahead of him. I grew up in a northern New Jersey, in a working class, blue
I was 18 years old, I had the opportunity to go to Indonesia. My cousin was the Food for Peace officer at the American Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. So at the tender age of 18, I was able to travel as an American and got to see the differences between the United States and many other parts of the world. Then when I was a junior in college, I went to the American University in Cairo, my first introduction to the Middle East. I learned Arabic there and also became very familiar with all of the troubles and travails of the Middle East. This was what propelled me to go to the CIA. The CIA was my ticket to learning about the world. I knew I wanted to have a better understanding of what makes this world go around and all the people in it, and what some of the underlying tensions, as well as opportunities, are around the world. During my 25 years at the CIA, I had the opportunity to brief presidents, kings, queens, and prime ministers; to travel to more than 70 countries; and to witness history—and, maybe even some would say, to be a maker of history. Those things I never imagined I would be doing when I was in your seats. The CIA is a great organization, one that is frequently misunderstood. The CIA’s mission is inherently clandestine, because these are the things that the United States needs to do and undertake around the globe in order to keep us strong and safe. collar neighborhood as the son of an immigrant. My father had immigrated from Ireland when he was 28 years old in 1948, leaving the country of Ireland, one that he loved; but he wanted to come to a great land of opportunity that he had heard so much about: America. When my brother and sister and I were young, my father instilled in us a great sense of how special it is to be an American citizen. That we should never take for granted the fact that we were born citizens, because there are certain obligations and responsibilities that go along with that. When I was young, I was a voracious reader. I would read everything I could about American history, trying to understand how this great country of ours got to where it was. I also read a lot about the world and America’s place in it. I was very impressed to see so many of you stand up when Headmaster Brennan said, “Who has been overseas?” When
So, currently what’s going on around the world? There are a number of things that I think we as Americans need to be aware of and be concerned about. Some of the headlines recently: North Korea. North Korea, as you know, is a country far, far away. But over the past 30 years or so, the leadership of North Korea has been trying to gain an opportunity to create a weapon that would be able to hit the U.S. homeland. Kim Jong-un, the current leader of North Korea, and his father and grandfather have developed nuclear weapons with the capability to launch and hit the United States. That’s why it’s critically important that the current administration is engaging in diplomacy with North Korea. In light of who is at the helm of the North Korean leadership, Kim Jong-un, the last thing we want is for a ruthless dictator to have the opportunity and capability to launch a nuclear weapon against this country.
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Now, Kim Jong-un sees this as mainly a deterrent to what he believes is an inevitable U.S. military attack with South Korea, and maybe also with Japan, against North Korea. So, this is his opportunity to deter what he believes is military aggression. It’s important that the Unites States engage in diplomacy to bring those tensions down and perhaps arrive at a peaceful resolution. If we look at Russia today: Vladimir Putin, very impressive in many respects, strong man of Russia who’s been able to consolidate his political power. But what are we seeing Mr. Putin do recently? He carried out a poisonous attack against a Russian who had worked for Western intelligence for many years, and that poison attack took place on British soil. It shows that Vladimir Putin is rather audacious in terms of what he is willing to do on the soil of other countries. Most recent headlines include a killing of an American resident journalist for The Washington Post by the name of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. This is something that I think should outrage us all, and thankfully this government is focusing on what needs to be done in response to that horrendous and horrific attack. Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, has tried to reform Saudi Arabia from some of the traditional means of cultural and social norms that have been in that country for many years. But also, he is somebody who has consolidated political power to himself and is not going to brook any opposition. Jamal Khashoggi using the power of the pen was criticizing Mohammed bin Salman. The investigation is underway right now to find out who authorized that killing. Now, these are events in which the CIA and other intelligence agencies in the U.S. government try to determine exactly what happened, who was responsible, and what the United States needs to do in reaction to them. There are two main issues that I want to talk about substantively that I think you and your generation need to be very mindful of, because they are going to affect our lives in the coming decades. One phenomenon is the digital world. When I joined the CIA in 1980, I didn’t have a personal computer on my desk. We didn’t have personal computers at the time. We had hard files. My way of doing a search and trying to determine
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relationships and trends was to take out a colored marker and mark my paper copies. I didn’t have any type of federated search that you can do.
“It’s the sins of omission, rather than the sins of commission, that will haunt you.” That digital environment has grown and expanded and exploded. Your lives, our lives, have been made so much easier as a result of the tremendous capabilities that exist in that cyber sphere. It has allowed us to communicate, to educate, to trade and engage in finance. But that digital environment is one that we can’t see, but yet we increasingly rely on it every day. One of the challenges that the government is having is: What is the government’s role in that digital environment? You know what the responsibilities and authorities are of the Boston Police Department. You know what the authorities are at the airport, the Transportation Security Administration officials or the Coast Guard. But what is the role of the government in that digital environment that we are all increasingly tethered to? What should the role of the FBI and the CIA and NSA and other law enforcement agencies have in that environment? What can they do in order to ensure that we’re going to be protected, so that this country stays safe, secure, and prosperous in the future? What’s going to happen in the future in terms of the rule of law? How are we going to be able to ensure that we can protect
this great country of ours in an environment that is owned and operated 85 percent by the private sector? That’s not a government-owned environment, it’s a private sector environment. Today if there was a judge in Boston who issued a writ or a subpoena to open up a bank deposit vault, or a warehouse, or an office building, the owners of those entities are obligated under the law to open it up because there might be information about an attack that’s going to take place, or evidence of a crime. But if a judge issues a similar writ or warrant and wants to get into somebody’s iPhone because it may contain warehouses full of information about an upcoming strategic attack, unbreakable encryption that we all know and love and want to maintain, because privacy and civil liberties are so important and cherished by this country—how are the authorities going to access the iPhone with unbreakable encryption? They won’t be able to. This is one of the dilemmas of the 21st century. How are we going to ensure that the digital environment continues to grow and expand, continues to be the engine of our daily lives, continues to allow us to enjoy all of the opportunities of communication and interaction that we have come to rely on? What happens in that environment when those cyber attackers from overseas decide to try to take it down? We rely on our credit cards. We rely on our mobile phones. We rely on the ability to interact across those airways. This is something still I think the government is trying to come to terms with. What can be done in order to ensure that environment continues to allow this great country of ours to move forward in a very positive manner? Particularly as we enlist more automation and artificial intelligence, that environment is going to consume more and more human activity. The second phenomenon—one that I have spent a fair amount of time talking about since I retired—is globalization. Globalization is an inevitable arc of history. This world has become much more intimate, much more interconnected, much more interoperable. The first time I went overseas to Indonesia in 1974, it seemed as though Indonesia was on the other side of the universe in terms of how long it took me to get there, and in terms of communicating from Indonesia back to the United States.
Now, globalization has made this world a much more intimate place where we’re able to take full benefit of the technology and of the advancements that develop around the globe. But globalization has had a very uneven impact on our world. If you live in urban centers, if you are able to take advantage of tremendous educational opportunities such as here at Roxbury Latin, if you are adept at technology, if you live in those cities that really are bustling as a result of the tremendous benefits associated with globalization, you have been able to stream along with those advancements. But if you live in a rural area, if you live in an area where you’re not able to take advantage of that technology or that education or that technical training, if the factory that you and your father, your grandfather or grandmother and aunts have worked at for many, many generations is closing, if you feel as though globalization is passing you by, you resent that globalization. In addition, with the tremendous flow of people back and forth across borders, people now are asking themselves whether or not their identity and their nationality is being diluted because individuals are now coming into their communities, coming into their societies, who look differently, who speak differently, who have different cultural customs. Therefore, people are starting to ask themselves, what does it mean to be a Frenchman or an American? As a result of this, there has been this division within societies, between those who are able to benefit from globalization and all the wonderful advancements associated with technology and those who are feeling left behind. We’re polarizing within our societies. Some individuals are now saying we need to go back to the old days. We need to go back to when America was America or when France was France. They are not understanding that this globalization trend is inevitable and is going to continue to influence and to shape world events. So, what is happening now in terms of societies—with individuals who are feeling dispossessed or disenfranchised and not able to take advantage of the benefits of this globalized world? It’s leading a number of people to opt for populist forces. You hear a lot about populism. Populism is something that is driving individuals to react to these forces of modernization and globalization.
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“I think it’s a particular obligation on the part of our elected leaders to try to bring our societies together.” Unfortunately, too many individuals are now seizing upon those fears and concerns of people who believe that they are being left behind. I think it’s a particular obligation on the part of our elected leaders to try to bring our societies together and not try to foment that type of distrust and that type of anger inside of societies, which is dividing us. Now, too many of our government leaders around the world are unable to manage the challenges that come with governance in the 21st century. They don’t have the ability to resolve a lot of these problems inside of societies. What do they do? They opt for more authoritarian and repressive measures in order to prevent individuals from challenging them. That’s why we see instances in Russia with Vladimir Putin or Jamal Khashoggi with Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia—how there is this effort on the part of leaders to suppress and oppress freedom of speech and individuals who are trying to respond to a number of the issues today. So there’s a lot going on around the world that requires the United States, requires U.S. intelligence agencies and others to be the eyes and ears for Americans here at home. Those members of the diplomatic corps, those members of the
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military, those members of intelligence who are serving around the clock, around the globe—they are doing it because they have families here at home and they want to be able to keep their fellow Americans safe. I had the great privilege of being the director of the CIA for four years. Every month in front of our memorial wall, I would administer the oath of office to a new crop of CIA officers. They would raise their right hands and repeat the oath to the constitution. In front of the memorial wall—it has the stars of CIA officers that fell in the line of duty—after I’d administer the oath of office, I would engage in a question and answer series with them. I would also give them my words of advice having grown up within CIA. What I thought I’d do this morning before taking some of your questions is share some bits of advice that I gave to those aspiring CIA officers who wanted to understand what it would take in order to be a successful CIA officer. First piece of advice was: Enjoy your life. Work hard, have fun, but be engaged. Right now you are the young Americans, young aspiring professionals. Before you know it, you’re going to be a 63-year-old man like me, talking to a high school class like this. So take full advantage of all those opportunities that are going to come your way in the coming years. They would ask me: What was my biggest regret at the CIA, or what was my biggest mistake? Usually I didn’t have enough time to go through all of the mistakes that I’d made. But I would say the biggest mistake that I made was not seizing upon opportunities that came my way throughout the course of my career. It’s the sins of omission rather than the sins of commission that will haunt you. Not raising your hand in class and sharing your idea, not writing that paper, not taking advantage of the opportunity to go overseas. Not taking advantage of some opportunity that is going to allow you to have a better appreciation for who you are and what your role is in life. As you go through your life, those opportunities are going to create new opportunities for you. If I didn’t go to the American University in Cairo when I was 20 years old, I wouldn’t have learned Arabic. I wouldn’t have become a Middle East expert. I wouldn’t have been as attractive to the CIA when I applied. So
Members of Class I speak with Mr. Brennan during the post-Hall reception (left to right: Sean Russell, Kevin Demore, Raphael Deykin, and Quito Sanchez).
take advantage of those opportunities that come your way. Don’t hesitate to be engaged, to speak up and to speak out. There were many times when I was young at the CIA, a young officer. I was very junior. People around me were much more seasoned and senior and I didn’t share my views. Inevitably, afterward I’d say, “I wish I did. I wish I’d provided my thoughts.” There is a son of Massachusetts, John Greenleaf Whittier, who has a saying that has guided my professional life: “For all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: It might have been.” It might’ve been different if I had done X, Y, or Z. It might’ve been better. Don’t live your life with a series of regrets. Enjoy your life and get engaged. Second, safeguard your reputation. It’s now more important than ever. We recently had an experience in Washington where a nominee to the Supreme Court had to explain and try to defend what he allegedly had done as a high school student. In this day and age, with all the things particularly in that cyber environment that are going to provide a historical record of you, remember that your reputation is something that you need to protect and cherish forever. Reputations take time to build up and to develop, but they can crash in a moment. Keep that in mind. Make sure that reputation
is something that you are always going to try to protect and safeguard because it is who you are. When someone says your name, your reputation will immediately come to mind. Third, and along those lines: Always keep your eye on your north star. What are your principles? What are the values that guide your life? What is it that you need to do in order to make sure that you have that reputation of honesty, decency, humility, empathy, and teamwork? What is it that’s going to allow you to be seen as a valuable colleague, as a valuable citizen? I’ve seen too many people who have strayed from that north star, whether it be in the government or in business of the private sector, because greed or their belief that they were able to take advantage of an opportunity that they shouldn’t have misled them and got them off the track. Keep in mind that north star. Keep in mind the things that you hold dear, the difference between right and wrong. It’s easy to do the right things in the easy times. Sometimes it’s more difficult, a lot more difficult, to do the right things in hard times, but never forget that north star. Also, believe in this great country of America. Yes, we’re going through a lot of challenges at this time domestically, internationally. But, I am a strong believer in American exceptionalism. Not because we’re bigger or better or stronger
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John Brennan, Headmaster Kerry Brennan, Jack Hennessy '54, and Margarita Hennessy.
The Jarvis International Fund In the 15 years since Jack ’54 and Margarita Hennessey established the Jarvis International Fund, hundreds of RL boys and masters have been afforded the opportunity to travel to foreign countries, and to develop new perspectives on myriad global issues. Each year, since 2004, the Fund has also welcomed some of the world’s brightest minds in politics, economics, history, and education to the Rousmaniere stage.
2004
Paul Volcker
2005
Richard Murphy ’47
2006
Richard Haass
2007
Linda Fasulo
2008
Peter Bell
Fmr. Chair, Federal Reserve
U.S. Ambassador, Diplomat
U.S. Ambassador; President, Council on Foreign Relations
U.N. Correspondent for NBC
Former President of CARE
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
Fmr. U.S. Secretary of Defense
Robert Gates
Professor, Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics, Harvard Kennedy School
Professor of International Relations and History, Boston University
Fmr. Headmaster, Eton College
Sir Eric Anderson
Gen. Anthony Zinni
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
Bill Richardson
Dr. Stanley Fischer
Lisa Monaco
Mark Storella ’77
Fmr. Governor of New Mexico
R. Nicholas Burns
Fmr. Vice Chairman, Federal Reserve
Andrew Bacevich
U.S. Homeland Security Advisor to President Obama
Senior Foreign Service
U.S. Marine Corps, Ret.
John Brennan
Fmr. Director of the CIA
than others, or smarter. We do have great political, economic, and military might that is basically unrivaled around the world, but American exceptionalism in my dictionary means that this country has had exceptional good fortune, exceptional opportunity.
“Always keep your eye on your north star...What are the values that guide your life?” We are a land of tremendous natural resources, of arable land, navigable rivers, long coastlines, the world’s oldest democracy. We have such exceptional good fortune. I think along with that comes exceptional responsibility. Therefore, I do believe that it’s critically important for us as a country not just to think about ourselves, but also to think about the rest of the world. Unfortunately, as I’ve been traveling over the last year and a half, the mantra of America first is being heard as America alone. That is antithetical to what America’s reputation has been for the last 75 years. America has truly believed that if you help other countries, if you help others around the globe and all boats rise, it’s in U.S. national security interests. So I think it’s critically important that we use the tremendous great fortune that we’ve had in this country. One of the most important dimensions of our great country is that we are the world’s melting pot. We have attracted people from all over the world, and we need to make sure that we’re going to continue to benefit by that tremendous opportunity that we have had to take advantage of the world’s talent.
Then finally, public service. I would tell my CIA officers that by the very fact of their employment at the CIA, they’re contributing to their great country, and they need to keep public service in mind. That’s why when I had the invitation to come up here—the fact that Roxbury Latin is dedicated to ensuring that young men are going to understand the importance of public service—that I responded very quickly to the invitation. Public service in our lives is critically important. Now, all of you or none of you may go into intelligence and law enforcement. But you can give back to your country without becoming a CIA officer or without becoming an FBI agent. You can give back to your communities by engaging in local community work, engaging in those types of endeavors and initiatives that are going to enhance this great country. People ask whether or not elections matter. I think the most minimal form and the most important form of public service is voting. I’m sure many of you are not old enough to vote yet, but I would strongly encourage you in the future, whenever you have the opportunity to vote, to make sure you go out and you choose your elected officials. My father was 96 years old when he passed away in December of 2016. But in early November of 2016, he got out of his sick bed and went to the local polling booth in order to cast his vote. He always felt that he needed to vote on behalf of those who didn’t have that opportunity. Think about those individuals around the world who are not able to lend their voice to select leaders. Therefore, I think all of us really need to be able to make sure that we’re able to express our views and our voice at the ballot box, but also in the things that we do within our local communities. With that, I want to be able to address any questions that you might have and not just talk about the things that I think are important. So with that, I’m going to ask for questions. Thank you.
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the arts
It Can’t Happen Here
On November 16 and 17, RL’s thespians performed this year’s Senior Play, It Can’t Happen Here, based on the 1935 semisatirical novel by Sinclair Lewis. Published during the rise of fascism in Europe, the story follows the ascent of Buzz Windrip, a charismatic and power-hungry politician who is elected President of the United States on a populist platform— sewing fear and promising economic and social reform, while promoting a return to patriotism and “traditional” values. After his election, Windrip takes control of the government imposing totalitarian rule. The plot centers on journalist Doremus Jessup’s opposition to the new regime and his subsequent struggle against it as part of a liberal rebellion.
The novel was originally adapted for the stage in 1936; in 2016 Tony Taccone and Bennett Cohen were inspired to update that adaptation of a storyline that feels prescient more than eighty years later. In their adapter’s notes, Taccone and Cohen wrote: “Mr. Lewis was a singular artist, and his ability to grasp the complexity and underpinnings of
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American society and to reimagine the world continues to be a source of inspiration. With this play, we hope to sustain his artistic legacy and to translate his overreaching vision into a compelling piece of theatre.” In addition to a strong cast of 19, and a tech crew of 15, the production was enhanced by original music compositions by Jonathan Weiss, Class II. Writing and scoring music for two violins, a viola and cello, Jonathan developed the music that played during five interludes. (It was pre-recorded in Rousmaniere Hall by the student quartet of Elias Simeonov (I), Alex Yin (IV), Eli Mamuya (V), and Justin Shaw (V).) “Jonathan is very attentive to the nuances in a text and how those might be translated into music,” says Director of Dramatics Derek Nelson—the play’s director. “We are very fortunate to have him at RL—he is a true artist and very talented composer.” Production photos by Mike Pojman
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Latonics Hall October 25
Fall Recitalists At Hall on November 19, RL’s student musicians took the Rousmaniere stage, treating their classmates to exquisite performances of Bach, Brahms, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and Ysaÿe. Left to right: Christopher Zhu (II), Piano; Elias Simeonov (I), Violin; Alex Yin (IV), Violin; Theodore Teng (IV), Piano; Heshi Liebowitz (IV), Piano; Justin Shaw (V), Cello; Eric Zaks (I), Cello.
Holiday Concert December 19
Messiah Sing On December 7, guests gathered in Rousmaniere Hall for the tenth annual Messiah Sing and Holiday Concert. The Sly Voxes kicked things off with songs ranging from Ave Maria to O Magnum Mysterium to All I Want for Christmas. The finale had The Sly Voxes donning Santa hats (and one Rudolph nose!) for a rousing performance of Here Comes Santa Claus. After intermission, the audience became a dazzling chorus for the Christmas portion of Handel’s Messiah. Rearranging themselves by voice part, the audience was directed by Rob Opdycke and Headmaster Brennan, accompanied on the organ by Brandon Santini, and anchored by local professional soloists.
arts calendar GREAT HALL ART SHOW: ERIK ZOU ‘19 JANUARY 8 – FEBRUARY 12 CLOSING RECEPTION: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12 @ 6 PM JUNIOR PLAY: PETER AND THE STARCATCHER FRIDAY, MARCH 1 & SATURDAY, MARCH 2 @ 7:30 PM GLEE CLUB CONCERT WITH THE WINSOR SCHOOL SUNDAY, MARCH 3 @ 6 PM (AT WINSOR) A CAPPELLA FEST FRIDAY, APRIL 5 @ 7:30 PM SENIOR CONCERT FRIDAY, APRIL 26 @ 7:30 PM SHAKESPEARE’S COMEDY OF ERRORS FRIDAY, MAY 3 @ 8 PM & SUNDAY, MAY 5 @ 4 PM LATIN PLAY TUESDAY, MAY 14 @ 7 PM INSTRUMENTAL CONCERT FRIDAY, MAY 17 @ 7:30 PM
All events will take place on campus unless otherwise noted.
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Founder’s Day
On November 1, Roxbury Latin celebrated its annual Founder’s Day, in honor of founder John Eliot. The school used this occasion to examine the year 1968—the 50th anniversary of a tumultuous year in our country and around the globe. In sessions throughout the day, students and adults explored the people and events of that year, its lasting imprint on the United States, and the parallels with our current state of affairs.
The day began with an address by Dr. Vanessa Walker, the Morgan Assistant Professor in Diplomatic History at Amherst College. Dr. Walker placed the American political landscape of 1968 in a broader global and historical context, with particular emphasis on youth activism and parallels between
The traditional Hall was complete with readings by Class I boys given
the issues of 50 years ago and
in Hebrew, Latin, Greek, and English and with rousing renditions of
those of today. >>
Jerusalem and The Founder’s Song. >>
A thrilling game of Jeopardy! capped off the afternoon—contestants proved that they had been listening throughout the day, as they answered with “questions” illuminating The traditional all-school
their understanding of 1960s
panorama (see the photo on page
history. Class III pulled out
30) took place in the gymnasium
an impressive win. >>
during a rainy afternoon. >> 28 Wi n t e r 2 0 1 9
The Lessons of History by Mike Pojman Two thousand eighteen—fifty years out—seemed like the appropriate time to make 1968 the theme of this year’s Founder’s Day program. It’s hard to believe that a half-century has passed since the tumultuous series of events played out over the course of those momentous 365 days.
RL welcomed four thoughtful panelists who reflected on their own experiences of 1968 and answered boys’ questions about that time and place. Former board chair Dennis Kanin ‘64; former faculty member Steve Ward; Mrs. Ann Conlon Roosevelt; and former trustee David Evans shared their firsthand accounts of political campaigns, police riots in Chicago, racial tensions and divides, and even life at RL in the late ’60s. >>
As I stood in the lunch line during the midday break, I found myself tray-to-tray with several rambunctious—and famished—Class III boys who were taunting each other with forks and spoons, sparring playfully while awaiting their turn at the serving station. “How old are you?” I asked one of them. “Fifteen,” they responded in unison. “Hmm,” I pondered. “I was your age in 1968, but don’t do the math.” “I…just…did…” said the quickest number-cruncher in the bunch, incredulously.
It was hard not to tap your feet as masters Mo Randall and Rob Opdycke introduced Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, The Beatles, Muddy Waters, Jefferson Airplane, Sly and the Family Stone, and many more artists who came to fame or were reinventing themselves across the country in 1968. >>
I don’t know whether his look of astonishment derived from the realization that I’m fifty years older than he is or from self-congratulatory surprise that he could add the digits more quickly than his lunch-mates. One way or another, I had interrupted their replay of the morning’s events, their jousting peppered with lively discussion of the things they had just heard in Hall, as if to continue an especially energizing history class. Clearly they were invigorated. The day began with the annual ritual commemorating John Eliot’s arrival in Boston on the “Good Ship Lyon,” followed by a scholarly address from Dr. Vanessa Walker on youth revolutions around the world, then and now. A 45-minute video highlight reel recounted in graphic detail the earthshaking—and worldchanging—events of 1968, setting the stage for the four living witnesses who commanded the stage in the spirited panel discussion and freewheeling Q&A that followed. Steve Ward, Dennis Kanin, Ann Roosevelt, and David Evans were at various stages of their own lives when the assassinations of MLK and RFK, the Prague Spring, Chicago riots, Tet Offensive, and nationwide student protests shook their worlds. N e w s l e t t e r o f Th e R o x b u r y L at i n S c h o o l
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As I listened to each of them recount his or her own reactions to the swirl of events going on around them in 1968, I remembered my then-15-year-old self feeling as if the world were coming unglued, that the system was unraveling, that the future was grim (or maybe, even, that there was no future)—all of which compounded my normal teenage insecurities. I remembered my sophomore English class, taught by a 260-pound mountain of a man who claimed matter-of-factly that “I’m only here to avoid the draft.” (Teachers were exempt in 1968.) “Guys like me,” he added starkly, “we don’t fit in trenches.” I remembered dreading the draft myself. (A proposal to eliminate the student exemption was gaining momentum.) I was rattled by the Hough riots that shook Cleveland during that hot summer, and I shared his relief when my father told me how lucky we were that he had plans to move his office out of the city. I remembered wondering who would be next when a news flash interrupted an episode of the then-popular TV crime drama, Mannix, announcing that Robert Kennedy had been shot in a hotel kitchen. My parents underreacted so as not to alarm us, but they were clearly shaken. Loss of faith in our beleaguered president was creeping across the country as the Vietnam War dragged on, defeating LBJ if not the Viet Cong, as the needle on our moral compass spun from N to S and back again, like the fortunes of the North and South in Vietnam. (JFK, MLK, RFK, LBJ… When did we stop referring to political figures by their three initials?) The unsettling events of today are different, surely, than those that disheartened the country in 1968, but the parallels between our uncertainties then and now are unmistakable to those of us who were alive and conscious a half-century ago. And what does the next half-century hold for the 15-year-olds of today, I wonder? What will it be like for them, they wonder? What will the world present to their grown-up selves—and to the Class III boys of 2068 in the metaphorical lunch line 50 years from now? Having enjoyed a life of peace, happiness, and prosperity lo these many years since those dark days of 1968, I tap the wisdom of age and experience to reassure our boys that they do, in fact, have a promising future—that however dismal the events of the day may seem to them in the moment, things will likely turn out fine in time. And I hope they find my reassurances credible. “History is on your side,” I say. In the hands of today’s youth, the future is bright. I stake my life’s mission on it. I am confident that their intelligence, adaptability, and fundamental optimism will carry the day, that they are well equipped to handle anything that comes their way, armed with the exuberance and energy of youth—and perhaps a verbal quip or two for an impromptu lunch line joust. 30
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1968 IN THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 30 Tet Offensive The Viet Cong and North Vietnam launch a campaign of surprise attacks against military and civilian targets across South Vietnam.
MARCH 31 LBJ Bows Out Lyndon Johnson announces he will not seek re-election in November.
APRIL 4 MLK Assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. is shot and killed at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
APRIL 11 Civil Rights Act Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968 into law.
JUNE 5 RFK Assassinated Robert Kennedy is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after winning the Democratic primary in California. He dies the next day.
AUGUST 5 Nixon & Agnew
AUGUST 22 DNC & Chicago Protests
The Republican National Convention nominates Richard Nixon for president.
Police clash with anti-war protesters outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Hubert Humphrey is nominated for president.
NOVEMBER 5 Nixon’s the One DECEMBER 24 Apollo 8 Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders are the first humans to orbit the Moon.
Richard Nixon defeats Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace to become president-elect.
hall highlights
Kory Stamper: Human Dictionary Lexicographer KORY STAMPER—who spent two decades as an associate editor at Merriam-Webster—on October 9 led boys and faculty along an informative and entertaining traverse through the English language. Her talk titled “Is Proper English Proper?” was a brief history of Standard English. She explained how, in England, as books became less expensive, social mobility increased, and as England became a center of trade, the language began to adopt more words from other countries. She also discussed (controversially!) how a stigmatized word like irregardless becomes viable in a language through usage.
American Shakespeare Center brings Antigone to Smith Theater On October 15, Roxbury Latin boys and faculty packed the Smith Theater for the AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE CENTER’S performance of Sophocles’s Antigone. Complete with a Hamiltonesque rapping intro, musical performances during intermission, epic battle scenes, and extensive use of the aisles (most notably for blind Tiresias’s slow and ominous entrance), the show fully immersed students and faculty in the action. Conversation with cast members followed, and RL boys were curious about the actors’ theatrical and musical backgrounds and their tactics for approaching emotional scenes. This performance was generously supported by the Claire Berman Artist-in-Residence Fund, established by Ethan Berman ’79 and his wife, Fiona Hollands. While RL’s older boys had already read Antigone, younger students were prepared for the performance by learning about the play in Latin classes.
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Adam Foss Leads Discussion of Criminal Justice Reform
Hari Narayanan (II) on the History and Traditions of Diwali A long-standing practice at Roxbury Latin is the exploration of different faith traditions, particularly in Halls delivered by faithful members of the RL community. On November 5, HARI NARAYANAN of Class II gave an informative and jubilant presentation, during which students, faculty, and staff learned about Diwali, the holiday celebrated by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs all over the world. The fifth largest festival in the world, Diwali is the festival of light. It is celebrated with oil lamps, firecrackers, fairs (called Melas), charitable donations of food, and sweets for children. (Care of Hari, all students and faculty were treated to Laddus—essentially fried balls of sugar—on the way out of Hall.) Bottom photo (left to right): Rohil Dhaliwal (II), Hari Narayanan (II), Taalin RaoShah (I), Rohan Sheth (I), Vishnu Emani (IV), Milan Rosen (I), and Kalyan Palepu (I) helped RL celebrate the Indian festival.
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Former Suffolk County prosecutor ADAM FOSS addressed students and faculty in the Smith Theater on November 6. A fierce advocate for criminal justice reform and the important role of prosecutors in ending mass incarceration, Mr. Foss believes his profession is ripe for reinvention—with more nuanced metrics for prosecutorial success beyond simple win-loss records. This belief led him to found Prosecutor Impact—a nonprofit developing training and curriculum for prosecutors to reframe their role in the criminal justice system. “All of those people sitting in prison and living in impoverished neighborhoods are not there because they’re not trying hard enough. It’s not that they’re not as smart as us, or as creative or ambitious. It’s because they have lived a life defined by poverty, violence and trauma. And because of that poverty, violence, and trauma, things happen to them when they’re children that start them very young on a certain path. “You don’t have to be a prosecutor to do this work...You can be a teacher. You can be an architect, a scientist... I implore you to do good with what you’ve been given. Fifty years from now, your legacy can be that you gave voice to the voiceless, that you gave power to the powerless, that you used your sword and your shield, that you were one of the new civil rights leaders of our time.”
Dr. Sarah Pelmas Delivers Thanksgiving Hall Address On November 20, DR. SARAH PELMAS, Head of The Winsor School, spoke to students at the Thanksgiving Hall. Setting the scene with A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving—and the wisdom of the sage and sound Linus—Dr. Pelmas then moved away from the 1973 animated holiday special to contextualize Abraham Lincoln’s Proclamation of Thanksgiving, a text read earlier in the Hall by Dominic Gaziano (I). “In his proclamation, Lincoln essentially says—in the middle of the Civil War—that the nation has been very lucky, prosperous, and healthy; that outside of the war things have been remarkably peaceful; that the year has been productive in all the ways you can measure productivity; that all this good fortune is a gift from God; and that we must therefore set aside a day as a nation to be thankful for all the blessings. He does ask for God’s intercession to heal wounds and comfort those who are grieving, but that only comes after a strong argument that overall things are going pretty well... At its heart, this is a wartime proclamation, with the specifically political goal to minimize the war itself. This is hardly Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving!”
Bottom photo: Dr. Pelmas with those RL boys who have sisters at Winsor
Major Andrew Lee, USMC, Helps RL Honor Veterans Day MAJOR ANDREW LEE of the United States Marine Corps—also uncle to Matt Fumarola (I) and Andrew Fumarola ’14—came to RL on November 12 to deliver the address at the school’s annual Veterans Day Hall. Major Lee’s entertaining and powerful talk provided students a personal perspective of the sacrifice that the men and women of the Armed Forces—and their families—make to protect our country and our freedoms.
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Remembering
by Harry Lewis ’65
The following are the remarks delivered by Harry Lewis, Class of 1965 and former board chair, on the occasion of Tony Jarvis’s retirement in 2004. Their sentiment still resonates today. In his history of the school, Schola Illustris, Tony notes that William Coe Collar was known even in his own time as the Second Founder. Collar was the headmaster who retrieved Roxbury Latin from its doldrums after the Civil War and restored the school’s excellence. Collar served for 40 years, from 1867 to 1907. He quadrupled the size of the school and completely overhauled its curriculum. He saved Roxbury Latin from irrelevancy. History is best not written at retirement dinners, but I know I will raise no eyebrows by predicting that Tony Jarvis’s mark on the school will a hundred years hence be regarded as every bit as great as Collar’s. The arithmetic we could do right now—the number of square feet of building, the SAT scores, the admissions statistics into Roxbury Latin, the size of the endowment, the college acceptances—even the athletic records! The Jarvis era changes are as great as the Collar era changes, and starting from a higher base. But we know that it is not these things that Tony will want to be his permanent legacy. Like Collar, Tony will be remembered for the spirit with which he infused the school. Now I know what Tony would say at this point, if he were allowed to protest my comparing him with Collar. In characteristic humility, Tony would object to my comparing him with any great historical figure, no matter how beloved and how admired by him or anyone else. “Harry,” he would say, “you are wrong about me and Collar. Let me tell you something. I knew William Coe Collar. He was a friend of mine, and Harry, I’m no William Coe Collar.”
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But in the greatness of what they achieved they are in the same league. Still, we can’t say with confidence that Tony will be remembered as Collar now is, because we don’t know whether what he achieved will last. My speculation was not about measuring Tony’s achievements today, but about predicting how they will look in the future. Speaking now as one of the older alums, I’d like to offer a theory of why I feel that the school will be forever changed because of Tony Jarvis. We older alums have a special perspective on Tony Jarvis and the school he has created. That so many of us are here at all is no small wonder. After all, those of my generation have plenty of reasons for dissociating ourselves from Tony’s Roxbury Latin. Here before us is a man who in one headmastership has turned Roxbury Latin from a place in which most of us were miserable into a place to which none of us could even be admitted. So why are we here? Roxbury Latin is a quintessentially American institution, even more American than the United States, which were formed well into the school’s second century. And we Americans love our institutions. It is out of love and respect for Tony that hundreds have gathered here tonight, but it is also out of love for Roxbury Latin. Today we identify Tony with Roxbury Latin and Roxbury Latin with Tony, but in a decade or two there will be many alumni who do not have the same personal memories of Tony that we do. But he will live on in the school because Tony has built something beyond himself. There are two views of great institutions. One is that great institutions are invulnerable; you can’t destroy them. Once on top, if they keep acting like they are on top, they will stay on top. If they have enough money, they can make mistakes and it won’t matter. The other is that great institutions are fragile, and can be ruined in the blink of an eye. They excel only because thousands of people believe in them, and when the belief is gone, their greatness can disappear too. In this view of institutions, there is no way of acting great that we can pass on to our heirs; we can aspire only to give them a deeper understanding of what greatness is. The great Japanese home-run champion, Sadaharu Oh, once talked about hitting. (And if you can’t believe that I am about
to draw an analogy between Sadaharu Oh and Tony Jarvis, then just wait!) Oh was famous for his “flamingo stance,” in which he waited for the pitch standing on one foot in order to concentrate his energy for the swing. Oh wrote in his autobiography, “The most obvious thing to say about standing on one foot in order to hit a baseball coming at you at 90 miles an hour is that it requires as much belief as technique.” I incline to this view of institutions—that they require as much belief as technique…that they are in delicate balance and work because we believe in them, not because of prescriptions about what they should do. And that is why Tony’s influence is so important. Through 30 years of fastballs, Tony has made us all love the school, and believe in the school, as he does, in all its delicate balance and fragility. We love this school because we love everything it represents about what we hope for the rest of our lives: excellence, love, permanence, and optimism. We love Tony not just because of what he stands for, but because he has created an institution that we think represents the best that is in us. Ninety-seven years ago, as Tony notes in his history, the Tripod said of Collar, “In years to come, when we look back upon our schoolboy life, one of the pleasantest recollections will be that which will enable us to say, ‘I was in the Roxbury Latin School when Dr. Collar was there. I remember him, and his inspiring words in the Hall so often, and his kindly manners, and his delightful classes.’ This will be to us in the future a priceless treasure.”
What an honor it will be for us to be able to say, years in the future, “I knew Roxbury Latin while Tony Jarvis was there.”
What an honor it will be for us to be able to say, years in the future, “I knew Roxbury Latin while Tony Jarvis was there.” Tony, thank you for the treasure beyond reckoning that you have given to every one of us. We know what our job is now.
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Alumni Remembrances To have been a pupil at Reverend Jarvis’s Roxbury Latin was one of the great fortunes of a boy’s life. He taught us, his enfants, important lessons in humility and honesty, in wisdom and perseverance. His love for each boy was evident in how we saw The Roxbury Latin School as home. I will never forget, shortly before he retired, sitting in his office as a shy 7th grader, discussing my finals and the importance of service, embracing one of his favorite mottos, “From those to whom much has been given, much will be expected.” Today that commitment to the service of others shapes all my decisions—the idea that one should bring about positive effects to any place or situation they find themselves in. And now he’s been called home, having left this Earth better than how he found it. Only an angel could have given so much love to so many. My classmates and I were blessed to have been his final pupils while he was at the helm of our ancient Latin school. // ARYA ALIZADEH ’09 One of the recurring anecdotes in Tony Jarvis’s opening of term speeches was about Billy McDonald, Class of 1980— star student, star athlete—who had died of cancer during his senior year. More than the adults around him, Billy had accepted his fate and was thankful for having had the chance to live as much as he did, Tony recalled. The story was aimed at piercing our adolescent immortality complex. You only get one Earthly life, Tony would say. Do something great with it. By great, he meant service to Church and Commonwealth. That was what the school aimed to prepare its boys for. Other themes from his speeches stick with me—greed won’t make you happy, life isn’t fair, a real man is tough in facing life’s difficulties but tender in his empathy for others, and, of course, from those to whom much has been given, much will be expected. His legacy lives on. // SHAWN ZELLER ’93 In hindsight, it was amazing how Tony Jarvis came in to lead the school as a 35-year-old with a tireless sense of achieving his vision for it. I think he made the school accessible to a lot of talented
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city kids who otherwise might not have had such an opportunity. Mortui Vivos Docent. // ERNIE BARSAMIAN ’77 Words on the front of a building are merely well-arranged letters, attempting to describe the essence of what is housed in its walls. What bring life to those words are the people who believe in and cultivate that essence. F. Washington Jarvis was the headmaster at The Roxbury Latin School when I started 7th grade in 2001. His love for the school and for us as students was always evident. What was also evident was his desire for us to grow, not only academically, but also in the way we interacted with each other and the way we contributed to the world. He would always say, “From those to whom much has been given, much will be expected,” letting us know in so many words that it’s not about us or our accolades, but how we choose to better our world with the knowledge we’ve gained and the experiences we were afforded. What I will miss most were the Halls during which he would sit us down and tell us stories to teach us about ourselves. One story I remember him telling was about an American family traveling around Europe and the son acting like a complete brat in the airport with his family.
Fr. Jarvis was always direct, and he dissected the situation for us, highlighting the ugliness of privilege; he actually did this many times, whether we knew it or not. He didn’t have to, but in a predominantly white, independent school in Boston, he knew he needed to. He didn’t flinch at what white parents would think, or board members, or donors—he truly cared about creating young men who wouldn’t be extensions of what’s wrong in the world, but rather people seeking to challenge that norm. His spirit and leadership allowed his staff and us as students to be extensions of him, and thus his spirit will live on through us. Rest in power, Fr. Jarvis. // ADAM L. LAYNE ’07 I found With Love and Prayers on the shelf of my childhood bedroom. I’m definitely bringing it back to L.A. for my kids to read. Tony Jarvis was truly one of a kind. His mentorship at Roxbury Latin did more to shape my life than virtually anything else. Rest in peace, Mr. Jarvis! // ALEX KRUGLOV ’98 I remember walking past Mr. Jarvis in the hallway on one of my first days of school as a 7th grader. He stopped me in my tracks and scolded me for not greeting him, informing me that I was to greet everyone in the school. I spent the next five years in fear of disappointing Mr. Jarvis, in large part because he commanded such respect. Goody two-shoes that I was back then, I think I said “hello” to everyone I walked past in the hallway until the day I graduated. This random experience set the tone for me as a boy that we should acknowledge and love one another. Indeed, over the years, Mr. Jarvis went out of his way to remind my peers and me how much he loved us. What was ingrained in me as a student at RL was that I was loved and that I could be something. It was also clear to me through Mr. Jarvis’s heavy reminders that we were all incredibly fortunate, and that we had an obligation to take advantage of our opportunities so that we could be kind to others. “From those to whom much has been given, much will be expected,” was his motto. RL was not a frou-frou, elitist prep school where how much money you had or how athletic you were or how good looking you were dictated how much you were loved. It has been a place that is strictly about who you are. I am proud to come from a place that took the best and brightest people it could, regardless of wealth, affiliations, or anything else that is not substantively based on character. Roxbury Latin is the most important thing that happened to me. I don’t know what I am, but I wouldn’t be half of what I am without RL. We have Mr. Jarvis to thank for
creating that culture and showing us the obligation we have to be kind to others. // JEFF KIRCHICK ’06 Tony Jarvis was known by an unimaginably diverse array of people for his boundless love and courage—and he was pretty tough, too. His obituary by Bryan Marquard (Boston Globe) captures much about the man and school that is hardest to pin down, probably because the sincerity of both are hiding in plain sight. We are conditioned to look skeptically on the kind of acclamation both are known to receive. So frequently are we disappointed by people and institutions. Not in this case. Not this school, and not this man. Freedom rider, English teacher, soccer coach, van driver, trash picker-upper, anglophile, Classicist, razor-wit generator, motivator, stubborn debater, writer, listener, charmer, truth teller, orator, questioner, traveller, moralist. He was deeply, quietly, and authentically connected to the lives and trials of people of color; people of religious traditions different from his own; women; children; new students and 100-year-old alumni. Living his values as a Christian, and scholarly about the words that our world casually calls “scripture,” he taught the Jewish kids in his school much about our own text and tradition and why to consider giving it some real attention. Tony dared young people to live their lives for the purpose of serving something greater than themselves. He dared to speak in terms of moral obligation. He gave the rhetoric structure in some service programs but mainly in the form of rigorous academics, teaching us to learn and to honor our curiosity. His approach was to hold us accountable and push us beyond our known limits. It could be infuriating. And that’s from one who welcomed it and treasures it. Mr. Jarvis saw the duty to excel and the duty of service as inherent responsibilities of each person, regardless of circumstance or season. He dared to say that both were commanded of all of us who could see in ourselves any facet of privilege. He promised that a life lived for others and with conviction would not only be more godlike, but also more fun. He meant it. He did it. He took me seriously even when I was just a kid. I have never forgotten that feeling. To be seen. To be heard. To be believed. To be loved. By a teacher. // ANDREW TARSY ’87
Annual Fund Kickoff The 2018-2019 Annual Fund kicked off on October 4. Headmaster Kerry Brennan, Annual Fund Chairman Bryan Anderson ’88, Quito Sanchez of Class I, and Patrick Sullivan ’13 each took the podium to share with current and past parents, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends the importance of RL in their lives, and the ways in which donors’ generosity makes a Roxbury Latin education possible. Read excerpts from their speeches here:
KERRY BRENNAN, HEADMASTER “This is a challenging time for men and boys. Given recent revelations about bad behavior it has been easy for pundits to paint with a broad brush and imply that who we are individually, and especially when we are gathered together, is nothing if not toxic. I have found that the young men with whom I work and the way they are together, however, to be quite the opposite. Some have taken the opportunity recently to suggest that boys and boys’ schools are dangerous and must be guarded against at all costs. Well, there are boys’ schools and there are boys’ schools; there are men in the business community and there are men in the business community; there are men in pro sports and entertainment and there are men in pro sports and entertainment. My point is that it depends. One cannot and must not generalize about men or women based on the settings in which we find them any more than we would make judgments based on race, religion, or socioeconomic status. At Roxbury Latin we aim to form kind, fair men, who treat everyone with respect even as they are motivated to lead meaningful lives. We care unabashedly about character; shaping the person a boy is and the man he becomes are our most important goals. I can say definitively that our boys know right from wrong and that they understand the responsibility to be their best selves, to treat others with respect, and to contribute
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meaningfully to whatever community they are part of. RL boys have an opportunity here to be challenged, to be inspired, and to be guided toward relationships and pursuits that will honor their remarkable potential and the companion responsibilities that accompany that promise. These are not entitled boys. And it has to do with the admirable men and women who make their professional lives here teaching, coaching, and counseling these fortunate boys. These teachers model for our boys lives that are well lived. They insist on fairness and decency, and they are committed to affecting boys in life-changing ways. In a swamp of unsavory, hopeless reports and rhetoric, Roxbury Latin offers something substantive, consistent, decent, and hopeful. Your generosity makes it possible for Roxbury Latin to be a beacon for the boys we are delighted to have with us, and, dare I say, for schools who have lost their way and dare to notice that we are different.” // PATRICK SULLIVAN ’13 “At RL I was taught and shown that I ought to care about the character and humanity of others above all else. I learned how to see other people as people and how to strive to understand their circumstances even if they are vastly different from my own. In college, I volunteered with the Yale Undergraduate Prison Project, through which I was paired up with an incarcerated youth at a prison in Cheshire, Connecticut. One Yale student,
Headmaster Kerry Brennan
one incarcerated person. Our goal was to develop a relationship such that when the person who was incarcerated got out, he could have another friend to lean on in the difficult transition period. The first person I was paired with was named Derrick. There are certainly differences between us. He is black and I am white. He is poor and I am not. He went to public school, and I had the good fortune to go here... The differences that put him in a jumpsuit and me in jeans were circumstantial, based on elements of our lives over which neither of us had control. This study of empathy and responsibility to others was baked into each piece of Roxbury Latin. From the handshakes on opening day, to the Halls where we heard from Headmaster Brennan about the potential of language. The way it can be used as a weapon or the way it can be a tool for uniting people. From the classrooms where we were reminded to debate respectfully and humanely, to the soccer fields where it was more important to be sportsmanlike than to win. In my experience since Roxbury Latin, I have encountered many institutions that don’t include empathy in their operating procedures. Roxbury Latin is infused with empathy and care, and it has developed a curriculum and a culture to teach that empathy to the boys who wander these halls. Even if we don’t come from the same place as someone else, even if they don’t like the same things we like, even if we don’t agree with all the choices that they make, we can imagine ourselves in their circumstances, and we have a responsibility to make those circumstances better.” //
QUITO SANCHEZ, CLASS I “In my 9th grade English class (which more closely resembled a philosophy course), we would often engage in conversations debating unanswerable questions about the purpose of life
Patrick Sullivan ’13
and issues of morality. The conversation that resonated with me most was about ‘success.’ Success can mean a wide range of things depending on to whom you talk. It could be securing a well-paying job, living in a way that brings one happiness, or any number of other possibilities. Either way, our discussion focused on debunking the notion that talent alone brings success—that no matter your circumstances, if you have talent and drive, you can accomplish anything. But this notion fails to account for the tremendous impact chance and circumstance have on one’s life. The missing piece in the formula of success is opportunity. In a perfect world, all people, no matter their socioeconomic backgrounds, would have an equal shot to advance in life. Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world, and people often do not have equal opportunity. The result is that talented kids from low-income families are often left behind due to their financial circumstances. As unfair as it is, intelligent and dedicated individuals, who would undoubtedly thrive at a school like RL, simply do not have the same access or opportunity. Every RL kid, however, is intelligent and dedicated but also quite fortunate, because we have all been given a tremendous opportunity that so many lack. As it says in the Refectory, ‘From those to whom much has been given, much will be expected.’ The type of opportunity that RL provides is very rare, and none of us should ever take it for granted.” // BRYAN ANDERSON ’88, ANNUAL FUND CHAIR “In order to turn the page on last year I want to go backward first—back to 1982. Roxbury Latin tuition was $3,800. Tuition at Nobles was $6,800 for a day student—a $3,000 difference. Why do I know this? I was fortunate to be accepted to both schools... My parents told me it was my choice. As far as the extra tuition
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Quito Sanchez, Class I
Headmaster Kerry Brennan, Annual Fund Vice-Chair Beth Frates P’19 ‘21, Annual Fund Chairman Bryan Anderson ‘88 P’21 ‘23, and Parent Chairs Claire and Michael Callewaert P’17,’20 ‘22.
if I chose Nobles, they would ‘figure it out.’ Wow. I knew of Nobles before I applied and I knew some students there. (Did I mention they have girls at Nobles?) I knew virtually nothing about RL before I applied and I knew no one who went to RL. In the end, $3,000 in tuition savings and my love of my RL revisit day made my decision for me—one I will never regret. There are families who want the best education for their children yet face this financial dilemma year in and year out. That $3,000 delta from 1982 is now almost $16,000 a year when compared to other Boston-area independent schools. I want RL to continue to be the most affordable opportunity for every great student. Not only is RL one of the most affordable schools, but Roxbury Latin is one of the few private schools in the country that offers need-blind admission and enrollment. In simple words that Tony Jarvis would appreciate: ‘If a student deserves to be here, RL will figure it out for him.’” //
Bryan Anderson ’88
ALGC Dinner On November 29, the Alumni Leadership Giving Committee (ALGC) held its annual dinner at Bistro du Midi in Boston. The ALGC is comprised of roughly two dozen alumni who share the responsibility for asking other alumni to join them in making contributions to the school at the leadership level.
Annual Fund Update The 2018–2019 Annual Fund is making great progress toward achieving its goal of $3,700,000 thanks to the generosity of our alumni, parents, and friends. We have already received gifts and pledges totaling $2,891,748. We are 78 percent of the way there, but we still need your help! Thank you to all who have already made a commitment to Roxbury Latin’s 2018–2019 Annual Fund. If you have not yet contributed, please consider supporting Roxbury Latin. Every gift helps RL maintain tuition that averages $15,000 less than that of other local independent schools. Every gift helps bridge the $25,000 gap between the cost of tuition and the actual cost of an RL education. Every gift supports the admission and enrollment of qualified boys, regardless of their family’s ability to pay, and every gift helps retain and attract a faculty that is second to none. Gifts, large and small, from each and every donor, make a tremendous difference to the talented young men who study here. Please join your classmates, fellow parents, and friends by making a gift today. Thank you for doing your part to ensure that Roxbury Latin can preserve its distinctive quality and character. WWW.ROXBURYLATIN.ORG/GIVING
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Homecoming & Fall Family Day Homecoming and Fall Family Day brought the entire RL community to campus on October 20. Alumni reconnected, varsity teams battled nobly, and Fifthies defeated the Sixies in the annual halftime Tug-of-War. Parents of seniors and current undergraduates also gathered at the Headmaster’s residence for a reception after the day’s festivities.
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class notes
1950
William G. Kaye reports that he is enjoying life at an independent living facility in Naples, Florida. He continues to partake of myriad cultural, family, community, and alumni events, and is currently planning his 65th Haverford College reunion.
1951
John Bennett is continuing part time in hematopathology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, teaching and consulting in a major effort toward better defining leukemic disorders. He’s closing in on having contributed to 600 publications!
1963
In June 2018, after 39 years at Spectrum Health Medical Center in Grand Rapids, Richard Horvitz has retired and now enjoys free time to read, take courses at a local college, and work out at the YMCA. He and his wife are busy taking care of pets and plan to travel often in the coming years.
1967
Back in Boston, David Jernigan is a professor at Boston University’s School of Public Health in the Department of Health Law, Policy, and Management.
1975
For the second year in a row, members of the Class of 1975 gathered for a mini-Reunion at Joe’s All-American Grill in Dedham the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. This year’s group included Larry Cohen, Rob Dart, Dave Everts, Jim Flynn, Marc Goldberg, John Kennedy, and Ken Maider. 44
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1981
William Landay’s bestselling novel Defending Jacob (2012) will be turned into an eight-part drama series by Apple. The series will star and be produced by Captain America star Chris Evans, and it will be directed by Oscar-nominated Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game, Jack Ryan).
1994
Whit Collier, with wife Peggy and son Henry (8), still lives outside of Boston. While his mother lives nearby, his father recently passed away from early onset Alzheimer’s. In his father’s memory, Whit supports the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, having organized a kite surfing fundraiser a couple of years ago. Whit “continues to chase the wind and snow,” kitesurfing year-around and kite-skiing in the winter. He’s also taken up mountain biking and is drawn these days to yoga, meditation, and reading—some favorite authors include John O’Donohue, Parker Palmer, and James Hollis.
1999
Justin Jagher and his wife welcomed another baby girl in June, Avery Violet Jagher.
2003
Nathaniel Peters and his wife, Jane, welcomed their son, John Henry Landon Peters, “born on Sunday, November 25, the feast of Christ the King.” He weighed 8 pounds, 10 ounces, and measured 21 inches long. “All are happy and healthy,” reports Nathaniel.
2007
Pranav Nanda has returned to Boston to begin his neurosurgical residency at MGH.
2009
Sam August and his band, The Ultra, performed at Brighton Music Hall on January 19.
2011
Stephen Kuenstner and Thato Ungwang reunited this summer at the site of their original meeting—the Maru-a-Pula School in Gaborone, Botswana. As an RL student, Stephen spent six weeks at Maru-a-Pula—RL’s longtime educational exchange partner; there he met Thato, who transferred to RL for his senior year, living with the Kuenstners through his four years at Carleton College with Stephen. The Kuenstner family writes, “We hadn’t seen Thato in three years after he graduated, so we planned a two-week trip to South Africa, Botswana, and Zambia. Thato traveled with us in the last two countries, and we had a wonderful time.”
2012
John Gabrieli recently completed a stint with Teach for America and has a new role at the Innovation Center at Southern New Hampshire University, where he is working to expand access to college for students who face barriers to pursuing higher education. He lives in Manchester, New Hampshire.
2013
Collin Epstein graduated from Davidson College in May 2018 with a B.S. in physics. He lives in Albuquerque with his girlfriend and has taken a job as radiographer at Sandia National Laboratories.
2005
Dan McGeary married Megan Riley in a ceremony on RL's campus on June 16, 2018. Zack Hardoon officiated the ceremony in Rousmaniere Hall. RL friends helping them celebrate included (left to right) Steve Ward, Brendan Powers, Zack Hardoon, Michael Okoli, Jack McGeary '07, Tony Jarvis, Damon Hall, bride Megan McGeary, Darian Reid, groom Dan McGeary, Colin Murphy, Kerry Brennan, Tobey O’Brien, Ema Fidalgo.
2006
Matt Driscoll married Lindley Gray on August 18, 2018. Front row: Duncan Finigan ’14, David Vega-Barachowitz, Pete Walkingshaw, Dan Driscoll ’74, Dan Driscoll ’10, Billy Neelon, Matt Driscoll, Chris Dowd ’74, Scott Schnapp ’74, Bob Murphy ’74. Back row: Will Finigan ’16, John Lawler ’75, Cavan Finigan ’12, Fernando Rodriquez-Villa, John Driscoll ’14, Dan Steigman ’74, Jeff Crowe ’74, Matt Dinger.
1984
2009
2013
Lawyer Ian Gershengorn—
John Collins proposed to
Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu and
Harry Weitzel, in his first
former Acting Solicitor
Madeline Buckley (daughter of
his teammates of Atlanta United
season with Tufts Men’s
General of the United States—
faculty member Brian Buckley)
(including Darlington Nagbe,
Soccer Team, helped Tufts
argued before the Supreme
at the restaurant Steirereck
left) won the Major League
beat Calvin College 2-1 to
Court on November 27. In
in Vienna, Austria, on the
Soccer Cup on December 8,
win the NCAA National
attendance was his nephew,
Monday after Thanksgiving.
defeating the Portland Timbers
Championship for the third
Michael Thomas of Class V.
(She said yes!).
2–0 in the championship.
time in the program’s history.
2018
2014
2012 Chase Gilmore is currently stationed at Fort Carson near Colorado
Lev Mamuya performed with
Springs, where he’s a tank platoon leader. (Photo is of his tank
Newton’s New Philharmonia
shooting at the National Training Center in California.) Chase
Orchestra in November,
deploys to Kuwait this winter, after which he’ll near the end of his
soloing Cello Concerto No. 1
four-year contract with the Army.
by Shostakovich—a work considered to be Shostakovich’s finest concerto. Lev recently graduated from Harvard, where he was enrolled in the Harvard-New England Conservatory dual degree program. He is currently completing his master’s in
2015
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music in cello performance at New England Conservatory.
The real “Rose Bowl” took
Lev has performed as a
place on October 13, when
featured soloist with orchestras
Sean (left) and Franny Rose
around the country and is
’17 competed on the collegiate
an alumnus of the PBS radio
gridiron. Their younger
program From the Top. Lev will
brother Jere, Class II, has one
be a fellow with the Grammy-
more season of RL football
nominated string orchestra A
ahead of him.
Far Cry this spring.
It feels like 100 years since you’ve been back.
2014
After graduating from Johns Hopkins in May 2018 with a B.A. in public health, Scott Frankenthaler is now working as a life science strategy consultant at Putnam Associates. Tenzin Thargay has been awarded a 2019 Rangel Fellowship, propelling him toward a career as a U.S. diplomat. Funded by the U.S. Department of State and administered by Howard University, the fellowship supports individuals who want to pursue a career in the U.S. Foreign Service. Tenzin will earn a master’s degree in an area of relevance to the Foreign Service while taking part in professional development opportunities, including internships, mentors, and skills training. Tenzin will work for a Member of Congress on issues related to foreign affairs in summer 2019. In the summer of 2020, the U.S. Department of State will send him overseas to work in a U.S. Embassy to get hands-on experience with U.S. foreign policy and the work of the Foreign Service.
2015
Dario Zarrabian and Harvard classmate Nate Hollenberg, undergraduates at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, have teamed up with USA Basketball on a series of projects to incorporate data science techniques into Team USA’s strategies. They’re currently working to develop an analytical scout for next summer’s International Basketball Federation (FIBA) World Cup, through which they will analyze each of the 32 teams in the tournament so Team USA has the best chance possible to beat each potential opponent.
reunion 2019 friday & saturday, may 3–4
Call for Trustee Nominations The Committee on Trustees is seeking recommendations from any member of the Roxbury Latin community for trustee candidates to serve a six-year term on the Board of Trustees. Please forward such recommendations by March 1 to Marlyn McGrath, Chair of the Committee on Trustees, by email to nominations@roxburylatin.org or by mail, c/o The Roxbury Latin School, 101 St. Theresa Ave., West Roxbury, MA 02132.
Be (An Accurate!) Part of RL History In 2020, Roxbury Latin will celebrate 375 years since the school’s founding—a momentous anniversary about which you will hear much in the year ahead. We are taking this occasion to create an updated version of the school’s printed alumni directory, which will also serve as a historical compendium. For this project, we are partnering with data publishing experts PCI, to ensure that the information included in the directory is as accurate as possible. Alumni will hear from PCI, on the school’s behalf, in the coming months, as they endeavor to help us update our alumni records for this project. We hope you will play a willing part in helping us ensure that the information we include in this anniversary publication is correct—and we thank you, in advance.
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alumni gatherings
Founder’s Day Pub Night November 1: Clery’s Pub, Boston
Matt Engler ‘94, Mike Scally ’95, Ron Allen ’95
Christian Hasiotis ’14, John Driscoll ’14
John Baron ’14, Cole Garvey ’14, Joey Martin ’14, Jonathan Marchetti ’14, Maher Colaylat ’14, Alessandro Ferzoco ’14, Patrick Casey ’14
Mike McElaney ’98, Jack O’Loughlin ’77, Kerry Brennan, Bryan Anderson ’88
Pete Walkingshaw ’06, Mike Lawler ’06
Arya Alizadeh ’09 and Kyle Layne-Allen ’09
Paul Matthews ‘13, Scott Frankenthaler ’14, Jared Ginnetty ’13
Mike Pojman, Nate Weinstein ’10, Michael Chilazi ’10
NYC Reception
Pat Murphy ’09, Matt Deveney ’13, Dan Driscoll ’10, Alex Joyner ’10, Jack Kay ’10
Michael Bear ’77, Paul Massey ’78
November 15: Aretsky’s Patroon, NYC
Brian Johnson ’96, Steve Rosenthal ’96, Eric Bartholomae ’11, Jared Tagen ’11, Eric Fifer ’`11
Michael Beam ’10, Nick Laning ’12, Greg Bird ’10
Barry Bear ’83, Paul Szemerenyi ’83, Michael Bear ’77
Grant Keating ’14, Cavan Finigan ’12, Kerry Brennan, Thomas Crispi ’12, Pat McDonough ’12
Young Alumni Social
December 20: Headmaster’s House
John Flynn ’96, Zach Altschuler ’94
Derek DaSilva ’15, Matt Steele ’15, Christian O’Connor ’15, Finley Matthews ’15, Josh Racine ’15, Nate Downes ’15, John Lieb
Ayinde Best ‘18, Ben Lawlor ‘18, Joe Nero ‘18, Jacob Sporn ‘18, Carson Straub ‘18, Eoghan Downey ‘18
T.J. Silva ’17, Jared Brosnan ’19, Dominic Gaziano ’19
Phil Kokotailo, Joey Mullen ’15, Luciano Ferzoco ’15
in memoriam
H. ERIC SOLOMON ‘46, a respected Stephen Crane scholar and specialist in American literature, died peacefully at home in San Francisco, California, on November 11, 2018 at the age of 90. He was the fourth child of Harry C. Solomon, a neurologist and psychiatrist, and Maida H. Solomon, professor of psychiatric social work at Simmons College. Born in Boston on October 8, 1928, Eric attended the Mary E. Curley School in Jamaica Plain before entering Roxbury Latin in 1940. Eric excelled in the humanities, and masters Kelsey, Van Elliott, and Whitney were among his favorites. He served as class president his senior year. His extracurricular interests included Tripod, for which he served as business manager, football, the school play, and the Dance Committee. He was
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also president of the Debate Club. In a biographical sketch of his student days, he noted that his outside interests were reading historical novels and collecting cartoon books as he had a keen interest in “American humor from 1900 on.� This interest grew during his lifetime, and he became a longtime member of the American Humor Studies Association, as well as the Sports Literature Association. Eric earned his A.B. in English from Harvard in 1950 and then began graduate study there. After being drafted during the Korean War and stationed for fifteen months in Germany, he returned to Harvard and earned his Ph.D. in 1958. He secured his first academic position as an assistant professor at Ohio State University and became the head
of the local ACLU. He left OSU in 1964 to join the English Department at what was then San Francisco State College, where in 1968 he became involved in one of the defining events of his life: the student-led strike protesting the lack of diversity in courses and faculty. Eric was part of the negotiating team for the faculty union during the strike; he was outspoken on behalf of the students and deeply respected by the organizers of the strike. During the nearly fifty years Eric taught at SFSU, he also served as a visiting professor at Stanford and UC Irvine. He was a beloved figure on the SFSU campus, instantly recognizable to colleagues and students alike as he strolled the grounds, cigar firmly
between his teeth. He also served many administrative capacities at SFSU, including director of the library, chairman of the academic senate, and acting provost. As an emeritus professor, in 2003 he was assigned the task of helping freshmen presidential scholars acclimate to their new surroundings. Eric met his wife, Irene Leider, when she was an undergraduate at Radcliffe. They were married for 64 years. In addition to his wife, he is survived by children, Madeline and William (Molly); grandchildren, Naomi and Eliot; and great grandchild, Lucas, who entered the world just days after Eric’s passing. JASON K. ALBERT ’51 of Thetford Center, Vermont, passed away on September 24, 2018, with his wife of 57 years, Deborah, at his side. He was the son of Edward S. Albert and Anne Raffer Albert, and brother of Judith Kapelson, who predeceased him. Born on November 2, 1932, Jay attended the Runkle School in Brookline before entering Roxbury Latin. Academically, Jay excelled in mathematics and Latin. Outside of the classroom, he contributed broadly to the life of the school, playing varsity baseball and captaining varsity football, singing in the Glee Club, working on the Yearbook and Tripod staffs, and becoming a member of the Class Ring Committee. After RL, Jay attended Princeton and earned his degree in English Literature, served in the U.S. Navy, and then attended Boston College Law School. After graduating from law school, where he was a member of Law Review, he worked for several years at the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., and
then in private practice in Boston. In the late 1960s, he and Deborah moved to New Jersey where Jay worked first as a lawyer and then as CFO for SFM Corporation. In the late 1980s, he and Deborah retired to Vermont where they had owned a vacation home. He became owner of 60 Minute Photo, then president of a specialty foods company, Blanchard & Blanchard, in Norwich before a second retirement. During the past decade, Jay had been a business consultant/mentor at SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) in Lebanon, N.H. He met with clients both in the Lebanon office and at his home in Thetford when illness prevented him from driving. He counted among his friends SCORE colleagues and Thetford neighbors. Jay enjoyed reading about the economy, government, and foreign affairs. He was a ranked chess player. In addition to his wife, he is survived by three sons: Owen, Daniel, and Benjamin; and four grandchildren, Eli, Sarah, Jesse, and Dylan. ROBERT RONALD JOSEPH HENZLER ’51 of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, died on July 24, 2018. Born on April 15, 1933, in Boston, Bob grew up on Porter Terrace in West Roxbury and was a member of St. Theresa Church. He attended the Richard Olney School in West Roxbury before Roxbury Latin. Looking back on his time at RL, he noted that Dick Whitney and Bert Kelsey had the greatest influence on him during his time here. After high school, Bob earned a full scholarship to attend Holy Cross and graduated in 1955 with a degree in marketing. Upon graduation, he went on to serve his country, becoming a lieutenant in the Navy. His
first job after the Navy was selling air time at a small radio station in Lowell, Massachusetts. His professional career took him from former publishing giant McCall Corporation to the aerospace and defense leader Litton Industries. He found great success in the printing business, printing lottery tickets for various states, and eventually branched out into real estate investments. His business interests were varied as he also oversaw other small ventures including a messenger service, telephone answering service, wholesale ice cream, and farming. Outside of his dedication to his work, he enjoyed boating and reading. Though he did not graduate from Roxbury Latin, he stayed close to classmates and the school and acknowledged that no institution did more for him than RL. Remaining proud of his association with the school throughout his lifetime, he said in an interview for the Newsletter, “I have savored news of Roxbury Latin’s ongoing determination to maintain old virtues and procedures. One of the two proudest episodes in my life (the other is not germane) was receiving a copy of the yearbook for 1951, which on the page for ‘superlatives’ listed me as ‘Most Missed.’ I still value several lifetime friends from those times.” In memory of his mentor, Albert W. Kelsey, Bob’s former teacher and the father of his classmate, Kerck Kelsey ’51, Bob proudly established an endowment fund that supports the renovations of classrooms and other teaching spaces. In recognition of Bob’s donation, the school named the renovated faculty room “The Kelsey Faculty Room.”
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varsity hockey
First Row: Luke Streckenbach, Bobby Luca, Peter Frates, Jared Brosnan, Aidan Lovett (Captain), Kevin Demore (Captain), Jack Luca (Captain), Brendan Lovett, Matt Traietti, Mikey Jones; Second Row: Coach Dave Cataruzolo, James Birch, Kam Miller, Walker Oberg, Connor Berg, Will Murphy, Kevin Swan, Joey Ryan, Sam Ginsberg, Sam Stone, JoJo Dable, Bobby O’Grady, Nolan McKenna, Coach Mo Randall, Frankie Lonergan, Coach John Halverson.
varsity basketball
First Row: Mark Henshon, Myles Davis (Captain), Will Greer (Captain), Seb Borgard (Captain), Javi Werner; Second Row: Nikey Cruz (Manager), Kyle Cloherty (Manager), Coach Sean Spellman, Antonio Rosado, Ejiro Egodogbare, Sean Russell, Charlie Weitzel, David Brennan, Reid Corless, Benja Rosenzweig, Coach Tony Teixeira, Zion Mascall (Manager).
varsity wrestling
First Row: David D’Alessandro, Richard Impert, George Madison, George Humphrey, Keaton Sahin, Mat Cefail, Ben Morris, Will Specht, John Wilkinson, Ethan Chang, Doevy Estimphile, Brendan Gibbons (Manager); Second Row: Coach Josh Wildes, Esteban Tarazona, Pete Levangie, Lucas Zheng, Daniel McElroy, Eric Zaks, Alvin Massenat (Captain), Liam Rimas, Makoto Kobayashi (Captain), Nate Lopes (Captain), Rafi Deykin, Javi Rios, Lo Monteiro-Clewell, Evan Kisselev, Miguel Rincon, John Balson, Izzy Goldsmith (Manager), David Meneses Ontiveros (Manager). 52
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The Uprising Students in the fall semester of Mr. Jim Ryan’s Arts 10 Watercolor course undertook a group recreation of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera’s The Uprising. Although the original work dates from 1931, the themes it portrays are as relevant in today’s world as they were back then: the plight of the marginalized, the struggle for dignity, and the need for society to honor and lift up the disenfranchised. As the students heard from Smith Scholar Dr. Evan McCormick in a recent Hall, class struggle, dehumanization, and injustice are still prevalent in Mexico, but it also bears considering how they are present in our own society in the United States.
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staff spotlight: misty beardsley
by Andrew Kingsley ’12, English Department Faculty On an average RL school day, students may utter a few Hello, Mr. Pojman’s and Como está, Señor Ryan’s, but there are only a select few whom boys are comfortable calling by their first names: Reggie, Eli, Troy, and of course, Misty. Now in the midst of her 21st year as RL’s athletic trainer, Misty has become a cherished member of the school’s athletic program. While coaches are often the ones lauded for their impact on players’ development, it is Misty whom boys have to thank for their health and safety on and off the field. And it is with Misty that many RL athletes begin and end their afternoons. But what does a typical day look like for Misty? Usually arriving to campus at 1:30 p.m., Misty begins by prepping the athletic training room, filling the whirlpools, and cleaning treatment tables. Once the boys arrive, it’s a flurry of taping ankles, wrists, and fingers for practice; guiding boys through rehab; and addressing players with new injuries. On game days, Misty attends high-impact sports like football, wrestling, and lacrosse, always ready to charge the field (or the mat) to assess and treat injured players. Yet other coaches can rest assured that Misty and her crew are only a quick phone call away. After practices and games, the boys return to the locker room, bumped and bruised, and see Misty once more for stretching, icing, and maybe even some banter before heading home. To outsiders, Misty’s domain would seem isolated to the world of rolled ankles, jammed fingers, and pulled quads. But ask most RL athletes and you’ll discover that Misty is far more than an athletic trainer; she’s a mentor. Before RL, Misty was a student athletic trainer at Boston University, where she was uncomfortable with athletes’ “air of superiority, as if [she were] below them.” At RL, Misty believes, “The kids listen to you and want to know how to treat their bodies. They’re at an age when they’re still open to learning and becoming more.” Like any good mentor, Misty encourages boys to take ownership of their treatment by educating them about why their bodies are hurting and the steps they should take to get better.
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Yet she also sees herself as a counselor of sorts. Her office, the first space to greet visitors in the IAF, is a place where boys can let go of the school day and be themselves. Here, Misty meets boys at their level, which sometimes means debating the pros and cons of drinking Red Bull before a game, or listening to boys open up about a difficult breakup. In short, as one senior put it, Misty allows boys “to let their guard down and be real.” Beyond mentoring RL boys, Misty has instructed dozens of budding athletic trainers from Boston University over the past decade. These protégés are often seen alongside Misty in her office or at games, where she allows them the handson experience they need to grow. However, Misty sees these relationships as symbiotic: “The world of athletic trainers is ever-changing, so I learn through their studies at BU. But I can share my own experiences at RL and thus add real-world applications to what they’re learning in a textbook.” When she’s not mentoring our boys and aspiring athletic trainers, Misty spends her brief moments of downtime reading, knitting, binding books, and solving crosswords. Most of all, Misty savors the time she spends with her husband, Steve, and two young daughters, Molly and Emma. Misty jokes that she has “300 boys and two girls,” a testament to the affection and intimacy with which Misty knows RL students.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Women of Roxbury Latin by Christopher Heaton
As archivist, one of my roles and pleasures is sharing with you, gentle reader, some inaugural moments in the history of Roxbury Latin. In this centenary of Congress passing the 19th Amendment, allowing women to vote (ratification by the states came in 1920), this Ramblings focuses on the “firsts” of women in RL’s history. The first mention of female teachers at RL can be traced to Elizabeth Weston, who was an “assistant teacher” with Augustus H. Buck, the second Headmaster. She taught here from 1860 to 1866. The following year, the school hired Marzette Helen Coburn to teach French while Headmaster William Coe Collar taught English, Latin, and German. Ms. Coburn taught at the school for seven years. Coe Collar’s second wife, Mary E. Cornwell, who had been his assistant, also taught French in 1892. The first teacher of Latin was Annie F. Breed, a polymath who also taught English and French from 1875 to 1885. She was followed by Caroline Ober Stone whose husband, Edward H. Atherton, joined the faculty a year later; they also taught the same subjects, Latin and French. (So many options for spousal arguments!) Talulah G. Abercrombie worked at the School in 1886-1887, teaching drawing and writing; she had taught previously in Lowell and the Quincy public schools, where her salary in 1875 was $600. After RL she moved on to be “Lady Principal” at the Connecticut Literary Institution. From the end of the Gilded Age through the Great War, there was a dearth of women at RL. The school secretary from 1916 to 1918 was Irene J. McCarthy. She was replaced by RL’s Iron Woman, Abigail (Abbie) P. MacKinnon, who served as school secretary from 1918 through 1962—an amazing 44 years. Fresh out of completing a degree in Liberal Arts at Boston University in 1918, she eventually became assistant to four headmasters. (That’s a stat that might make Kay Hubbard (1962–1988), Joanna Gormley (1982–2001), Joan Regan (2001–2011), and Elaine Driscoll (2011–present) gasp!) When Ms. MacKinnon died on 7 January 1974, the Trustees noted that she set an example of “loyalty and excellence in the finest traditions of the
school. Her remarkable memory and genuine concern for all Roxbury Latin boys created a special place for her in the hearts and minds of generations of alumni. The Board of Trustees wishes to acknowledge the tremendous contribution made to the school by this gentle, steadfast, and able woman.” When Ms. MacKinnon left in 1962, Kay Hubbard began her long tenure at the school as Director of College Guidance, nurse, and Assistant to the Headmaster. Her successor in college guidance was Barbara Melvoin (1988–2000 and master of English from 1990–1996). In 1976 Virginia Wing became the first female Trustee. Two years later, Alice Mae Powell became the first woman to work in the Alumni and Development office. (Her daughter-in-law, Carolyn Powell, now follows in the footsteps of A. Patricia Reilly (1976–1997), Velura Perry (1996–2015), and Lindsay Schuyler (2010–2019) gently guiding admission applicants.) Barbara Baker helped keep the books for 10 years from 1969–79, as did Bursar Donna Sola (1988–2000) along with M. Patricia Foley, assistant to the Bursar from 1990 to 2010. (That post has been womanned ably by Susan Walsh since 2000.) Alumni and Development researchers extraordinaire Dorothy Olson (1976–1997), Susan Vlahos (1988–2014), and Almeda Nicholson (1990–2002) created records that have helped me tremendously in the archives. For the past 20 years, RL boys have been taped, prepped, and lovingly yet convincingly prepared for battle by athletic trainer Misty Beardsley. Post-battle, win or lose, the next day in school the boys were nursed by Karen Robertson, RL RN from 1997 to 2016. Approaching 25 years of service is Hunter Mayo White, current Class VI Classmaster, who taught French from 1982 to 1985, took 14 years “off” raising four children, and returned in 1999. Other pioneering RL women include the first female coach of a varsity team, Erin Dromgoole, who joined RL in 2006, and Tobey O’Brien, who joined RL that same year as Director of the Annual Fund. Jamie Morris-Kliment joined RL in 2013, and became the first woman to be named chairman of an academic department; she’s also the first woman to be named professor. In the fall of 2017, Life Trustee Nancy Anthony was honored by the school at an unveiling of her portrait, the first to be commissioned by RL of a female trustee and school leader.
N e w s l e t t e r o f Th e R o x b u r y L at i n S c h o o l
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The Roxbury Latin School 101 St. Theresa Avenue West Roxbury, MA 02132-3496 www.roxburylatin.org Change Service Requested
On March 4, 2019, Roxbury Latin will host its first ever Giving Day. Our goal is to raise one gift for every boy enrolled—303 gifts in 24 hours. We hope you will “March Forth” with us: make a gift, tell your friends, spread the word, express what Roxbury Latin means to you.
In one day—one gift for every boy.