Roxbury Latin Newsletter: Fall 2020 by Marcus Miller

T HE N EWS LET TER

FALL 2020

headmaster

Kerry P. Brennan associate headmaster

Michael T. Pojman director of external relations

Erin E. Berg assistant headmaster for advancement

Thomas R. Guden ’96 photography

Gretchen Ertl, John Gillooly, Marcus Miller, Mike Pojman, Adam Richins, Evan Scales, John Werner editorial & design

Erin E. Berg, Marcus C. Miller 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

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The Newsletter Class IV boys spent time in the Art Studio painting pumpkins for the

FALL 2020 | VOLUME 94 | NUMBER 1

Features

elderly residents of our neighboring Deutsches Altenheim facility—a long-time community service

Welcome to Roxbury Latin

partner of Roxbury Latin—to share

New Trustees

some happy Halloween spirit.

Familiar Faces in New Roles

Photo by Marcus Miller

18 New Faculty and Staff

The Concept of Community: Headmaster Brennan Delivers the Opening of Fall Term Address

How Do You Prepare a Campus for a Pandemic? The Logistics of Teaching, Learning, and Maintaining

Safety this Fall

29 Nick Poles ’09 Leads RL’s Technology Team 31 Faculty Member Nate Piper’s Reflection on

Addressing Big Challenges Through Tech

34 Learning the Tools for Teaching, Under the

Spectre of COVID-19: Faculty Were the

Students this Summer

37 By the Numbers: A Safe and Clean, Pandemic-

Ready Campus

Faculty Flashback: Ned Ligon

Repaying the Kindness: A Gift in Perpetuity, from

Phil Ferrara ’61

Departments 4

RL News & Hall Highlights

Class Notes

In Memorial

Ramblings from the Archives

Darian Reid ’05 Appointed Director of Community and Culture In line with the school’s commitment to being a welcoming, inclusive, and supportive place for every student to learn and grow, Headmaster Kerry Brennan announced this summer that Darian Reid—member of the Class of 2005, and a member of the faculty since 2010—accepted the appointment to the new position of Director of Community and Culture. Mr. Reid has distinguished himself as an exemplary teacher, classmaster, coach, and advisor. He is well respected by his students and colleagues, and he brings an important perspective to this essential role. As a member of the school’s senior leadership team, he will lead the school in its ongoing efforts to know and love every boy; to acknowledge critical opportunities for evolving the curriculum so that all students recognize themselves within it; to provide professional development for all faculty and staff related to issues of racism, bias, and creating a truly inclusive school community; and to convene important discussions on topics of difference, equity, and justice. As we establish short-, medium-, and long-term goals related to this work, Mr. Reid will help us intentionally and explicitly expand upon the ways in which we support, in particular, Black students and all students of color, as well as LGBTQ+ students.

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Over the summer many members of the Roxbury Latin community—students, faculty, alumni, parents—have shared their perspectives, thoughts, and experiences that help inform this work. Those stories and insights have and will continue to be important contributions. Led by Mr. Reid and other members of the faculty, the school will pursue further opportunities for meaningful conversations as we move forward in this work. As Headmaster Brennan wrote to students, parents, and alumni, “I know that the only way we, together, can advance this critical work—of ensuring that Roxbury Latin is and feels like a welcoming home for every single student in our care—will be through productive conversation, to which we each bring openness, honesty, humility, and respect. We are committed to this work. We acknowledge that at times it will feel uncomfortable; at times the pace may feel unsatisfactory for some—too fast, or too slow; at times we will stumble, but we will keep moving forward. In the same way that we encourage our students to persist through difficult but worthy undertakings, we will model that commitment, and persistence. The goals are essential, and the rewards will be great.” //

Beaver Brook—A Sixie Tradition—Reimagined A Sixie’s first year at Roxbury Latin doesn’t officially begin until his trip to Beaver Brook. For decades, the annual excursion has taken Class VI north to Hollis, New Hampshire, with homeroom advisors, senior leaders, and new faculty for 24 hours of uninterrupted team-building and RL immersion. This year, COVID-19 forced the school to bring Beaver Brook to campus. “I knew right away that we couldn’t go to New Hampshire and sleep in tents and ride on the bus, and do all those things,” said Class VI Classmaster Hunter White. “I immediately thought, ‘Okay, this is going to be a day at RL.’ The schedule itself is very traditional, and I went to that to see what we could save and adapt, or modify, and what we had to get rid of. It actually worked out pretty well. My whole Class VI crew of homeroom advisors helped me with this. This was a real team effort.” On the morning of Saturday, September 12, Sixies gathered on O’Keeffe Field in socially distanced small groups, each with a Class I leader. From there the day progressed as it would normally, first with the familiar RL Questionnaire and a guessthe-M&Ms contest. “We ended up being able to keep almost every element while modifying for the cohorts and distancing,” said Mrs. White. “We start with an orientation questionnaire, in which the boys have to find out a bunch of trivia about the school by asking seniors

and faculty—but the seniors and faculty can trick them, too. They don’t always give them the right answer.” Which is part of the fun. A new addition to this year’s reimagined schedule was a scavenger hunt designed to help students familiarize themselves with the campus. “Since we couldn’t go into the buildings, we used the whole campus and chose our spots, made up clues, and the seniors led the boys in small groups around to find and discover what was on their list. The kids were really excited at the end. We debriefed a bit afterward, and they all said, ‘We didn’t know all these things were here!’ So they really did get to see the whole campus.” After lunch and free time, Sixies alternated between team challenge activities on Rappaport Field, and learning the Founder’s Song with Mr. Opdycke on the Flea Patch. Each Sixie cohort then gathered for the annual viewing and group discussion of the 1957 film Twelve Angry Men. Before the end of the day, each Sixie wrote a letter to his future self, which he will open during his senior year—a traditional end to an unusual retreat. “We were determined not to cancel this,” concluded Ms. White. “I said to the boys that this tradition has been going on for a very long time. I went to my first Beaver Brook in 1982 when I came here as a first-year faculty member. We’ve occasionally rescheduled, mostly for hurricanes, but we’ve never canceled.” //

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Photo by Suzanne Kreiter, The Boston Globe

Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, Infectious Disease Specialist, on COVID-19 What is a virus? How do viruses behave? Why is this one— which has disrupted life on a global scale—so pernicious? How, exactly, is this microscopic, infectious agent causing a pandemic the likes of which the world hasn’t seen in 100 years? And how do we stop it? On September 10, Roxbury Latin virtually welcomed Dr. Nahid Bhadelia to answer some of these questions, as our first Hall speaker of the year. Dr. Bhadelia is an infectious disease physician; an associate professor at the Institute of Human Security at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; and the director of the Special Pathogens Unit at Boston University School of Medicine. She serves on national and interagency groups focused on medical countermeasures—the intersection between public health preparedness, research, and clinical care for emerging pathogens. Her research focuses on identification of safe and effective clinical interventions and infection control measures. Dr. Bhadelia shared the science of COVID-19, breaking down the virus to the cellular level so that all of us could better understand the biological facts and intricacies of our current

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moment. She spoke about Zoonoses (infections that jump from animals to humans), the SARS family of viruses, and the many reasons that there exists an increasing risk of emergence and spread of infectious diseases—climate change, population increase, globalization of trade, and travel. As we are all inundated with COVID news and updates, Dr. Bhadelia’s Hall was a helpful moment for us all to be educated about, or reminded of, the medical reality of this outbreak and the ways we can help to control its spread. During the West African Ebola epidemic, Dr. Bhadelia served as a clinician in several Ebola treatment units, working with the World Health Organization and Partners in Health. She currently serves as the clinical lead for a joint US-Ugandan effort to combat viral hemorrhagic fevers in Uganda at the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has served as a subject matter expert to the CDC; the Department of Defense; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; and the World Bank. She is a regular medical contributor on MSNBC and was featured this spring on the PBS NOVA program “Decoding COVID-19.” //

A Student-Led Honoring of the Jewish High Holy Days In seeking to develop boys’ spiritual growth and exploration, Roxbury Latin celebrates annually significant moments in the calendars of various faith traditions represented in our community. As Headmaster Brennan began in virtual Hall on September 24, “I believe that each of us, regardless of our age, gender, race, or place of origin, is forever questing to answer fundamental questions about our existence: Why am I here? Where did I come from? Where will I go? What is life’s purpose? What do I believe? What do I stand for?” On a Thursday in September, which fell between the celebrations of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, two students— Daniel Berk (I) and Heshie Liebowitz (II)—presented on what the celebrations of the Jewish High Holy Days mean to them. Heshie brought students and faculty through an intellectual exploration of Rosh Hashanah, which began by his searching for specific references in the Torah. He wondered, in particular, why Rosh Hashanah—the celebration of the New Year—took place so late in the calendar. He learned, and shared, that Rosh Hashanah represents the head of the agricultural calendar: “In the land of Israel, the agricultural calendar is aligned with the beginning of the rainy season, which begins in the fall… In Deuteronomy, Moses explains that the rain [which farmers need for their crops] is dependent on God’s judgment of the behavior of the children of Israel. “For me, the Jewish New Year signifies an annual ‘self-check’: Rosh Hashanah reminds us to evaluate how well we’re doing in walking the ways of God. This year, my deeper understanding of the agricultural underpinnings of the holiday allows me to see the connection between this personal self-check and the success of the people as a whole.” Daniel shared his thoughts on Yom Kippur, which is considered the most holy day in the Jewish tradition. “Yom Kippur,” he

began, “does not commemorate any specific historical event. Rather, Yom Kippur is a deeply personal holiday, focusing on the worshipers themselves. It is a time when Jews confess to and apologize for their transgressions. For me, it represents an ethical reset, a time to rid oneself of moral baggage and prepare for the upcoming year with a clean slate. “At the beginning of the High Holy Days, the mood is festive because Rosh Hashanah commemorates a new year and a new beginning. Yom Kippur brings its own unique, elevated mood to the community… though there is a reserved, solemn manner about the celebration, a tacit gravity understood and observed by all. The High Holy Days are reflective and personal times for everyone… when we are called to recognize the mistakes we made, promises we’ve broken, and transgressions we’ve committed. It is not a celebration, but rather a day of confession and growth.” Daniel recited the Vidui, a Yom Kippur prayer that serves as a confession of a wide range of transgressions, covering a literal A to Z of sins—from abuse, betrayal and cruelty to zealotry. “For me, the confession represents all the ways that I myself have not been a perfect person. It accounts for the fact that I’ve not been able to follow all the commandments. And it serves as a statement of my humanity.” Heshie agreed: “As Daniel talked about, among those commandments are some very practical, important guidelines for everyday life, such as ways of treating people, and how what you do affects your whole community and everyone around you.” At the close of the Hall, Mr. Brennan reminded everyone that we “should never take for granted our freedom of religion,” nor our ability to express what we believe, since this freedom is not something available to people all around the world.” //

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Dr. Galit Alter on Immunity, Vaccines, and Hope On September 17, Dr. Galit Alter presented a Hall—a Part II, of sorts, on the COVID-19 pandemic—focused, this time, on how we might emerge from our current situation. Dr. Alter’s work focuses on the development of biological tools that help individuals develop immunity against infectious diseases. She is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a group leader at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard. We have heard much recently in the news about the global rush to develop an effective and safe vaccine against COVID-19, in order to save lives, resuscitate our economy, and allow us to return to the routines we enjoyed prepandemic. Dr. Alter spoke to students and faculty not only about the science of antibodies and immunity, and the various pathways to developing effective vaccines, but also about the history of vaccinology. “The idea of vaccination is really simple,” she began. “It is taking a substance—which can come in lots of different shapes, sizes, qualities—and putting it into the human

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body, asking the body to make antibodies, or develop an immune response. We hope that through this process, we educate the immune system to essentially fight a pathogen, should we ever come in contact with that pathogen in the future. Vaccines save millions of lives every year… They are literally one of the most effective public health tools that we have in the medical tool kit.” “And vaccines are not only for you as an individual; [getting vaccinated is] something we do for our community. We do this for our friends, our families, our neighbors, our country, and our world. We take the responsibility to prevent infections from hurting those who are most vulnerable.” Dr. Alter walked students through the history of vaccination—from Edward Jenner’s 1760’s discovery that injecting someone with cowpox could prevent smallpox; to Louis Pasteur, a chemist whose discovery that sterilizing pathogens and injecting those killed pathogens into animals could protect them from infection; to Robert Koch

“As much as the vaccine development timeline has been politicized, the important thing to remember is that there are incredibly responsible people at the heads of these companies and agencies who are not willing to compromise on safety. They’re not willing to put anything into someone’s arm that could compromise the whole development of vaccines.” who created the process of pathogen identification, giving rise to the safety and development checkpoints that we use in creating vaccines today. But, as Dr. Galit shared, there is evidence as far back as Ancient China, Greece, and Egypt— examples in drawings, lithography, and hieroglyphics—of individuals performing the art of vaccination back then. “Since the 18th century, vaccine development has exploded,” she continued. “We have hundreds of different approaches, technologies, and platforms that allow us to

drive immune responses. Today we can deliver components of pathogens in lots of different ways. We can attenuate the way Pasteur did. We can deliver it through DNA or RNA, which essentially allows our body to make those components through our own cells. We can also use other kinds of chemical processes to make these components of a pathogen in a way that our immune system can see them more effectively.” Dr. Alter discussed the typical timeline of vaccine development and the various phases that must take place— preclinical trials, several rounds of testing, FDA approval— in order to develop a safe and effective vaccine, ready for use by the general public. This process typically takes 16 years. The global response and commitment to developing a COVID-19 vaccine has condensed that timeline to less than two. “The reason we can do this—and I want to stress this really important point—is that none of the components of the process are gone. All the safety checks, quality checks, efficacy checks are still part of this process. What we’ve done is created overlapping ways of running this entire timeline so that we can get to the vaccine faster and get it out to people as quickly as possible. “As much as the vaccine development timeline has been politicized, the important thing to remember is that there are incredibly responsible people at the heads of these companies and agencies who are not willing to compromise on safety. They’re not willing to put anything into someone’s arm that could compromise the whole development of vaccines. As I mentioned, vaccines are one of our most effective public health intervention tools, and we cannot compromise public trust and process to basically make people happy. It’s got to be safe, and it’s got to be effective.” Dr. Alter earned her bachelor’s degree and PhD at McGill University and completed postdoctoral training in the Partners AIDS Research Center at MGH. She is a two-time recipient of the prestigious MGH Research Scholars Award and was elected a member of the American Association of Microbiology in 2019. //

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Wikipedia, Creative Commons

Derek Ho ’92, David Pozen ’98, and Dave Friedman P’21’25 on the Supreme Court Decisions of the Supreme Court can be indicators of our nation’s values, culture, and changing demographics. They can illuminate, or even move, our country’s compass. In an increasingly polarized and politicized climate, the reliability of this venerable institution is ever more important. And in the wake of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, discussion of the Supreme Court and its future is even more part of the daily headlines. That’s why we were grateful that on October 6, Roxbury Latin trustee Derek Ho ’92, alumnus David Pozen ’98, and parent Dave Friedman P’21’25 joined us to deliver a triad presentation on our nation’s highest court. All three men spent part of their careers clerking for U.S. Supreme Court justices—Mr. Ho for Justice David Souter; and Mr. Friedman and Mr. Pozen both for Justice John Paul Stevens. Clerking for a Supreme Court Justice is one of the most coveted, most influential roles in the law profession, and affords a unique perspective. Both Mr. Ho and Mr. Friedman also clerked for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Michael Boudin; both graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law. Mr. Pozen clerked for Judge Merrick Garland on the U.S. Court of Appeals and graduated from Yale University and Yale Law. Today, Mr. Ho is a partner with the firm Kellogg Hansen in Washington D.C., specializing in appellate and complex

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commercial litigation, focusing on class actions and multidistrict litigation proceedings, antitrust law, and the False Claims Act. Mr. Ho represented clients in three of the U.S. Supreme Court’s most significant recent class action decisions, prevailing in all three. Mr. Friedman is Senior Vice President for Legal and Government Affairs for the Red Sox and senior counsel for Fenway Sports Group. He handles a variety of legal matters, including regulatory compliance issues and oversight of litigation. He assists with the club’s interactions with Major League Baseball and other Major League teams. Mr. Friedman handles legal and business matters for the Red Sox Foundation and works on government affairs matters in conjunction with the club’s Fenway Affairs department. Mr. Pozen is Vice Dean for Intellectual Life and the Charles Keller Beekman Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. There he teaches and writes about constitutional law, information law, and nonprofit law, among other topics. In 2019, the American Law Institute named Mr. Pozen the recipient of its Early Career Scholars Medal. Mr. Pozen’s work includes dozens of articles, essays, and book chapters, and his scholarship has been discussed in outlets including The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and NPR. //

Edozie Umunna (I), and David Sullivan (II)

Debate Success for RL Boys This Season This fall season has proved an excellent showing for the Roxbury Latin Debate Team. Early in September, David Sullivan (II) competed in the World Individual Debate and Public Speaking Championships. His After-Dinner speech—a hilarious depiction of a time traveler from the future speaking to a group of tech executives in the present—propelled him to the finals of the competition. The pandemic, of course, poses a new challenge for David and his fellow RL debaters this year. “I had planned to be in front of a live audience in Shanghai,” David said. “Instead, I was in front of my computer screen in my living room.” While the lack of audible and visual reactions made the competition more challenging, David did say recording his speech mitigated some stress. “Plus,” he added, “I loved wearing pajama bottoms with my suit jacket.” Later in the month, RL hosted the Interscholastic Parliamentary Debate (virtually, of course), which yielded even more good news for our boys. RL’s team placed second overall with eight wins. Theo Teng (II) and Vishnu Emani (II) delivered particularly strong performances, placing third in Advanced Speaking (Theo) and Advanced Team (Theo and Vishnu). In the recent virtual debate tournament hosted by the Hotchkiss School, Alex Nahirny (III) earned a second-place finish in Impromptu Speaking and a respectable third place overall in the Novice Speaker category. On September 27, at the Stoneleigh-Burnham Debate and Public Speaking Tournament, RL came out on top with a first-place finish out of twelve participating teams. Senior Edozie Umunna

was named top individual overall, as well as earning a first-place finish in Interpretive Reading. For the latter event, Edozie chose the poem “Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point,” a piece that, given the current racial tensions in our country, he said, “felt more pertinent than ever.” His overall performance qualified him for Worlds. For Edozie, the virtual format meant even more rigorous prep work. “It is so much more difficult for people, in general, to focus on your speech through a screen,” he said. “It has required extra focus from me to maintain their attention; my job is to make it easier for them.” David Sullivan also did well at Stoneleigh-Burnham, placing third overall, and tying for first place in Impromptu Speaking. His prompt was an Albert Einstein quotation: “The mind that opens to a new idea never returns to its original size.” David used the quotation as a jumping-off point to discuss Einstein’s theories, his own exploration of mathematics, and the importance of voter open-mindedness in contemporary American politics. “Often, in Impromptu Speaking, your performance depends on the topics you receive,” said David. “I was grateful when this quotation appeared on my Zoom screen.” There is much for RL debate fans to celebrate, and we look forward to seeing Edozie speak at this year’s World competition. Both Edozie and David hope that they can soon return to in-person debates so that they can continue to see their friends from all over the world whom they have made through debate. “The bonds I have formed through debate are ones I will cherish forever,” says Edozie. “I couldn’t be happier that I made the decision to join the debate program.” //

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Photo: Miguel Rincon (I) (left)

Student’s Documentary Film Wins Award at New England Film Festival Senior Miguel Rincon has been playing soccer since he can remember: his father is a coach, and the sport is big in Colombia, where his family is from. Miguel lives in East Boston, home of LoPresti Park—the focus of a short documentary film Miguel produced that won a People’s Choice Award this year at the New England Film Festival. LoPresti Park is the locus for a rich tradition of pick-up soccer competition that spans ages and backgrounds, and which, according to Miguel, has “created a very close sense of togetherness within that community.” Miguel has been playing soccer at LoPresti in the summers for the last four years or so. (The youngest players are about 15 or 16 years old; most of the players are in their 20s, and a few players are even in their 40s, according to Miguel.) In terms of soccer, Miguel’s favorite part of playing at LoPresti is the smaller-sided games (versus the 11 v. 11 played in the ISL). “I enjoy the small games because you get to touch the ball a lot more,” he says. “You get the ball at your feet quicker. But really, my favorite thing about playing at LoPresti is the passion that everyone there feels. Everyone knows it’s friendly and pick-up, and we’re all doing it for fun, but sometimes it feels like we’re playing in a World Cup final—it gets so intense!” “I love that so many people just know to come at a certain time, know there are going to be teams already, know the rules. People

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come from very far away to play there—it feels liberating, being with so many people with the same passion as you. When I step on the field there is no pressure, my problems seem to fade away.” Miguel’s idea to create a short documentary film about this place and experience that he loves was prompted by his involvement in SuccessLink—a program sponsored by the City of Boston that helps employ Boston’s young people. This summer was Miguel’s second year taking part in the program. Through SuccessLink he landed a videography job with All Aces, Inc., which in partnership with BridgeBuilders Cinematic Arts, paired students with instructors—high profile and accomplished professional directors, actors, producers—who taught these young people how to create their own stories through the medium of videography. “I’ve been interested in photography, which I worked on in Studio Art with Mr. Buckley, and he was encouraging us to try new media,” says Miguel. “This project was the perfect opportunity to try videography, which I’d never done before, and I’ve fallen in love with both photography and videography.” Miguel says it felt important for him to capture the diversity of individuals who play at LoPresti—across ages, home countries, ethnicities, languages—a collection of people, perspectives and stories that he showcases well in the film. “The hardest part of my

“I’ve been interested in photography, which I worked on in Studio Art with Mr. Buckley, and he was encouraging us to try new media,” says Miguel. “This project was the perfect opportunity to try videography, which I’d never done before, and I’ve fallen in love with both.” project was probably translating Arabic,” laughs Miguel. “That was REALLY hard. I also wanted to make sure I interviewed the right people. Having to conduct all of my interviews in basically two days was really stressful.” Through his mentors at BridgeBuilders, Miguel was encouraged to submit his documentary to the New England Film Festival, where it was selected for screening and earned a People’s Choice Award. His work garnered attention from WBUR’s The ARTery, where Miguel and several of his fellow amateur filmmakers were featured. “Overall, my goal was to share one aspect of my life that’s really important to me,” he says. “And I think it reflected my community well. I think it reflected who I am as a person, because not only did it reflect my community and where I grew up, but it also reflected one of my passions, which is soccer. The opportunity to share with the world one of the places that makes me most happy felt unique.” //

Eighteen Students Recognized in National Merit Scholar Competition The National Merit Scholarship Program recently announced the names of students in the Class of 2021, across the country, earning recognition for their academic achievement. This year, 18 Roxbury Latin boys have been recognized—five named National Merit Scholar semifinalists, and 13 others earning commendations from program officials. In this 66th annual National Merit Scholarship competition, semifinalists have the opportunity to become finalists and compete for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships, nationwide. The awards are supported by the organization and approximately 400 businesses and educational institutions, to “honor the nation’s scholastic champions and encourage the pursuit of academic excellence.” About 1.5 million juniors in more than 21,000 high schools entered the 2021 National Merit Scholarship program by taking the 2019 PSAT, which serves as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state. From the approximately 16,000 semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to become finalists. Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for academic success at the college level. Roxbury Latin boys earning recognition this year include semifinalists Ben Chang-Holt, Rohil Dhaliwal, Peter Frates, Daniel Sun-Friedman, and John Wilkinson; and commendation recipients John Balson, Robert Balson, Daniel Berk, Ben Brasher, Ben Crawford, David D’Alessandro, Quinn Donovan, Thomas Gaziano, A.J. Gutierrez, Max Hutter, Walker Oberg, Ethan Phan, and Will Specht. //

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VOTE: A Student-Led Forum “The United States is coming up on one of the most contentious elections in history—and not just because the candidates support very different policies. In order to address why this election is unique, I’m going to explain the details of how a presidential election works in the United States.” Thus began senior Ben Crawford, as he kicked-off Hall on October 8. Ben was one of five seniors in Stewart Thomsen’s AP U.S. Government and Politics course—along with Robert Balson, Will Cote, Frankie Lonergan, and Willem Santry—who ably led RL’s first virtual panel/forum-style Hall on the election process in America. Ben expanded upon his opening statement by describing federal versus state purview when it comes to elections in the U.S., as well as the intricacies of the Electoral College. He walked his audience through a brief history of voting rights in America—from the Voting Rights Act of 1965, to Women’s Suffrage and the 19th Amendment, to the risks inherent in the 2013 Supreme Court ruling in Shelby County v. Holder. Segueing smoothly to the potential impediments to voting in the 2020 presidential election, Frankie Lonergan took listeners through a state-by-state look back at the primary season—

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particularly in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and in Atlanta, Georgia. “In Wisconsin, statewide elections were heavily impacted by long lines and closed polling locations, thanks in large part to the pandemic. Milwaukee experienced a serious shortage of poll workers, forcing the city to reduce the number of polling locations from 180 down to 5… Some Milwaukee residents waited up to two hours to cast their ballots.” Frankie described the courts’ role in arbitrating disputes over voting issues, as well as the recent executive order in Texas limiting the number of absentee ballot drop-off boxes to just one per county, effectively forcing some people to travel 47 miles to cast their votes. Finally, Frankie described the changes to the postal service operation that Louis DeJoy attempted to institute in his new role as United States Postmaster General, and how they could potentially impact people’s ability to vote effectively by mail. Because some were concerned that this presidential election would not be decided on election night, but that rather the results would take much longer to realize, Robert Balson walked students and faculty through the 2000 presidential election of Bush versus Gore, detailing the close race and

“In Wisconsin, statewide elections were heavily impacted by long lines and closed polling locations, thanks in large part to the pandemic. Milwaukee experienced a serious shortage of poll workers, forcing the city to reduce the number of polling locations from 180 down to 5… Some Milwaukee residents waited up to two hours to cast their ballots.”

Florida recount, hanging chads and the Supreme Court decision, and, in conclusion, played Gore’s concession speech in full. Will Cote then discussed the possible outcomes of this upcoming election: He drew attention to close polls and the reality that the presidential election could, in fact, go either way. He walked through various scenarios—a decisive Biden victory, a decisive Trump victory, a situation in which the race is too close to call in the days following, and that neither candidate concedes, or—worse—that one casts aspersions on the validity of the election and its process. “Will there be recounts due to irregularities in the process?” posed Will. “Will the courts have to become involved? Will the in-person vote determine the winner? Or will the mail-in ballots counted days later determine the winner? Nobody can say for sure.” Finally, Willem answered the question What should you do if you want to vote? He shared the very practical tools and logistical steps that people must follow in Massachusetts so that they are registered to vote, know what their voting options are, and know where to go to cast their ballots—either in person or by mail. After the boys’ presentations, the entire school moved to one of five Zoom discussion rooms, featuring each of the senior panelists and hosted by members of the history department. In those Zoom rooms the five seniors answered questions from their fellow schoolmates and members of the faculty and staff. //

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New Trustees Jay Mitchell ’96 Jay Mitchell is a managing director with Audax Private Equity, which is headquartered in Boston. Jay has led control investments in more than 20 platform companies, and focuses on deals in consumer and industrial sectors. Prior to joining Audax in 2003, Jay worked in investment banking groups at JPMorgan, Chase H&Q, and Hambrecht & Quist. A 1996 graduate of RL, he has been a devoted alumnus, serving as a member of the RL Alumni Leadership Giving Committee since 2007, and as a co-chair of that group for the past five years. Jay earned his AB in Classics from Princeton University, where he played varsity baseball. Jay lives in Westwood with his wife, Colleen, and their five children (four daughters, one son). He is actively involved in youth sports, coaching baseball, softball, and hockey in the Westwood Little League, Westwood Softball, and Boston Junior Huskies organizations.

Soren Oberg Soren L. Oberg is a managing director at THL Partners, a private equity firm based in Boston, at which he has worked since 1993. At THL, he has served on the Management, Investment, and Human Capital Committees and as head of the Business and Financial Services investment verticals. In addition to sitting on boards of private companies, Soren has been involved with several educationrelated organizations, including BellXcel and the Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair. He also proudly serves on the Investment Committee of his high school, Luther College, and coaches

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youth hockey. He graduated from Harvard College in 1992 with a concentration in Applied Mathematics and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1998. Soren and his wife, Caroline, live in Weston with their four boys, Walker (I), Tait (III), Cole (V), and Tanner. Soren has been a member of the Roxbury Latin Investment Committee for the past year, and he and Caroline are currently chairing the RL Parent Fund.

Vanessa Calderón-Rosado Vanessa Calderón-Rosado, PhD, is the CEO of IBA-Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción, a leading community development corporation dedicated to empowering families to improve their lives through high-quality and affordable housing, education, and arts programs. Through her leadership, IBA has become the largest Latino-led nonprofit organization in Eastern Massachusetts. In 2010, Dr. Calderón-Rosado became the first Latina ever to be appointed to the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. In November 2013, Mayor-elect Marty Walsh appointed Dr. Calderón-Rosado to co-lead his housing transition team. She has served as advisor to numerous other task forces, boards, commissions, and high-profile searches, including Boston’s Police Department and Public Health Commission. Among other civic engagements, she is a founding board member of the Margarita Muñiz Academy, the first dual-language innovation high school in Massachusetts, and co-founder of the Greater Boston Latino Network. Dr. Calderón-Rosado earned her doctorate in public policy from UMass Boston, and an Honoris Causa Doctorate from Cambridge College. //

Familiar Faces in New Roles Tom Guden ’96 At RL we are blessed to attract and retain a remarkable cadre of effective, dedicated school people. The school’s generalist philosophy extends to our demanding preferences for faculty to make material differences wherever they are working. Such outsized commitment and impact characterizes these three men. Tom Guden ’96 came back to Alma Mater in 2006 in order to be the school’s Director of Admission, to teach Classics, and to coach hockey and baseball. After seven years of catalytic service in the admission post, Tom was ready, willing, and able to take on the Director of Development position. His work on behalf of the school’s fundraising and alumni affairs has been peerless, and, thanks to Tom’s leadership of a team of professionals and volunteers, we will be able to continue to benefit from a unique financial model. This year, Tom has taken on the expanded role of Assistant Headmaster for Advancement.

Andy Chappell In 1997, Andy Chappell arrived at RL in order to teach Latin and Greek, coach baseball, and, initially, to coach football. Over the years, Andy’s versatility as athlete and scholar has allowed him to coach soccer, to serve as Chair of the Classics Department, and to serve also as Classmaster at various times for Classes V, III, and II. Andy followed in Tom’s footsteps as

Director of Admission, continuing to expand the applicant base to nearly 500 candidates a year, and to continue to modernize the way in which we did business. Like Tom, Andy proved to be a compelling and welcoming ambassador for the school. Five years ago, Andy was appointed Director of Studies and Strategic Initiatives, a post that has allowed him to influence the curriculum of the school, our teachers’ pedagogy, and the thoughtful coordination of our program. Andy has also been the founding director of our Penn Fellows Program and the major domo behind expansion of RL’s summer programs and facilities use. This past year, he shared in responsibilities normally assumed by the Dean of Faculty. This year Andy has taken on the new role of Assistant Headmaster for Program.

Mike Pojman Mike Pojman, now in his 41st year at the school, has been named RL’s first Associate Headmaster, thanks to his leadership in a number of areas over a number of years. Mike has done it all. His distinctive touch has been felt as Assistant Headmaster for 22 years, in chemistry and English classes; as a longtime Class I Classmaster; former Director of Studies; the school’s scheduler; founder and leader of the Ave Atque Vale Society and a number of other service initiatives; moderator of Tripod and Yearbook; reliable chaperon of 38 Glee Club tours; chaperon of dances and proms; school photographer….and the list goes on and on. Mike is the poster child for generalism. All he does, he does well, always with the boys’ best interests at heart. //

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New Faculty and Staff Art Beauregard A native of Guilderland, New York, Dr. Beauregard graduated from Guilderland High School where he was a championship wrestler and promising student, earning his way to a place at Lehigh University. There, he competed for the Division I team and earned a bachelor’s degree with Honors in molecular biology, minoring in economics. After graduation, Dr. Beauregard began a two-decade odyssey of scholarship, research, and teaching. He earned his master’s in biomedical sciences at the University of Albany, followed by his PhD with a molecular genetics concentration. He undertook several post-doc research assignments at various high-end genetics research centers in Albany and Salt Lake City. During that time, he returned to his high school as an assistant wrestling coach—an experience that taught him he should be a teacher and coach. Moving to Boston, he landed positions at Beaver Country Day (teaching calculus and geometry) and at Fessenden School where he taught IPS, biology, life science, and earth science, and also advised a gaggle of boys, served as Grade 8 Dean, and elevated the wrestling program to Boston-area renown. (There he also coached cross country and baseball.) At RL, he will teach sections of Honors Geometry, Math-Science Investigations, and Analysis with Trig. Dr. Beauregard will also assist with j.v. baseball and lead the wrestling program as head varsity coach.

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Bryan Dunn Dr. Bryan Dunn joins RL as the school’s new Dean of Faculty, Science Department Chair, and head Varsity Cross Country coach. Dr. Dunn has had an impressive career as a teacher and coach: Soon after college he began the first of two stints at Xaverian Brothers High School—a five-year run teaching biology, chemistry, and math, as well as coaching cross country and track, and founding the diversity committee. During his early teaching days, Dr. Dunn also was music director for Boston’s popular Improv Asylum. He left Xaverian and Boston to serve as music director for Chicago’s famous Second City troupe’s National Tour, for which he wrote and recorded original music for each show, directed the ensemble, and served as accompanist for all their touring shows over four years. While in Chicago, he also tutored middle school and high school students and developed curriculum for the tutoring company. In 2010, he returned to Massachusetts as a physics and computer teacher at St. John’s School in Shrewsbury, at which he moderated an improv group. He then returned to Xaverian for a nine-year stint during which he did it all: teacher of AP Environmental Science, anatomy, forensics, AP Bio, physics, chemistry, and seventh grade science; director of the school musicals and the a cappella group; and coach of the highly successful cross country and indoor/ outdoor track programs. Dr. Dunn also served as chair of the

science department and was responsible for several school-wide initiatives concerning STEM, assessment, wellness, and effective teaching. He was involved in diversity efforts throughout his time at Xaverian. In 2018, Dr. Dunn earned his Ed.D. in curriculum, teaching, learning and leadership from Northeastern; prior to that he earned his master’s in education, focusing on curriculum and instruction, from Boston College; and before that he concentrated in kinesiology and music at The College of William and Mary.

Justin Muchnick Justin Muchnick joins RL as one of two new Penn Fellows, teaching in the English Department. Born and raised in California, Mr. Muchnick came east to attend Phillips Academy Andover, where he impressed as a student, wrestler, dorm proctor, tour guide, and Writing Center maven, and where he won 12 academic prizes, including awards in Latin, history, biology, and physics. Mr. Muchnick returned to the West Coast to attend Stanford, where he earned a double major in Classics and American Studies; won prizes in Classics and overall academic achievement; and earned a 4.12 GPA (consisting of 13 A+ grades and 23 straight A’s!) Until concussions disqualified him, he also wrestled for Stanford; acted in dramatic performances there; and made the finals of the Rhodes Scholarship competition. He has continued to feed his Art History minor by working at the Cantor Arts Center, and he interned at various museums and for the YMCA and the Jewish Community Center. He designed and ran a Star Warsthemed summer camp and has written three guides on college and career planning, surviving in boarding school, and what he called “Straight A study skills.” In addition to his Penn Fellow responsibilities, and teaching Class V and Class III English, he will also coach soccer and wrestling, and help with admission.

Jack Parker RL’s second new Penn Fellow, Jack Parker, grew up in Burlington, North Carolina, where he had a memorable high school career, leading as a student and in a number of other areas including student government, choral music, and various other clubs. Mr. Parker attended Middlebury College where he earned his bachelor’s

in mathematics, receiving the mathematics prize and graduating Phi Beta Kappa; he minored there in education studies. In a nod both to generalism and globalism, Mr. Parker became fluent in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese; he also ended up as the head instructor of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and sang tenor in the Ingoma a cappella group, dedicated to performing songs of Africa. During his undergraduate career, Mr. Parker had a good deal of teaching experience, student-teaching Grade 8 math at Middlebury Union Middle School, and teaching Geometry and Algebra to low-income students at Virginia’s Norfolk Academy for two summers. He was also a teaching assistant for Chinese courses at Middlebury and led orientation expeditions for incoming first-year students. At Roxbury Latin, Mr. Parker will teach two levels of math and help coach soccer and wrestling.

Mike Stanton Mr. Mike Stanton is Roxbury Latin’s first-ever Chief Financial Officer. Most recently, Mr. Stanton has served two colleges with distinction as their Vice Presidents for Administration and Finance. At Maryland’s Stevenson University he led various staffs concerned with the University’s financial management, facilities oversight, security, athletics, and food services. Prior to that, for nine years he performed similar functions at Dudley’s Nichols College, where he was intricately involved in land acquisition, building projects, debt negotiations, and the negotiation of countless contracts. Mr. Stanton earned both his bachelor’s in accounting and his MBA from Bryant College; he is also a certified public accountant (CPA). A native of Walpole and graduate of Walpole High—at which he played football and was active in other extracurriculars— Mr. Stanton is known for his affable, collaborative style, and sterling work ethic. We are grateful for his leadership in RL’s Business Office. //

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The Conc Commu

Kerry Brennan Delivers the Openin

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cept of unity

ng of Fall Term Address

y senior year in high school I elected a course called Sociology. I did not know much about the subject: I only knew that my brother had studied it in college, and that the teacher, Mr. Bydairk, was reported to be good. You may already know that people often confuse psychology and sociology. Psychology is about the thinking and emotional state of an individual, while sociology studies the way that people in groups behave. For example, a psychologist might be engaged in order to help a particular person solve a drinking problem; a sociologist might study why members of a certain ethnic group have a propensity for alcoholism. I liked sociology. It attempted to answer questions about people’s behavior that I was interested in, especially as those behaviors were affirmed, or even insisted upon, by groups to which the person belonged. I remember the logical explanation of how groups are formed and what holds them together. I also remember that the family was thought to be the smallest, most consistently impactful group when one measured a person’s values, rituals, and behaviors. This class was the first time I thought about society. Obviously this construct had to do with a larger social network made up of people who shared certain characteristics—perhaps simply one’s nationality, but, more compellingly, a set of customs especially as they govern one’s world view, sense of purpose, and principles. In between family and society, however, is the entity about which I want to talk principally today. That is community. Often people use this term to describe a geographical and political concept—a city, a town, a neighborhood. I learned in that course, however, that a community is also a group of people who agree to certain concepts of what it means to live, to live well, to live peacefully and productively together. One person has a stake in another person’s life. Because a community often suggests a relatively intimate group of people, they tend to know each other. And even if literally they don’t know each other, they know each other based on presumptions that can be made within the community, about a basic standard of values, mutuality, and care. This—like so many terms of my youth—has, however, been appropriated to name something other than this general, multi-layered commonality. For example, you may have heard of the fossil fuels community, or the athlete’s foot community, or the ramen-loving community. Each of those interests may indeed attract positive reactions, or even commitments, from a large group of people,

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but they lack the fellow feeling, the common experiences, the loyalty of a real community. Sometimes our communities are encouraged by where we are, or how we’re gathered, or what that even smaller unit of the family prescribes for us in terms of the communities that we will know about, be welcomed into, or join.

Barn Raising and Town Meeting

everyone showed to participate—the joy in the company and the accomplishment—I’ll bet were similar to what the Amish felt. Those of you who are part of the building crew of Habitat for Humanity know something of the exercise, even though your own crew is shy of what I would call a community. The Amish barn raising is a neighborhood coming together born of religious conviction and a habit of community.

I’m reminded of some classic evocations of community. You may know something about the Amish. This sect believes that to our eyes strict manners of dress, transportation (the horse and buggy is the preferred vehicle), unmodern households (without electricity, for example), and quite narrow rules about whom one may marry (strictly within the Amish community) are necessary in order to live a good life and earn God’s favor. One of the great community festivals of Amish life is a barn raising. In this case a family—maybe especially a newly married couple—needs to have a barn on their property. Because this is an agrarian sect, the barn is a staple of farm life. In our lives, we would likely hire someone to design and build a barn. Not the Amish. Tradition has it that on a given day, the whole community will gather, each member with a job to do, but in concert with others. After several iterations of this barn building ritual, it probably is well known who does what well, and he or she takes on that job. But it is miraculously a tribute to organization, fellowship, and hard work. Usually the barn is up in one day, after which there is a great feast to celebrate. My first year as principal of the elementary school at University School in Cleveland we built a playground. The spirit of that endeavor and the willingness that

Each spring in New England there is a civic version of that sacred rite. In your various history classes you doubtless have learned of a direct democracy as exemplified by the Athenians. In this system a citizen can indicate his own position on any number of matters directly. Therefore there would be a large group of people gathered in order to vote on a referendum. Unlike the representative democracy that our nation is built on, small towns in New England feel it important to provide an opportunity for all the citizens of the town to turn out for what is called a “town meeting,” what they would say is “real” democracy. In that setting, individuals can have their say— asking questions, and making suggestive comments about any number of issues from the town’s budget, projects, and taxes, to schools, town roads, and parks. After plenty of debate there is voting on the spot, which bounds the town’s government officials to act according to the will of the people. Each of the towns in which this brand of government takes place behaves like a community in which people can disagree about minor matters but agree wholeheartedly in the way in which decisions are made and the need to abide by whatever these decisions are.

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On My Schenectady Block As you may have heard me confess before, I grew up in a working class, largely Catholic neighborhood in Schenectady, New York. Within a mile of my house there were seven Catholic churches, mostly defined by the ethnic groups they catered to. However inclined we are to believe that immigrants to this country were wholeheartedly eager to shed the ethnicities and customs of their former homes—largely in Europe—and to embrace an Americanism that was more generic and modern and free, they often understandably clung to the security of groups of friends and associates who were their “kind” from the “Old Country.” Italians in my neighborhood called these fellow Italians “goombahs” or “paesans.” My block was made up of a great mix of these ethnicities—what in those days we thought of as diversity: Italians, Irish, Danes, Slovaks, Germans, Poles, French, English, Hungarians. We mainly went to different churches, but most of us were Catholic, and all of us were Christian. During my childhood, the Pope mobilized Catholics to pray for the eradication of Communism throughout the world. Not only was the Communist system seen as antireligion, it was also seen as dehumanizing. The people on my street, therefore, organized what was called a block Rosary. The Rosary is a tactile, counting device for keeping track of one’s prayers; but, more important, it’s a sacramental, a formulaic way in which Catholics can invoke prayers they all know well (like the “Hail Mary” or “Ave Maria”) on behalf of, in this case, the Pope’s cause—defeating Communism—or, more likely, other causes closer to our hearts—the restoration of health for some relative of a neighbor, for example. All of us neighbors would go into a different house every Monday evening. It would all take about 30 minutes. It included the oldest to the youngest members of families. We would greet each other warmly, kneel, do the special readings of that week, recite the prayers we knew so well, and go home. No refreshments even, ever. Among people who had accents and very different beginnings, we would affirm what we had in common. And our respective parishes had nothing to do with this. It was Church as originally conceived. That tradition faded away when I was about 12. It came back in full force, however, organized by my mother, when my younger neighbor, Suzie Zanta, was missing for any number of days—kidnapped, we thought, from her camping trip to the Adirondacks. We met every night and prayed for Suzie’s safe return, and for strength for her parents and brother. Alas, it seemed as if our prayers over that week

were not answered, because Suzie was found in the woods raped and murdered. It had already been a summer of unimaginable loss as my classmate and paper boy, Phil Domblewski, had also been murdered in the Adirondacks. Coming together to pray, to affirm our solidarity, to draw on each other’s strength was a potent and poignant expression of community. Over the past six months we have been challenged to reimagine community. While I have already suggested that a society or nation is different from a community, the emergency of the pandemic has caused us to behave differently, and to appreciate community. So, too, has the murder of George Floyd incited a nationwide shout of outrage at the behavior of police who act sometimes with malice and impunity, a cry for eradicating social injustice generally, and an affirmation that Black Lives Matter sounded passionately by people of all ages, colors, and creeds. In both cases we have learned something about people generally, and, perhaps, people more specifically.

Rights and Responsibilities I’ll speak first about the pandemic. Again, bear with me, another story of my schooling. In eighth grade at Steinmetz Junior High School, I had a great social studies teacher. She was an eccentric classroom veteran named Harriet Feigenheimer. She was fiercely committed to imparting knowledge about our system of government and the implicit responsibility each of us had as a citizen. I believe, for example, that when Mr. Thomsen and I began Civics for eighth graders at RL, I thought back to how inspired I had been about these issues at that age. Mrs. Feigenheimer taught us many important, tattooed things, but I remember especially the day she stood up on her spindly legs and shouted, “Joey, your rights end where the other guy’s nose begins.” “Gail, do you get it? Your rights end where the other guy’s nose begins.” She was teaching us simplistically a lesson both about rights and responsibilities, and the role of the law in ensuring civil, legal behavior. I always think about the “nose” part of the maxim. We had quite an assortment of noses in that classroom. And after Mrs. Feigenheimer mentioned this, I looked around and studied each nose imagining that body part as the unassailable barrier between civic cooperation and lawlessness. It was a funny thought.

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These days Mrs. Feigenheimer’s comment about the nose seems especially relevant. In fact, much of what makes me frustrated, angry, and fearful these days has to do with what people do with their noses. In particular, when they are out with me, do they cover them? And their mouths as well? We have heard continuously from medical authorities that maintaining social distancing, washing one’s hands regularly and well, and especially covering one’s face are essential if we are to emerge victorious over the pandemic. Your rights end where the other guy’s nose begins. We have learned from doctors and scientists that the virus is spread thanks to flying particles projected from the mouth and nose. What does this have to do with community? Everything. Literally if you do or don’t wear a mask is a matter of life or death. When I first started to drive in 1971, one did not have to wear a seatbelt. Soon, however, it was a federal law that one had to wear a seatbelt. And also in my lifetime, though it is largely irrelevant to me, motorcycle riders were required to wear helmets. You might say that the car driver and the motorcycle rider should have the right to agree to the peril that would be associated with seatbelt-less or helmetless driving. In this instance, the law allowed that one did not have the right to put himself in peril in this way, because his possible subsequent vegetative state was not just a too bad for him; it affected those who would have to take care of him—family members or the state; and would unfairly require others’ resources to mitigate for what he had recklessly chosen to do. Yes, the helmetless motorcyclist would bear the brunt of his hubris, whatever its effects on those who would suffer due to his injury or death. But in the case of wearing or not wearing masks, there is no doubt people are principally putting others’ lives in danger. One wears a mask to protect others from your spittle, from your virus. When you refuse to wear a mask, you are saying loud and clear that you don’t give a damn about the other guy—friend or stranger. And you conveniently suggest—so implausibly—that you are making a political decision based on your rights to be free. Your rights end where the other guy’s nose begins.

Rousseau and Reprobates How do I behave in a community? We often are confronted with the idea that with freedom comes responsibility. During the Enlightenment, many philosophers opined about what each thought was in the best interest of both the individual

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and the polis or the community. Jean Jacques Rousseau is credited with authoring The Social Contract. Though others agreed with him for the most part, there were variations on the notion that humans can be free only to the extent that freedom does not inhibit the freedoms of anyone else; and the state has a responsibility to set up a system of expectations and laws that protects to the fullest extent possible the freedoms of each member. In effect, each has to give up a bit in order for all to get a lot. I doubt very much that the maskless renegades I encountered in convenience stores in upstate New York this summer have read Rousseau. What they probably have heard somewhere along the way is more fundamental: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Or if their parents dragged them to church when they were kids, they might have heard what is insisted upon by every major religion, and that is “to love your neighbor.”

One Cupcake, Please In considering what it takes to be a valuable member of a community, we ought to imagine seizing opportunities for generosity, kindness, or defense of another. In our school—to my mind, if done well, the quintessence of community—we often treat each other as brothers and sisters, as lovable neighbors. And sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we intentionally are selfish or self-absorbed or vindictive. One year ago, on the opening day of our 375th year, I witnessed an incident that is emblematic of both sides of the issue. You may remember that we provided beautifully decorated, delicious cupcakes for everyone in order to celebrate the start of our 375th year. The cupcakes were collected in big boxes and placed on the tables in the back of the Refectory. Each person was to help himself. A sign said “Please take one.” At the end of the lunch period, as I wandered to the back of the Refectory, I came upon a student who was sputtering. The cupcakes were gone. He had not gotten one. What had happened? Chef Jason knew to get at least enough for the whole of the student body, faculty and staff, and several more, just in case. They were all gone. Someone had taken more than one. He had taken two or more. When he did that he denied a fellow member of his community his fair share. Was that community-minded? Was he really part of a band of brothers? Was that unselfish? Was that loving? No, of course it wasn’t. Just as I was about to console the boy and investigate whether there might be an extra cupcake in the kitchen (after all I hadn’t had mine either!), another boy

“Are you working for, and will you vote for, local candidates who represent your commitments to social justice, fairness, and change? This is your duty. You are smart. You are well educated. You have something unique to offer. You can make a difference. You can do something. And in time, I hope that you will run yourselves.” from a different class appeared out of the blue with a cupcake in hand and said to the disappointed boy, “Here you go. I’m happy for you to have mine. I don’t like cupcakes very much anyway.” Within 30 seconds I was confronted by the deeds of a sinner and a saint. What a dramatic depiction of human nature. I was reassured that human instincts could indeed be admirable. I wondered if I would be as generous given the opportunity. I was struck not just by the kind boy’s gesture. I was also impressed that he was paying attention, that he seized an opportunity to be kind, that he was a wide-awake bystander who, through his thoughtful instinct, did something about his concern. He acted. He intervened.

Bystanders In the horrible video footage that we saw over and over again, capturing the eight minutes 46 seconds of George Floyd’s merciless, murderous agony, we paid attention to the evil cop who murdered him. We could not help but notice, however, the other cops standing around complicit in the murder. And we noticed there were several other civilians standing by— bystanders—who failed to act. They failed to intervene. They failed to make a move. They failed to call out a criminal act and save the life of a helpless man. When I was younger, we learned of the murder of a young woman named Kitty Genovese who lived in the Bronx. She was murdered in an apartment building on a Saturday night, and it turned out that scores of people in the building had heard her cries for help, the anguished pleas for mercy, and the gruesome sounds of murder and dying. They didn’t bother to do anything. As they said in the words of that time, they didn’t “want to get involved.” A few years ago, hoping to make the same point, I recounted the signs that had sprung up all over New York City and were especially prominent in the subway. The signs said See something. Say something. In other words, if you witness harm or criminal activity, even if you’re unwilling to put your own life in jeopardy by physically or verbally intervening, summon the police so that they can do their jobs and save the person or persons in question.

See, Say, Do In late July, Congressman John Lewis died. He had done amazing things in his life. He was kind, gentle, persevering, and principled. He was someone whom everyone loved and admired. It was not just, however, because he was kind that he was looked up to. It was because he acted. He lived his beliefs. And in the late ’50s and early ’60s, during the Civil Rights campaign, he joined the crusade of Martin Luther King. John Lewis, like some of you, was only 18 years old. But he experienced injustice in his own family. His parents were sharecroppers. They might as well have been the slaves that their grandparents were. Because for whatever rights Black people achieved thanks to the freeing of the slaves after the Civil War, we know that even until our own time Black people have routinely been prevented from exercising their democratic right to vote. Congressman Lewis knew that in his own family his relatives were denied the vote. So he decided to do something about something that he found reprehensible

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and contrary to his vision of what the United States of America ought to be like. And so he joined the cause. He marched. He sang. He chanted. He was imprisoned more than 40 times. He was beaten and his skull fractured while marching defiantly across the now famous Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama. In the brand of non-violent protest that King and Gandhi advocated, Lewis was able to summon up his deep-seated Christian faith and act on behalf of that which was true and good and just. But not only did Lewis march and protest and get arrested. He witnessed during the Lyndon Johnson administration the signing of a Voters’ Rights bill, by a Southern president, that intended to make things better, that intended to give all citizens— regardless of their color—the right to vote. But Lewis did not retire to his home satisfied that his goal had been achieved. Indeed, he believed, and often professed, that we should act slightly differently from what the NYC subway signs say. Lewis admonished, “See something. Say something. Do something.” Today I want to dwell a moment on that last part. One could not help but be moved by the spirit of solidarity that swept across this nation in response to George Floyd’s killing and the similarly reprehensible murders of other Black people within a few months of Floyd’s death. These deaths, atrocious of themselves, became the sparks that illuminated what had been problems for a long time. These problems did not just have to do with voters’ rights (though the securing of these is a foremost priority). The outrage acknowledged patterns of police brutality and the consistent ways in which the society had denied Black people their rights as citizens. What was being called out was institutional, systemic racism that even in our own time, even in our own city, often treated Black people like second class citizens. We have been inspired not just to not be racist, but to be vigorously and single-mindedly anti-racist. In the last days of his life, Congressman Lewis visited the Black Lives Matter memorial in Washington, D.C. He was pleased that a vast, diverse group of people—young and old, Black and white—had taken up the cause, a latter-day evocation of what he had helped lead 60 years before. But there is one thing based on what he always professed that I’m sure Congressman Lewis would have reminded us.

Do something. Lewis was not content simply to be remembered among the martyred heroes of the Civil Rights movement. Instead, realizing

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that there was still more work to be done, he ran for Congress. He ran and ran and ran. And for thirty years he was in a place where he could do something, where he could sponsor and vote for legislation that helped to change the way people lived, the way they were treated, the way the government helped to insure their dignity and worth. He spoke always on the side of justice and was hell bent that his Congressional colleagues would not forget the opportunity and the responsibility they had to act on behalf of an America that was increasingly a land of opportunity, a society of equality, a broad community of care. His example begs the question, “What will you do?”

Our Political Duty This is a national election year. You know I care deeply about politics, but especially about honoring our responsibility as citizens. I wondered, as I was stunned and surprised by the numbers of people marching on behalf of social justice, how many of them had voted in the 2018 midterm Congressional elections. I wondered how many voted in the 2016 national election when only 63 percent of eligible women and 59 percent of eligible men voted. You might remember that Hilary Clinton received three million more votes than Donald Trump who prevailed in the Electoral College. What would have happened in those toss-up states if more people had voted? A much higher percentage of whites voted nationally than did eligible voters of color. What happened? Were these voters suppressed, discouraged from voting? Did they think their votes didn’t matter? A key way to affirm all citizens is to teach them to and admonish them to vote—to learn about and support candidates who, like John Lewis, will sponsor legislation that will change the way things are, uphold rights being protected and expanded, and support programs that uplift those who have been downtrodden. If you protest yet fail to exercise your right to vote, you are whistling in the wind, engaging in a ritualistic pageant that can only begin to inspire us to do the right thing. Voting, campaigning, and running for office signal both care and understanding about how to get justice done. John Lewis taught us that. Let’s all pledge at the least to vote this year and every single year of our lives. And if you are not yet eligible, make sure everyone you know votes. It’s our right. It’s our duty. Of course, I’m wondering what all those who so impressively marched and all of us are doing about this year’s election. If you’re 18, are you registered? If you’re not 18, are you paying attention? Are you

taking for granted the result one way or the other? Are you doing anything by volunteering or contributing to a candidate who moves you, who reflects your views? If the national election is not your cup of tea, and especially because racism is not only a national problem, but also a problem of our cities and towns, are you working for, and will you vote for, local candidates who represent your commitments to social justice, fairness, and change? This is your duty. You are smart. You are well educated. You have something unique to offer. You can make a difference. You can do something. And in time, I hope that you will run yourselves.

Our Finest Hour Finally, today, I return to the observations I made earlier about community. When I believed that the selfish, presumptuous actions of countless Americans, the premature opening up of certain states before it was safe or responsible to do so, the failure to believe and speak the truth put us all at harm, I imagined that too many people in our country never learned what it meant to be a vital part of a community. If they had, they would have been more concerned for others, more willing to sacrifice, more eager to exercise patience, to give the other guy the benefit of the doubt. This is what you all did. This is what marked our spring together if apart. This is what the vast majority of our fellow citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts did. In this Little Nursery it has been not just our pattern but our creed that we care fiercely for each other. As we wrap our heads around the challenge of treating people

fairly, we must do even harder work in order to become a yet more welcoming, more just community ourselves. We can do that. And in this time of uncertainty and fear concerning the pandemic, we must again take special care. We have tried, to the extent we know how, to provide an opportunity for boys to return to school, understanding that some of you, and some of your teachers, may not feel comfortable doing that. That decision is difficult. But to stay home and learn and teach remotely is fine. For those who are willing to come on campus, each of us has a different and special responsibility. We all need to adhere to the guidelines, to focus, to care, to sacrifice, to do something. In your actions and your words, help all of us to create anew a community that is not only brimming with friendship and love, but that acknowledges that what we do and how we do it can indeed be a matter of life and death. Please do your best. Today I have talked about community. I’ve chronicled events of our spring and summer that called on us to pay attention, to act, to care about and for each other. Think about people who have become their best selves on behalf of community-mindedness, empathy, action, kindness, outrage, and love. Let’s do more. Let’s be better. When all is said and done, when we look back on this era, when we remember the 375th and 376th years of the school’s storied history, let’s make sure that others will say that because of all of us, because of this glistening community, because of who we are and what we will do, that this was one of RL’s finest hours. //

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How do you prepare a campus for a pandemic? The Logistics of Teaching, Learning, and Maintaining Safety this Fall

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A New Role, at a Consequential Time Nick Poles ’09 Leads RL’s Technology Team | by Erin E. Berg

member of the Roxbury Latin faculty—and a member of the school’s technology team— since 2014, Nick Poles ’09 began his new role as Director of Information Services this summer, at a moment when the reliance on technology in teaching couldn’t be greater. For a few years now, Nick has been trying to decide whether to remain on the teaching/coaching track he’d carved at RL, or whether he was ready for a full-time focus on technology, perhaps working for a company in the city. After all, it’s a field in which the evolution is swift, and stepping away from it for any long stretch can make returning to it difficult. In his new role, Nick has the best of both worlds: He remains at a school that he loves—and that loves him!—teaching Computer Science to eager and invested students, but he is able to focus on the technology with a depth he couldn’t before. “The most challenging parts of my new role,” says Nick, “are 1) having to now manage a team of colleagues, whom I’ve always considered good friends, and 2) having to gather information about every system at a really high level—our

Rave security system, Meraki wireless system, Google’s G Suite for Education, for example. Rather than just tending to my colleagues’ needs and the day-to-day challenges, I’m having to also maintain a very complete understanding of the bigger picture, technologically and institutionally. I have to keep tabs on what projects are happening: How are they evolving? What can I do to help? What do people need from me, or what can I get for them? When the decision was made by RL’s Reopening Task Force early this summer that students would return in a cohort/ concurrent learning format, Nick and his team—which includes Nate Piper, Ken Hiatt ’93, and Myron McLaren— focused quickly on the work ahead. “We proved to ourselves this spring that the systems we had in place would mostly work for remote learning,” Nick says. “We felt good about how quickly we made the pivot in March, which reinforced that—if we nailed down the professional development element for our faculty—we could always go remote. And we obviously know how to teach boys who are with us on campus. The question was: How do we account for

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whatever is in the middle of that? And what does that look like?” Nick and Nate put their heads together, and the learning cart model began to take shape. “We began with the notion of a camera and a microphone in each classroom, but where we arrived was: How do we build the most flexible thing we can to allow for the most interaction between teacher and students, and students and students—at home and in the classroom.”

Faculty meetings began on August 26, and the entire tech team returned to campus full-time on August 3 to make sure everything would be up and running in time for school to begin. Nick says the most nerve-wracking factor was whether the hardware would arrive in time, given the global disruption to supply chains and the number of organizations placing orders for similar technology.

Focusing on developing a tool that was both flexible and cost efficient, Nate characteristically got creative and did his homework, realizing that the team could build a learning cart for one tenth the cost of a comparable pre-packaged model. The final learning cart design—which is being used in 40 spaces on campus this fall—is composed of a rolling, metal frame with a flat-screen TV mounted on it, and driven primarily by a Microsoft Surface Go 2 tablet connected to a wireless keyboard and Bluetooth speakerphone and a USB-C dock to make the system extensible, if desired.

Nick points to three key factors that enabled this work to succeed: 1) The school’s Reopening Task Force, led by Headmaster Kerry Brennan, decided at the beginning of June—days after graduation—that the school would plan for a concurrent learning format; 2) The school is thankfully in a financial position to support the plan from start to finish; and 3) As Nick says, “Many hands make light work.” As a committed, effective team, Nick, Nate, Ken, and Myron fell quickly into distinct roles that helped get the job done. “The success of a process like this comes down to trusting your team,” says Nick. “We said, ‘This is the process, and we’re going to stick to it, and document it, and if one cart works, and we do the same thing over and over, we can get this done.’”

Once they realized they could make the technology work, Nick with Nate quickly moved to: How do we make teachers feel comfortable using this cart, “that, quite frankly, looks like an alien,” says Nick, and helps them keep class going effectively in every type of format? “How you teach science is different from how you teach math,” says Nick, “which is different from how you teach Latin or English. We had to make sure this would work for everyone.”

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Thankfully, they were right. The technology—though, as all would agree, is still a distant-second to having every student in the classroom every day—does exactly what it was intended to. It is allowing the faculty to teach, and the students to learn, in a setting that prioritizes not only RL’s mission, but also the health and safety of our entire community. //

Online Student-Turned-Remote Teaching Expert… at Just the Right Time Faculty Member Nate Piper’s Reflection on Addressing Big Challenges Through Tech hen I signed up for a course titled Teaching Students Online in October 2019—for the spring 2020 semester—I imagined that it would be the least applicable course that I would take in my graduate program. Online teaching was simply something I felt I should know about as an educational technology leader. Nobody could have predicted how timely and useful this course—an elective in the final year of my Master of Art in Educational Technology (MAET) program at Michigan State—would prove to be. Specifically, I was enrolled in the “Hybrid Online” track, which balances online coursework with three-week, intensive, on-campus summer sessions. In March, as Roxbury Latin (along with most of the country) shut its doors and moved to remote learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the content of the course could not have been more relevant. The themes of clear online communication, virtual community building, and synchronous vs. asynchronous instruction were particularly helpful in guiding my (suddenly online!) teaching, and in

shepherding along fellow faculty, most of whom had neither taught nor taken an online course. While the content of the course was most directly applicable, it was also immensely instructive to be enrolled as a student in a high-quality, intentionally constructed online course. Gaining a student’s perspective of online learning enabled me to shape my courses from a position of empathy for my students. As it became clear that we would not be returning to campus in the fall in our traditional way, the school looked to the technology team to help imagine the possibilities for remote, hybrid, and concurrent learning models. I am a creator at heart, and I have always been passionately committed to the creative application of technology toward solving problems. While we faced a daunting problem, in many ways I felt completely in my element. The challenges presented by the pandemic put my team and me in a situation where we were considering not only how to effectively teach students with technology, but how to effectively teach teachers to utilize new technologies and paradigms in their own practices. The “concurrent learning” model that was settled upon (two

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cohorts, alternating between on-site and remote attendance each week) required a technology solution that allowed remote students to see and hear what was happening in the classroom, to interact with a teacher who may be on-campus or may be remote, and ideally, to interact with their peers. Education— particularly the brand that we espouse at RL—is so dependent on relationships and community, that we needed to look beyond the baseline of remote content delivery, and ensure that our solution connected people in meaningful ways. Permeating all of my courses at MSU was the fundamental idea that good teaching with technology needs to be grounded in good teaching more generally. While my courses exposed me to new technologies, tools, workflows, and schemas, the underlying emphasis was always on how the technology can be used for the fundamental goal of educating our students. If education is about building knowledge, skills, understanding, empathy, perspective, creativity, confidence, and expressiveness, then technology is only useful in the ways that it helps to bring students toward those goals. Understanding how people learn, how and why they’re motivated, what roadblocks they face, how to effectively communicate, and how to appropriately challenge or accommodate is foundational to good teaching, and therefore must be foundational to good teaching with technology. Two particular threads from the MAET program, touched on in many of my courses, heavily influenced my thinking about the challenge we were facing. The Technology, Pedagogy, and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework describes the broad interdependence between those three areas, and the “sweet spot” where careful and thoughtful coordination of each area leads to successful and effective teaching. The framework also highlights the pitfalls of letting any one area “take the lead” in a classroom, often to the detriment of the others. Technology leaders have a bad reputation for letting the latest or the flashiest technology drive decision making; we needed to design a technology solution in concert with pedagogical and content area considerations in order for it to be successful. The principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) are often thought of as guidelines for designing learning experiences that are accessible to persons with disabilities.

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While that is a primary and important motivator for UDL, my coursework helped me to realize that more often than not, designing intentionally for one particular need ends up serving other populations as well. For example, a curb cut or ramp at an intersection might have been designed for wheelchair accessibility, but it ends up being quite helpful for parents with baby strollers, young children, delivery drivers, and bicyclists. By incorporating UDL principles in the design of our technology solutions, we hoped to better serve everyone by carefully considering the needs of individuals within the community. A teacher who needs to be fully remote for health reasons, a student with a chaotic or noisy home work space, a taxed WiFi connection with a house full of other “Zoomers,” students with executive functioning or attention challenges, screen fatigue, feelings of isolation—all of these considerations have informed and continue to direct our technology decisions and guidelines. The “learning cart” solution at which we arrived for concurrent learning is imperfect, certainly, but it succeeds in giving teachers a platform through which we can bring our remote students into the classroom, and try to maintain a sense of community and togetherness. We modeled the design on a commercial video-conferencing platform, but for the purposes of flexibility, adaptability, and affordability, we built our own version from off-the-shelf components. The rolling cart carries a widescreen TV monitor connected to a Microsoft Surface tablet computer. We chose to continue to use Zoom as our video-conferencing platform, but rather than teachers using their laptops as their primary Zoom device, they use the tablet mounted on the cart. This enables the remote students to see the classroom and their peers; enables teachers to continue to use their own laptops to present digital content; and allows the on-campus students to see the faces of their remote peers without having to be on their own computers all day. The TV speakers amplify the voices of the remote cohort so that they can be heard clearly throughout the room. The cart can also be adapted for classrooms in which the teacher is unable to be on campus. In that scenario, the teacher’s face can be seen “life size” on the cart at the front of the classroom. Nearly all of the technologies that we have widely implemented for concurrent learning at RL were tools and

ideas that I first encountered in my program at Michigan State. As an online student myself, I experienced high-quality asynchronous course design, I first used a somewhat lesserknown tool (at the time) called Zoom, attended sessions via remote-controllable telepresence robots, submitted Flipgrid reflections, created screencasts, and worked on group

projects with people across the country. It is largely due to that experience that I felt equipped and prepared to help guide the school toward technology solutions to these hugely challenging pedagogical and curricular issues. I owe a great debt of gratitude to the MAET faculty, my peers in the hybrid online cohorts, and to Roxbury Latin for making it possible. //

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Faculty members Bryan Dunn (right) and Tim Kelly (left)

Learning the Tools for Teaching, Under the Spectre of COVID-19 Faculty Were the Students This Summer | by ERIN E. BERG s summer began—and school leaders across the country realized that this academic year would be unlike anything we recognized—some of the primary questions that Roxbury Latin tackled were: What do faculty need in order to teach this fall? What tools will be required, and what support will be helpful? “When we made the transition back in March to all remote learning,” says Assistant Headmaster for Program Andy Chappell, “it was to try to, basically, teach the way we’ve always taught, just online. While we made our way through it, people very quickly found that model was neither sustainable nor very productive. There was a lot of great innovation throughout the spring, during which people tried new things, and tried to make the most of their class time, but a lot of people felt like they could do this better.” With the understanding that there’s a difference between emergency online teaching and purposeful online teaching, Roxbury Latin enlisted the help of One Schoolhouse, a known

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leader in online and hybrid teaching. Andy, along with Dean of Faculty Bryan Dunn, worked tirelessly this summer to ensure that faculty had what they needed to be prepared— even comfortable, confident—to teach in a concurrent learning environment this fall. Mandatory professional development has never been required of RL faculty over the summer, but in this unprecedented year the summer months represented a short and precious window in which to get ready for what lay ahead. All faculty members participated in a three-week course, during which they not only experienced being remote learners themselves, but also dug into various topics to bolster their technology skills, expand their pedagogical approaches, and broaden their thinking about what teaching and learning would be like amidst the realities of this virus. The major goals of the One Schoolhouse experience were teaching the theory behind good remote learning; providing faculty with the same language; offering insight into best practices; sharing advice on how to build community when

“One of the main takeaways,” says Andy, “was that we were not going to be able to do every, single thing that we do in a typical year, so we needed to pull back a bit and focus on the big ideas —What’s the most important content for me to cover in this class? What skills am I trying to help these boys develop? Ultimately, I think it forced all of us to think intentionally about the things that we typically do organically.”

you can’t be physically together; and, finally, granting the permission to try things, and to let go of the expectation of perfection when it came to teaching in this new way. “One of the main takeaways,” says Andy, “was that we were not going to be able to do every, single thing that we do in a typical year, so we needed to pull back a bit and focus on the big ideas—What's the most important content for me to cover in this class? What skills am I trying to help these boys develop? Ultimately, I think it forced all of us to think intentionally about the things that we typically do organically.” Throughout the summer, Bryan and Andy held weekly “office hours” to meet with faculty to discuss anything relevant to teaching in the upcoming year—to address questions people had about the One Schoolhouse work, but also to provide ideas about software or platforms that might be helpful to them. RL’s tech gurus Nate Piper and Nick Poles led tutorial sessions throughout the summer as well, showing how different teaching tools work and could be useful. “The second struggle that we quickly realized was how to organize all of this,” says Bryan, “not only for ourselves in our teaching, but also for our students in where they would find what they needed and keep track of it all.” The solution to that became faculty utilizing the Blackbaud Learning Management System—specifically its uRL course pages—in a way they hadn’t necessarily done before. This year those uRL pages are intended to be the first place a student should go to find what he will be working on in class each week, what’s due tomorrow, and what assessments are coming up, as well as links to everything else he might need, having to do with content—such as Google Classroom, or YouTube links. Teachers make these pages their own, embedding videos and screencasts, images and other useful content. “One Schoolhouse also helped us recognize that, with limited synchronous classroom time, we needed to think carefully about using that time effectively and well,” says Bryan. “Rather than using that time to lecture, I might have the students watch a video beforehand, and then I’m using that synchronous class time for discussion, or application of what we’ve learned.”

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“I think one ‘aha!’ moment for our teachers, including myself,” continues Andy, “was not only that there exist many different ways to deliver content to students—different methods of helping them understand—but also that it’s not only okay, but good, for us to make use of those different methods, whether it’s through sharing online videos or creating our own screencasts. For instance, I know that John Lieb (Chair of the Mathematics Department) is essentially recording his lectures, so that kids can watch them at their own pace—they can increase to two-times speed, or they can slow it down; they can rewind and revisit things. It allows John to maximize his time with the students.”

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“And we’re still learning,” concludes Bryan. “Especially at the start of the year, we would realize that some things we’d imagined on paper didn’t quite translate as we had thought, so we would adjust. The willingness to be flexible, and open, is a really important part of all this—especially since we can’t be certain how long we’ll have to rely on this model. The good news is that we now know how to teach remotely, so that if we have to switch to all-remote, there are no changes that have to be made on the side of the teacher. While we all would much prefer to be together, we’re equipped now to make any transition smoothly.” //

24 Adirondack chairs

28 touchless faucets

2,700

50 10 14 square feet under two outdoor tents

hands-free paper towel dispensers

outdoor tables

By the Numbers

A Safe and Clean, Pandemic-Ready Campus Roxbury Latin’s Buildings and Grounds team worked tirelessly this summer to ensure that campus was safe, clean, and would help keep everyone healthy into the colder months. These numbers reflect the team’s important work.

hand-sanitizing stations

HEPA air purifiers

18 sheets of Plexiglass

gallons of stain

Industrial HEPA filters

electrostatic sanitizers

18 4

foot-pull door openers

380 feet of extension cords (powering HEPA units)

100

plastic bottle sprayers

Faculty Flashback: Ned Ligon fac u lt y m e m b e r f ro m 1 9 7 3 - 2 0 1 0

“No piece of the RL experience has been as constant or as important as Mr. Ligon.” In 1974, then-Acting Headmaster Bill Chauncey hired Edward Stovall Ligon, who had for six years been a Classics teacher far, far up the road at St. Paul’s School. Thus began an illustrious period of 37 years during which Mr. Ligon taught, coached, and counseled hundreds of fortunate RL boys. The quintessential RL master, Mr. Ligon always represented a terrific, deep passion for his discipline and all things Classical; an undying commitment to incorporating new, more dynamic teaching techniques; a willingness to maintain the often

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exhausting set of assignments for which RL is notorious, including coaching in two seasons along with everything else; and, perhaps best of all, a remarkable balance in his own life, and a sensible devotion to ensuring that balance marked the lives of the boys and masters whose company he enjoyed for nearly four decades. Mr. Ligon is demanding, resourceful, dogged, caring, dogmatic, humorous, and idiosyncratic in the kinds of ways that mark the wonderful people who make their lives in and make such a mark on our kinds of schools—the wacky hats (especially that lobsterman kit with the chinstrap he wears when coaching), the raccoon coat fresh from a Charleston contest at the local speakeasy, the hideous ties for every occasion, the grueling commute first from Sheldonville and then from Wrentham (where you might have heard Mr. Ligon report there’s a world class outlet mall that helps to pay his taxes and you really ought to visit!). Mr. Ligon brilliantly taught every level of Latin and Greek; he for 20 years served as Chair of the Classics Department—a motley crew who enjoy each other’s company to a hideous

degree; he dignified the Arthur Vining Davis Professorship which he held for 12 years, the suitability of which is demonstrated every Exelauno Day when Mr. Ligon takes center stage to explain (in Latin) and orchestrate our declamatory Circus Maximus; he has coached football and lacrosse—first intermediate football for 25 years with Mr. Bill Chauncey, and then other levels—and lacrosse in which he served as the great constant in RL’s now 50 year association with the sport; at different times, Mr. Ligon was the head varsity coach (including two terrific teams that won the old Colonial League in the mid ’80s), but for many years he coached teams responsible for developing the talent that would eventually serve our varsity’s fortunes. He has been a devoted advisor to hundreds of RL boys and, for many years, was a member of the Admission

Committee. In all Mr. Ligon has done, from his teaching and coaching to his sponsorship of imaginative, beautifully executed study trips to Rome, he has betrayed a great love of life and of the boys in his care. In that regard especially he has taught all of us how to be better teachers and how to be better people. The Class of 2010 dedicated its Yearbook to Mr. Ligon and proclaimed that “no piece of the RL experience has been as constant or as important as Mr. Ligon.” Mr. Ligon made RL his professional home for 37 years, extended friendship freely to boy and colleague alike, and modeled what is both joyful and essential about the teaching life. Excerpted from Headmaster Brennan’s remarks about Ned Ligon upon this retirement, from the July 2010 issue of the Newsletter.

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Class Notes 1950

The Class of 1950 celebrated the 70th anniversary of their graduation from Roxbury Latin. Eight of the 16 graduates are still living: Frank A’Hearn, Larry Alpert, Gil Cox, Clark Heath, Bill Kaye, John Spofford, John Tedeschi, and Bill Wheeler. Although a physical reunion on campus was not possible last spring, Bill Kaye reports that he and his classmates “are united in spirit and in appreciation for our RLS education.” The Class of 1950 recalls their fellow graduates now departed in memoriam: George Dimock, Jon Fine, Bob Fish, Lee Lockwood, Hamilton Pierce, Roly Price, Bill Sullivan, and Dick Zonis.

1953

Peter Banks received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association of Pancreatology. The award honors outstanding contribution to pancreatology, over decades, in the

areas of clinical research, education, training, and distinguished service to the organization, promoting its mission. Peter remains active at Brigham and Women’s Hospital as Director of the Center for Pancreatic Disease. In the summer 2020 issue of the Newsletter, Jack Banton’s cancer was mistakenly identified; Jack received treatment for Pure Red Cell Aplasia.

1966

Dave Cataruzolo, Director of Alumni Affairs, gathered on Zoom with the Class of 1966 for a virtual reunion on October 14. Attendees included Jeff Goldbarg, Bob Powers (who organized the event), John Gallagher, Ed Lebow, Stuart Cohen, David Finck, Dave Donohue, and Jay Bartlett.

1981

John Kenney published a new book, Love Poems for Anxious People—the

third in a set of poetry books that also includes Love Poems for Married People, and Love Poems for People with Children.

1994

Whit Collier, Matt Engler, and Matt McCambridge have been mountain biking in Burlington, Massachusetts. The trio have reconnected for weekly mountain bike riding at local trails before work. They are pictured on a ride at the Burlington Landlocked Forest.

2005

Patrick Costello married Sarah Brownlee on September 3 at St. Cecilia’s in Back Bay Boston, with their families and close friends in attendance. Sarah is a surgery resident at MGH and Patrick is an attorney working in securities enforcement for the state. The attached photo includes Patrick and Sarah with two RL alumni in attendance, Mike Ryan and Steve Hepburn. See photos on page 43.

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2006

Jeff Kirchick is publishing a book about sales, which applies the principles of sales to everyday life.

2007

David Salinger and his wife, Audrey, welcomed identical twins, Aaron and Jacob, on May 29. The family lives in Redwood City, California, and David works at a tech start-up.

2008

Billy Hubbard and Gisella de la Rocha were married in a small ceremony in Boston on July 17, after their original plans had to be revised due to the pandemic. A number of RL alumni witnessed the ceremony via Zoom. The couple met when both were associates at the law firm Kirkland & Ellis. Billy is now working at Bank of America in consumer and retail investment banking, and Gisella works in the Mergers & Acquisitions group at Kirkland & Ellis. The couple live in Manhattan and Deer Isle, Maine, with their cockapoo, Copley.

George Matthews married Natasha Terhorst on June 27, in a ceremony at St. Mary’s Orthodox Church, which was followed by a reception at Commonwealth Cambridge. George teaches Classics and English at RL, serves as Assistant Director of Admission, and coaches j.v. soccer and junior hockey. Natasha is the Assistant Director of Admission at Commonwealth School in Back Bay. Natasha is a Winsor alumna, and she and George were friends in high school.

Pictured (from right to left) are George’s parents, Natasha, George, his sister Sarah, her fiancé Charlie Tangerini, and his brother Paul ’13.

John O’Loughlin married Paige Cuscovitch on October 3, with an intimate group of immediate family and classmates present, including Tommy Campanella and Billy Hubbard. The service, which took place at Gate of Heaven Church in Boston, was followed by a dinner reception at Mamma Maria in the North End. Guests continued the celebration at the Ebersol Suite of The Liberty Hotel afterward. Brendan O’Loughlin ’11 served as best man, and Jack O’Loughlin ’77 is the proud father of the groom. (The five RL alumni in attendance comprised 20 percent of the total wedding crowd!) Paige graduated from Columbia two years after John and is a physician’s assistant in the emergency department at Mass General Hospital. John is a Relationship Manager for Wells Fargo Commercial Real Estate in Boston. The couple resides in the West End.

2011

Garrett Casey graduated from Harvard Law School with Honors.

2012

Ryan Chipman and his wife, Sarah Sullivan, welcomed their son, Luke Richard Chipman, on September 20. Andrew Kinglsey and RL Mathematics Department Chair John Lieb are running the Boswords 2020 Fall Themeless League, a weekly online crossword tournament. Every Monday

night, at 9 p.m. (Eastern) through November they will host a Twitch broadcast during which solvers will solve one themeless crossword puzzle each week. Each puzzle has three levels of clue difficulty, so solvers can pick the one just right for them. Visit www. boswords.org for more details. (And watch a video of Mr. Lieb explaining the league—taking advantage of his concurrent-teaching video making skills!) On July 26, Mr. Lieb and Andrew hosted an online Boswords tournament that attracted 580 solvers. The championship puzzle was a themeless puzzle of extreme difficulty, written by Sam Trabucco ’11. Dave Kussell is celebrating the oneyear anniversary of his American Made Golfwear brand “Tee Up.” The company launched in September 2019 with a premium golf jogger. The company launched its second product this September, a modern cut golf polo. Dave invites fellow alumni to visit his website at teeupstore.com. Abi Polinsky is working with the Big Brother Program in organizing an original project to support the Association to Benefit Children. Abi photographed clients at his studio in Brooklyn, using a special mirror set he created. He has donated 75 percent of revenue to ABC, with the rest going to fund the materials used for this project. The Association to Benefit Children is an organization aimed at helping children in NYC with supportive housing, childhood care, mental health care, and preventive services. Abi had raised more than $3,000 by late September.

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Mike Trainin married Rylee Ginsberg at Hotel Ella in Austin, Texas, on October 10. The ceremony was small, due to the present circumstances, so Mike reports that unfortunately, there were no fellow RL alumni in attendance here. The newlyweds plan a vow renewal when the pandemic is over; at that celebration, two RL classmates, Mike Alliegro and Will Paolella, will act as groomsmen. Mike is currently a Captain in the Army stationed in Texas, with a planned transition date in May of next year. Rylee is a healthcare recruitment director.

2013

Sacramento Republic FC midfielder Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu addressed racial inequality and tensions in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in the New England Soccer Journal. Link here: www.nesoccerjournal.com/andrewwheeler-omiunu-uncomfortable-talksare-needed-for-black-progress

2014

Cavan Finigan ’12, Duncan Finigan ’14, and Will Finigan ’16, along with their oldest brother, Alec, ran a virtual marathon in Boston in September, raising more than $50,000 to fund innovative basic cancer research at Dana-Farber. The brothers began their run at the official Boston Marathon finish fine, ran past Dana-Farber, along Jamaica Pond to Roxbury Latin to Milton—where they were met with lots of fans and water stops—before finishing at their own home, the same one in which their mother grew up. Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge Team presented the Finigan boys with the

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“Heart and Sole Award,” the recipient of which is an unsung hero who has a unique impact on the DFMC team. In April 2019, Dana Farber had planned to present the award to Mrs. Duncan Finigan, the boys’ mother. Mrs. Finigan died in May 2019, and they never got the chance to present the award. The night before their run, the Finigan brothers accepted the award on her behalf.

2015

Members of the Class of 2015 returned to New York after a hiatus in Boston due to the pandemic. Classmates Christian O’Connor, Isaias CardonaLopez, Alan Balson, Finley Matthews, Matt Steele, Philip Balson, and Josh Racine gathered to celebrate Matt’s birthday. (The cohort noted that all attendees are part of the same “pod,” and that they live together as a few groups of roommates.)

2018

Ayinde Best spent ten weeks as an intern for the Partnership Education Program in Woods Hole, getting a sense of what it is like to be a scientist. The program is primarily for college students from underrepresented backgrounds with an interest in marine science. Ayinde is an environmental science major at Wheaton College (MA) with a concentration in biology. He worked on a research project with the help of a mentor from one of the six scientific institutions in Woods Hole. Specifically, he collaborated on an underwater imaging project, in which he reviewed images of the seafloor, annotating target species, and then using coding to plot the data for a final presentation. //

rl alumni professional groups The RL Educators Group gathered virtually twice this summer. On August 5 the group discussed issues pertaining to race in schools. On the call were Jean-Pierre Jacquet ’01, Peter Simpson ’01, Henry Seton ’02, Headmaster Kerry Brennan, former faculty members Frank Guerra and Steve Ward, Tom Guden ’96, Michael Bear ’77, Richard Bloom ’67, Paul Gallagher ’06, Damon Hall ’05, Kamaru Johnson ’00, Alessandro Ferzoco ’14, David Hershenson ’51, Luke Joyner ’05, Brendan Kennedy ’05, George Matthews ’08, Greg Speidel ’06, Kyle LayneAllen ’09, and Dan Wulf ’88. On August 19 the group reconvened to share school reopening strategies. On that call were Jean-Pierre Jacquet ’01, Peter Simpson ’01, Henry Seton ’02, Tom Guden ’96, Dave Cataruzolo, Michael Bear ’77, David Hershenson ’51, Damon Hall ’05, Luke Joyner ’05, Mike Earley ’87, Greg Speidel ’06, Dan Wulf ’88, Steve Pope ’09, Matt Ellison ’14, Alessandro Ferzoco ’14, Jakub Lau ’02, Sam Fitzgerald ’07, Larry Nagel ’65, John Wolff ’07, and Phil Thornton. To join the Educators Group, or our other Professional Groups (Commercial Real Estate, Investors, Entrepreneurs, Lawyers), please indicate your interest in an email to alumni@roxburylatin.org.

See photos on page 43.

From top left: Members of the Class of 1966 at virtual reunion; Mike Trainin marries Rylee Ginsberg; Billy Hubbard marries Gisella de la Rocha; Patrick Costello marries Sarah Brownlee; Matt Engler, Whit Collier, and Matt McCambridge biking in Burlington; Members of the Class of 2015; George Matthews marries Natasha Terhorst; John O’Loughlin marries Paige Cuscovitch; Ryan Chipman and Sarah Sullivan with son, Luke. 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

Class of 2016 Connor Argyros is studying Mechanical Engineering at Northeastern. He will graduate this spring. He is interested in Product Design, Manufacturing, Engineering Consulting, and Biomedical Devices. Rohan Bose earned his AB in Computer Science at Dartmouth. He accepted a position as a Software Development Engineer at Amazon. Rafael Brantley graduated from Dartmouth with an AB in Computer Science. He is working as a Sales Development Representative for Synopsys. Connor Braun graduated from Haverford with a BA in Economics. He now works as a Sales and Trading Analyst at TD Securities. Aidan Collins is studying Art History at the MassArt. He is also a certified personal trainer and registered EMT. He is working as a personal trainer at RPM Athlete Performance. Emmett Dalton graduated from Holy Cross with a BA in Economics. He is working in MI-Data Sourcing for Point72. Connor Dante graduated from Holy Cross with a BA in Psychology. He 44

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is interested in pursuing a career in Physical Therapy. Will Ebben graduated from Boston College with a BA in Finance and Marketing. He is working as a real estate sales representative at Hope McDermott Real Estate. Esteban Enrique graduated from Northeastern with a BA in Biology. He is working as a Research Associate at TCR2 Therapeutics. Evan Epstein earned his BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington. He is working as a Manufacturing Associate at BristolMyers Squibb. He lives in Seattle. Will Finigan graduated from Harvard with an AB in Computer Science. He is the co-founder of Aliro Technologies, a spin-out of Harvard’s Quantum Information Sciences Lab. The company makes software that facilitates accessibility to present-day quantum computers. It offers a hardwareindependent platform for developers to write quantum software and helps optimize it according to the specific details of the device, or, conversely, selects the device that maximizes a program’s performance. The company was founded in Spring 2019 out of Harvard SEAS’ NarangLab led by Prof.

Prineha Narang, with start-up veteran Jim Ricotta joining as CEO. To date Aliro has raised a $2.7 million seed round and is based in Boston. Reed Garvey graduated from Trinity with a BA in Environmental Science and French. He is working as a sales representative at Trinity Solar. Albie Giandomenico took a leave of absence from Harvard due to the pandemic. He is traveling the continental United States with seven of his roommates. Next fall, he will resume his studies in Economics. Albie is currently working a virtual commissionbased sales job as a Marketing and Sales Associate at Blocklight, LLC. Max Ginsberg graduated from Bowdoin with a BA in Government and Legal Studies. He is working as a Business Analyst for the New England Ice Cream Corporation. Oliver Green graduated from Vanderbilt with a BA in Spanish and Pre-Law. He was admitted to NYU’s School of Law where he is now a JD 2023 candidate. He hopes to pursue a career as an attorney in the professional sports industry. He worked as an SEO fellow with Morrison & Forrester LLP over the summer. Justin Jin graduated from Yale with a BA

in Political Science. During the spring and summer he worked on New Haven’s Covid-19 Response Planning Team. He has accepted a position working in Management at McMaster-Carr. Parker Kent earned his BS in Finance from Lehigh. He works as an Analyst at BAAR Realty Advisors. He is interested in commercial real estate investment, real estate private equity, and acquisitions. Ben Kieff graduated from Yale with his BA in Chemistry. He is living in Washington, D.C., and works as a Health Operations Consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton. Zach Lehan graduated from Georgetown with a BA in Marketing. He spent the summer interning with Fidelity Investments and is seeking opportunities in commercial real estate and marketing. Ronny Lestan graduated from Bowdoin with a BA in Economics. He is interested in a career in commercial real estate. In the meantime, he has been busy on campus at Roxbury Latin helping as a Teaching Assistant during the pandemic. David Levitsky graduated from Tufts with a BA in Political Science and Entrepreneurship. He works as a Sales Development Associate at Zocdoc. Jacob Gendelman graduated from Amherst with a BA in Biology. He is interested in pursuing medical research. John Gillespie graduated from Trinity with a BA in International Studies and Spanish. He is working as a Client Service Representative for Alternative Investments at Brown Brothers Harriman. Sean Godin graduated from Colby with a BA in Economics and a concentration in Financial Markets. He is pursuing

opportunities in the commercial real estate industry. Lucas Guzman graduated from Harvard with an AB in Computer Science. He is working as a Software Engineer at Google. Jack Manning graduated from Boston College with a BA in Marketing and Business Analytics. He is working as a Pension Analyst with Morneau Shepell. Liam McDonough graduated from Trinity with a BA in Public Policy and Law. He is working as a Project Engineer at Suffolk Construction. David McElroy will graduate from Princteon in 2021 with an AB in Philosophy and a certificate in Computer Science. He spent the summer working as an Application Developer with the support of a grant from Princeton. Upon graduating next spring, he intends to pursue a career in software engineering. Joe Fleming graduated from Brown with an AB in Comparative Literature. He is interested in pursuing a career as a writer. He is currently working as a Teaching Assistant at Roxbury Latin. Brendan McInerney graduated from Boston College with a BA in Finance and Business Analytics. He is now a Transaction Diligence Analyst at Ernst & Young. Noah Piou graduated from Dartmouth with an AB in Anthropology modified with Theater. He worked as a Teaching Assistant at Roxbury Latin briefly this fall before accepting a position as a Creator Content Coordinator at Twitter. Jake Powell is studying History at Boston College. He is interested in pursuing a career in education and teaching upon his graduation.

Ben Rivitz graduated from Middlebury with a BA in Economics. He is working as an Associate Consultant at Trinity Life Sciences. Jake Rooney earned his BA in Political Science at UMass Amherst. He is working as a Policy Analyst at LearnLaunch. Carlos Rosado graduated from Penn with a BA in International Relations. He is working as a Mergers and Acquisitions Consultant for EY-Parthenon. Chris Rota graduated from Harvard with an AB in English. He is working as an Analyst with Centerview Partners. Brent Samuels graduated from MIT with a BS in Computer Science. He worked as a Software Engineering Intern at Yext over the summer and is pursuing a career in software engineering, with an interest in entrepreneurship. Jake Tango graduated from Brown with an AB in Computer Science. He works as a Product Reliability Engineer at Palantir Technologies. Will Weitzel graduated from Yale with a BA in Economics. He was selected with the sixth overall pick of the Major League Lacrosse draft. He subsequently intends to attend law school. Tyler Yan graduated from Harvard with an AB in Statistics and Applied Mathematics. He is now a Trader at Citadel. Kevin Zhu is a rising senior at Harvard. This spring he will earn his AB in Computer Science. He has worked for Boston Consulting Group and plans to sign on with the company as a full-time associate upon graduation. //

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“Repaying the Kindness” A Gift in Perpetuity, from Phil Ferrara ’61 Following his graduation from Roxbury Latin in 1961, J. Phil Ferrara attended the Naval Academy and then served his country as a U.S. Naval Officer. Since his graduation, Phil has always found ways to give back to RL, including as a class agent and Reunion chairman. He and his wife, Linda, also decided to make a lasting impact on the school by including Roxbury Latin in their estate plans. A planned gift, like the one that Phil and Linda have made, will benefit Roxbury Latin in perpetuity, ensuring that the school remains a leader in secondary education.

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What inspires you to give to Roxbury Latin? RL was very influential in my formative years, and I firmly believe in its mission “to fit students for public service.” For me, that same theme continued into higher education, and it has directed and motivated my activities ever since. It is an honor for me to assist a school that played a pivotal role in my future.

that one has to work hard to accomplish things, and for me that awareness started at RL.

When you think of RL, what words or phrases come to mind? 1. Learning of discipline and time management from a dedicated corps of teachers. 2. Peer interaction and camaraderie from an outstanding group of ’61 classmates from whom I learned much, as well. 3. RL’s emphasis on writing skills, a sine qua non for success.

What do you hope your gift will help achieve for Roxbury Latin? I hope simply that it will be one more link in the chain ensuring that other young men have the RL experience— that boys will learn in the classroom and on the sports field all those mental, physical, and moral lessons so relevant to what is important in a successful society and their role in it.

What aspect of RL’s mission gives you the most satisfaction? RL continues to assemble, educate, develop, and graduate quality young men. My sense is that RL just keeps getting better, whether it be in its staff, students, or facilities.

What prompted you to make your gift now? There is no time like the present! My wife, Linda, was on board, with the same feelings—and as a life-long educator, her positive recommendation was important.

Any final thoughts, for recent and future graduates? When reading the annual valedictory addresses, I find that a common thread is the seniors’ concern of losing contact with classmates, as they begin a new phase of life. That need not be the case! For the Class of 1961, 14 of the 17 living graduates have regularly attended all or portions of our periodic RL reunions. Many remain in regular communication. //

What was the most important consideration in your decision to make a planned gift to Roxbury Latin? It’s stated on the wall in the Refectory: From those to whom much has been given, much will be expected. I’ve gained greatly in development and education, and I have been given so much through my years at RL and other institutions; I feel compelled to repay the kindnesses in full. I am forever grateful. Is there an important person or occasion that influenced your decision to make this gift? When we attended the newly formatted reunion in 2006, created by Headmaster Kerry Brennan, that experience confirmed my intentions to participate more fully in the life of the school. All of us realize

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In Memoriam A longtime chemical engineer at MIT, Ed was a founding contributor to the field of biological engineering. He developed the area of biomaterials and—over a 66-year career—pioneered several fields of bioengineering.

Edward Wilson Merrill ’41 died peacefully at his home on August 6, 2020, at the age of 96, surrounded by his children and grandchildren. Ed was born in New Bedford on August 31, 1923, son of Edward C. Merrill and Gertrude Wilson. He grew up in West Roxbury and attended the Randall G. Morris School prior to gaining admission to Roxbury Latin.

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Headmaster Northrop forecast in a college letter to Harvard that Ed was destined to be a great scholar: “Merrill entered here in 1935. In the years since I came to the school, I know of no student here who has had a keener mind or who has made better use of it... His mind is an analytic instrument, which he uses deftly and accurately. He organizes his time and his energies with skill. He is modest and unassuming and cooperative. If he keeps on, he will certainly be graduated from Harvard summa cum laude.” In 1938, the faculty awarded Ed the John Eliot Scholarship. Headmaster Northrop called the recipients of this prize the

cor cordium of the school’s intellectual life. Ed earned a most unusual record at Roxbury Latin; he received a final grade of an A in each course during all four years of high school, an exceptional feat during that period of the school’s history. Ed was admitted to Harvard College, where he pursued Classics. As Ed was studying for his final exams at Roxbury Latin in May 1941, Harvard awarded him the prestigious George Emerson Lowell (1834) Scholarship Prize for Greek and Latin. That fall, as a freshman, Ed’s ancient Greek course was so advanced that his transcript noted no grade was issued in the first semester. In October 1941, the Roxbury Latin faculty awarded Ed the William Coe Collar Scholarship, which in those days was awarded to an alumnus after he had departed for college. Upon hearing the news, Ed reflected: “To be appraised by the masters whom

I have known long and intimately… as meriting this award is the highest honor that could befall me. Words are inadequate to express my feeling—I can only offer you all my deepest thanks, thanks not only for this great honor but for the ‘fundamentals’ of learning and living which I have received and absorbed, as I realize now, to my great advantage here at college, and I expect, hereafter as well.” Although Ed entered Harvard as a member of the Class of ’45, he graduated early in June 1944, receiving his AB in Classics and Chemistry. Subsequently, Ed pursued his doctoral studies at MIT, where he received his ScD Chemical Engineering in 1947. After graduating, Ed worked at Dewey and Almy (later part of W.R. Grace). He then joined MIT as an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering in 1950, beginning his more than halfcentury professional association with MIT. Ed was appointed the Carbon P. Dubbs Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering in 1973, a position he held until 1998. He was a visiting lecturer in chemistry at Harvard University from 1952 to 1958; a consultant at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital of Boston from 1960 to 1972; a consultant of the Children’s Hospital in Boston from 1969 to 1972; and a consultant of the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston from 1969 to 1985. Ed also served as chief scientist and consultant in biochemical engineering to Harvard University Health Services from 1984 to 1998. In the 1950s and ’60s, Ed was a leading scientist in blood rheology, and in the

’60s and ’70s, he was a pioneer in the development of the artificial kidney. Ed’s pioneering work on artificial kidneys with MIT colleagues led to the development of the first National Institutes of Health guidelines for artificial kidneys in the 1960s. Ed co-proposed polyethylene oxide (PEO) as a highly biocompatible material in an influential 1979 paper and did significant studies to analyze its structure and blood response. His ideas on PEO led to an explosion in the use of PEG- and PEO-decorated biomedical systems. In 1973, Ed pioneered silicone-based contact lenses that became the basis of the hard, oxygen-permeable contact lens technology. His work on highly crosslinked polyethylene in the 1990s led to the new irradiation-cross-linked, high density polyethylene (HDPE) materials used in artificial joints such as knee and hip replacements. Ed’s contributions in the area of biomedical applications of aerosol engineering were also significant and used for treatment of infants born with respiratory distress syndrome. Ed was the inventor of more than 40 U.S. patents and about 230 international patents. A superb teacher, Ed taught courses on polymers, biomaterials, transport phenomena, and medical sciences at MIT. His course “Chemical Engineering in Medicine and Biology,” first offered in 1963, was the first such course in the United States. Ed was an educator and mentor who welcomed in his laboratories numerous scientists

from other countries. He had a close association with the Macromolecular Center of Strasbourg, France. He was also a vice-president of the BostonStrasbourg Sister City Association and a director of the Alliance Française of Boston-Cambridge from 1990 to 1996. Ed additionally consulted with the conservator of the Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston from 1988 to 1998. In one RL alumni questionnaire Ed wrote: “Curiously enough, despite my professional activities and career in science and engineering, the classical side of my Roxbury Latin education has served me extremely well, in a variety of ways hard to define. The two most important aspects of my education at RLS were, practically speaking: learning to read and write English accurately, and learning to speak on my feet, extemporaneously. I still admire the approach of George Northrop as headmaster, and what he stood for; I still believe in the rigor and excellence [of] the school.” Ed was the beloved husband of the late Genevieve “Ginette” de Bidart, whom he married August 19, 1948, in Cambridge, MA. Ginette predeceased her husband December 20, 2019. The couple is survived by their daughter Anne and son Frank Merrill, and their grandchildren: James, Sasha, and Julia Merrill. Ed took great pride in his two children and three grandchildren and enjoyed the time he spent with them immensely.

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Francis “Frank” James Long ’51 died April 1, 2018, in Astor, Florida, at the age of 84. Frank was born October 14, 1933, son of Ruth Watson and Francis Long Sr. Frank’s father had worked as the superintendent of the West Roxbury Quarry on Grove Street, adjacent to Roxbury Latin’s campus, until he was tragically killed in an accident there in 1935. Frank’s widowed mother subsequently worked as a teacher in the Boston Public Schools, always emphatic about the importance of a good education. The Long family was well-known in West Roxbury; Frank’s great-grandfather Thomas Welch first opened the quarry, and it was for this predecessor that Roxbury Latin’s erstwhile swimming hole (beyond the upper tennis courts), Welch’s Pond, was named. Frank grew up on Fenwood Road and attended Randall G. Morris Middle School prior to gaining admission to Roxbury Latin.

stood out in studies and excelled in sports.” He consistently earned high marks and received various deturs for his academic efforts. Frank was quite popular among his classmates, and he held a position in the student government during each of his six years. As a Sixie, Frank served as class treasurer. He won the Detur in English, sang for the Glee Club, and played “midget” baseball. As a Fifthie, Frank continued serving as class treasurer. He then won the Lowell Detur in Latin. He began playing on the football and baseball teams, which he continued through the remainder of his time at RL. As a freshman, Frank was elected class president. As a sophomore, he served as class secretary. He also worked on the stage crew for the school play. By junior year he served on the student council, participated in track, acted in the school play, served on the prom committees, worked as assistant editor for the Yearbook, and covered sports for Tripod. Frank served as class president again as a senior. He won the Greek Detur as a Junior and the Latin Detur again as a senior. His peers praised him for his broad involvement in the life of the school, noting that he played “active roles in various extracurricular activities.” Despite the abundance of accolades and his own clear talent, Frank maintained a “calm self-confidence,” and continually displayed a “willingness to help” and “gleeful gestures” toward his schoolmates.

Frank had an accomplished career at Roxbury Latin. His classmates noted in the Yearbook that Frank “always

Headmaster Northrop wrote in his college letter to Harvard that Frank was “an A-1 candidate right

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across the board—the type that any college is lucky to get. He can be counted on and will produce good work in any line. It’s a temptation to fill in the remaining space with superlatives.” Frank was admitted to Harvard that spring, and in May 1951 he was selected to receive a Harvard Freshman Scholarship. The recipients boasted “high academic and personal promise, as shown by their outstanding records in class and extra-curricular activities.” The subsequent September, the faculty awarded Frank—a newly minted alumnus—the William Coe Collar Scholarship. Frank earned his AB in Economics from Harvard in 1955. He then worked as an Administrative Officer in the U.S. Army in Kaiserslautern, Germany, from 1956 to 1957. Due to his academic reputation, Frank was offered a teaching position at Roxbury Latin in 1957 by Headmaster Weed, although he ultimately turned it down to pursue a career in accounting, at his stepfather’s encouragement. Frank spent his professional life conducting income tax work and also volunteered his financial services skills for local athletic organizations. Frank had a son, Frank Jr., and a granddaughter, Melissa. Frank was also the cousin of Paul Connolly, RLS Class of 1963.

Frederick Rome Levy ’63 died June 30, 2019. He was born September 18, 1945, son of Benjamin Levy and Shirley Rome. Fred grew up in the Waban section of Newton and attended the Beethoven School prior to gaining admission to Roxbury Latin. Fred thrived academically at Roxbury Latin. His “mannerisms, philosophy, and knowledge” epitomized those of an intellectual. Fred’s classmates noted in the Yearbook that Fred’s “intelligence, especially when focused on mathematics and the sciences, is quite superior… his quick mind [led] him to the top of the class in Math and Science.” Fred also won the Fowler Prize for History in Class VI and Class IV. His classmates insisted that “unlike most of us, Fred does not need good luck, for his skill will win him fame.” Years later, Fred wrote, “RLS was the high point in my education.” While a student at Roxbury Latin, Fred was broadly involved in extracurricular pursuits. During his high school years, he played soccer.

Fred’s classmates wrote that he was a firm support as fullback and halfback on the soccer team during the last three years of high school. Fred also wrestled as a sophomore and junior, and played lacrosse as a junior and senior. In his final year at RL, he captained the lacrosse team. Outside of athletics, he sang for the Glee Club, acted in the French Play, and debated his final three years at RL. As a senior, he was the president of Debate. Fred also was a National Merit Semifinalist. The Yearbook noted that Fred led an active social life as a student, and that “his little white Rambler [could] be spotted at most all social functions.” When Fred graduated from Roxbury Latin in 1963, he was ranked first in his class of twenty-two. In addition to his schoolwork at Roxbury Latin, Fred had studied Mandarin in an intensive course at Thayer Academy during the summer of 1962. The Headmaster at Thayer was so impressed that he wrote Headmaster Weed to relate that Fred had accomplished the equivalent of a full year’s study at his school’s Institute of Asian Studies. Fred matriculated at Harvard, where he studied History and earned his AB in 1967. He then attended Stanford University’s School of Business, where he earned his MBA in 1969 with a focus in Finance.

Corporation. Later, from 1980 to 1985, he worked as a controller for Fidelity Investments. In 1985, Fred began his own company, Cambridge Management Resources. Fred focused his professional efforts working for independent and private schools. From 1993 to 2007 he worked in a part-time capacity at Roxbury Latin as Bursar. Faculty and staff remember Fred as an avid rower who tried to convince his colleagues to join him on the Charles. He also served as the Director of Finance and Operations at the Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart. Fred had two daughters by his first wife. In 1987, Fred was remarried, to Judith Perlstein, with whom he shared more than 30 years of marriage. Judith predeceased Fred in October 2018. For many years, Fred volunteered as a class agent at RL. He was active in his local community and served at various points as the director, vice president, and president of the Cambridge Civic Association. He also volunteered as president and treasurer of Temple B’nai Brith; as treasurer of Gentle Giant Rowing Club; and on the board of The Cambridge Homes. Fred is survived by his two daughters and two stepdaughters: Margaret Levy, Joanna Levy, Jocelyn O’Shea, Bethany O’Shea, and their families. //

Fred’s professional life began at Abt Associates, Inc. in Cambridge, where he worked as an analyst from 1971 to 1973. Beginning in 1973, Fred worked as a controller for Contract Research

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from the archives

Presidential Practitioners by CHRIS HEATON

As we await the arrival of the Covid-19 vaccine, I’m reminded of likely the first time a Roxbury Latin alumnus supported vaccines. Joseph Warren, Class of 1755, helped inoculate future president John Adams and his brother against smallpox in 1764, three years after Warren served as school master at RL. A letter written by Adams, which is housed at the Massachusetts Historical Society (whose building was designed by another RL graduate, Edmund March Wheelwright, Class of 1872) describes Warren as a “tall, pretty, genteel, and fair-faced young man.” Adams referred to the procedure as inoculation (Massachusetts Historical Society). (Latin scholars will recognize today’s vaccine from “vacca,” Latin for “cow” as in cowpox, possibly used as a vaccine before smallpox.) Warren and Adams remained friends, and John Quincy Adams credited Warren, his family physician, with saving his finger from amputation after a bad fracture (New England Historical Society). Not many of us get to treat a president or two! In a previous Ramblings, I noted how the school handled the 1918 Flu. The mantra of this year, “We’re all in this together,” echoes an editorial in the Tripod 1918 regarding the pandemic: “Let the pupils and teachers pull together!” And the red hearts of hope and appreciation, hung in recognition of frontline workers, reminds me of the American Heart Association and another time an RL alumnus had a president as a patient. President Eisenhower had a heart doctor who was an RL grad from the class of 1903, Paul Dudley White. White lived on Warren Street (named for Joseph) while he was a student at RL. He went to Harvard Medical School, founded by John Warren (Joseph's brother from the Class of 1767). White was a founding member of the American Heart Association, its president, and an advocate of exercise. As a cross country coach (and cyclist), I endorse White’s admonition to exercise. He said, “A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but

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otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world.” White who said, “I’d like to get everyone on bikes,” recommended bicycle therapy for Eisenhower after the president had a heart attack in 1955. Under White’s care, Ike won re-election in 1956. Two years after White’s death in 1973, he was honored by having the bike path along the Charles River named for him; the Dr. Paul Dudley White Bicycle Path has seen plenty of use this year as a pandemic stress reliever. (Few viewers of the Longfellow Bridge know that it was designed by the architect we met above, Edmund March Wheelwright.) White’s obituary noted that he cranked out 30 miles a day on Martha’s Vineyard at age 75. It also states, “In fact, when he entered Harvard College, it was to acquire training as a history teacher” (New York Times). History’s loss was medicine’s gain, and this writer (and teacher of U.S. History) knows that just about anybody can become a history teacher. There’s an annual award in White’s name given to a Massachusetts physician dedicated to cardiovascular or stroke care (American Heart Association). Two of the members of that committee, incidentally, are current parents—Douglas Drachman, M.D., father of Jamie (III), and George Philippides, M.D., father of Ale (II) and John ’18. //

Warren vaccine letter from Massachusetts Historical Society (used with permission): John Adams to Abigail Adams, 13 April 1764 [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive, Massachusetts Historical Society, www.masshist.org/digitaladams. American Heart Association: www.heart.org/en/affiliates/pauldudley-white-award New England Historical Society: www.newenglandhistoricalsociety. com/battle-bunker-hill-distresses-abigail-adams-10-miles-away/ The New York Times: www.nytimes.com/1973/11/01/archives/drpaul-dudley-white-is-dead-at-87-pioneer-in-care-of-heart-treated.

Edmund March Wheelwright (1872)

Warren vaccine letter from Massachusetts Historical Society (1764) Dr. Paul Dudley White with President Eisenhower (American Heart Association)

Dr. Paul Dudley White on his bike (American Heart Association)

Longfellow Bridge, photo via Commonwealth of MA Archives (1907)

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7 170

States represented: ma, ny, nj, mi, co, va, ca

Campers

summer This year, RL Summer—like programs around the world—had to pivot, aiming to serve students in a meaningful way, without the ability to bring them to Roxbury Latin’s campus. And pivot, we did. This summer, the school hosted virtual classes for students across the country. Here’s RL Summer 2020, by the numbers:

75% 25% 75% 25%

Grades 5-8 Grades 9-12

virtual classes offered, including:

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Latin Chemistry Spanish

boys

STEM

girls

English Literature RL faculty served as instructors

Economics

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The Roxbury Latin School 101 St. Theresa Avenue West Roxbury, MA 02132-3496 www.roxburylatin.org Change Service Requested

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Roxbury Latin Newsletter: Fall 2020

Articles inside

Nick Poles ’09 Leads RL’s Technology Team

Learning the Tools for Teaching, Under the Spectre of COVID-19: Faculty Were the Students this Summer

Faculty Member Nate Piper’s Reflection on Addressing Big Challenges Through Tech

FALL 2020 | VOLUME 94 | NUMBER

New Faculty and Staff

Familiar Faces in New Roles

New Trustees