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 Kristie Dean, David Krakauer, Marcus Miller, Mike Pojman, Adam Richins, Evan Scales editorial & design Erin E. Berg, Marcus C. Miller the newsletter The Roxbury Latin School publishes The Newsletter quarterly for alumni, 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 julie.garvey@roxburylatin.orgto. alumni news Send notes and correspondence to alumni@roxburylatin.org cover Photo by Adam Richins ©2022 The Trustees of The Roxbury Latin School
The Newsletter SUMMER 2022 | VOLUME 95 | NUMBER 4 12FeaturesRL@Work Connects Class II Students With What’s Possible| by ERIN E. BERG 20 Prize Day & Valete 32 Closing Exercises 60 Lessons in Civic Responsibility, From A Range of Engaged Citizens 62 Western Civ Projects by Class IV 4 News & Hall HighlightsDepartments4TwelveSeniors Inducted Into Cum Laude Society 6 Dr. Winifred Frick Helps Separate Bat Facts From Fiction 8 Dr. Andrés Wilson Shares His Experience of Judaism and Passover 10 One Love Helps RL Students Explore Healthy Relationships 11 Class V Takes On Ecological Research At Woods Hole 16 Junior Play: All Chalk and Lots of Action | by MIKE POJMAN 16 Arts News 52 Athletics News 64 Class Notes 70 In Memoriam 52 A Remarkable Showing for RL Track and Field 54 Varsity Tennis Wins Third NEPSAC Title in School History 56 Spring Athletic Accolades 36 Let Us Balance Ambition and Contentment | Valedictory Address by Vishnu Emani ’22 42 The World Can Wait | Commencement Address by Ron Liebowitz, President of Brandeis University 48 The Class of 2022 The Pink Team battles it out in the Tug-of-War during May Day on May 19. Photo by Mike Pojman
The school was honored to welcome Dr. Cathy Hall, Head of School at The Noble and Greenough School—RL’s friendly rival and neighboring independent school—to deliver the induction “Thoseaddress.of us who lead schools lose a lot of sleep these days,” said Dr. Hall. “As we worry about the many challenges that surround our students and our faculty, we are also—as educators—inherent optimists, always seeking out the silver lining and the great hope around the corner. Our great hope, of course, lies in you… While there has never been a more challenging time to be an educator, I believe the same is true about being an adolescent. Your world as teenagers is threaded with complexities and challenges I never envisioned when I was your age. You are surrounded by a climate riddled with hateful accusations and woefully lacking anyone seeking to give one another the benefit of the doubt. Your news feeds highlight people who simply shout louder when they disagree, where anonymous and angry attacks through social media are the norm and kindness from strangers is harder and harder to find. It is increasingly difficult to have a shared belief in what the truth actually is, as facts that felt non-negotiable a decade ago are now politicized and confused. As teenagers, you also see all around you the cost of mistakes, even unintentional small mistakes, in society’s eagerness to label, malign, and marginalize one another. With that less than upbeat backdrop, it is easy to feel helpless to make a difference. The forces that have created this toxic climate extend so far beyond our reach, right? “This is when my inherent optimism kicks in, when I look to our students—to my Nobles students and to each of you—with great hope, but also with great need. When you head forth from Roxbury Latin as graduates, whether that is later this spring or in five years, it will come at a time when the world needs your leadership and service, your kindness and compassion, like never before. Now, more than ever, when you live out the missions of our schools, you will be making an impactful difference in the lives of others and the world around you.” Dr. Hall went on to implore students to do five things along their journey: find their unique voice; listen well;
Twelve Seniors Inducted Into Cum Laude Society
4 Summer 2022
“This special event is intended principally to do two things,” began Headmaster Kerry Brennan. “The first is to recognize the most distinguished scholars of the First Class. In their efforts and in their accomplishments, they have put to good use the gifts they have been given… The second purpose of this annual ceremony is in many ways the more consequential, for it involves everyone else in this room. In honoring these 12 boys, we are honoring the life of the mind; we are honoring trying hard and doing well; we are affirming that at the heart of a good school is scholarly engagement. I admonish you to take to heart the example of the inductees… All of you boys have the capacity to strive, to grow, to change, and to know the satisfaction of ideas unearthed and potential realized.”
On April 21, Roxbury Latin celebrated in Hall the 12 members of Class I whose efforts and accomplishments have earned them membership in the Cum Laude Society. Each spring, the all-school Cum Laude ceremony honors the life of the mind.
The National Merit Scholarship Program announced this spring its selection of 2,500 scholarship winners, chosen from a pool of 15,000 talented high school senior finalists across the country. These members of the Class of 2022 will each receive $2,500 scholarships toward college next year. Among these outstanding students, nation-wide, are two Roxbury Latin seniors: Max Williams and Liam Finn.
The National Merit Scholarship Program selection process began in October 2020, when more than 1.5 million juniors took the PSAT, or the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. In addition to Liam and Max being identified as semi-finalists, representing less than one percent of the nation’s highest scores, 16 additional RL students received commendations, meaning their scores placed them in about the top four percent of all testtakers. Those students are Eli Bailit, James De Vito, Vishnu Emani, Teddy Glaeser, Liam Grossman, Mark Henshon, Colin Herbert, Josh Krakauer, Brodie Lee, George Madison, Kayden Miller, Ale Philippides, David Sullivan, Theo Teng, Oliver Wyner, and Alex Yin.
It is also a world that is lifting its head up optimistically as you step forward to lead and to serve, filled with so much light and hope for what your future will bring.”
It is a great honor to have two National Merit Scholarship winners in a graduating senior class of 53. Congratulations to all 18 boys who received recognition from the National Merit Scholarship Program this year. In this 67th annual National Merit Scholarship competition, awards are supported by the organization and approximately 400 businesses and educational institutions, to “honor the nation’s scholastic champions and encourage the pursuit of academic excellence.” About 1.5 million juniors in more than 21,000 high schools entered the 2022 National Merit Scholarship program by taking the 2020 PSAT, which serves as an initial screen of program entrants. Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for academic success at the college level. //
The following seniors were inducted into the Cum Laude Society this year (pictured top-to-bottom): Eli Bailit, Vishnu Emani, Liam Finn, Liam Grossman, Frankie Gutierrez, Mark Henshon, Colin Herbert, Josh Krakauer, Kayden Miller, David Sullivan, Theo Teng, and Alex Yin. //
Two Seniors Awarded National Merit Scholarships
“You are surrounded by a world that is simultaneously hurting, healing, and hopeful—a world still reeling from the pain wrought by the pandemic and our reckoning with systemic injustices, one that is increasingly fractured and fighting.
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 5 disagree respectfully; be honest and kind; and take care of themselves, mentally and emotionally, as well as physically.
With lively renditions of Gaudeamus Igitur and The Founder’s Song as bookends to the celebration, Mr. Josh Cervas, president of RL’s Cum Laude chapter, provided a history of the organization before he awarded the twelve inductees their certificates: “By formally recollecting our origins each year, we also reaffirm our commitment to the Society’s original and abiding motto—three Greek words inspired by the three letters of the old Alpha Delta Tau name: Alpha stands for Areté (Excellence), Delta for Diké (Justice), and Tau for Timé (Honor). These three words, with deep roots in our past and far reaching implications for our future, raise qualities of mind and character which, ideally, each member of the Society will espouse as his own values and strive to instill in others throughout his life.”
Dr. Winifred Frick Helps Separate Bat Facts From Fiction
Dr. Frick is the Chief Scientist at Bat Conservation International, an organization working to protect bats and their habitats through conservation, education, and research efforts. Dr. Frick is also an associate research professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at University of California, Santa Cruz, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in environmental studies. Her research focuses on how bat populations respond to both human-generated and natural stressors, and how we can best use science to inform conservation efforts. Dr. Frick and her team combine quantitative approaches with empirical field research— primarily in the Sonoran Desert, Sea of Cortez, and Baja California Peninsula—investigating disease ecology, population and behavioral ecology, and aeroecology. In Hall, Dr. Frick focused on the great diversity in bat populations—on where the animals live and what they eat, on how their physical features and physiology vary from species to species, and how humans contribute, positively or negatively, to their protection and habitat conservation.
6 Summer 2022
Bats often get a bad rap. They’re construed as the spooky creatures that haunt us on Halloween, accompanying vampires and the like. They’re falsely assumed to always carry rabies and drink blood. When in fact, bats—the world’s smallest mammal, and the only one that can fly—of which there are more than 1,400 species, make up a quarter of all mammalian diversity, and they play a key role in insect control, plant pollination, and seed dispersal.
On April 19, Dr. Winifred Frick—one of the world’s foremost experts on bats—spoke to students and faculty in the Smith Theater to sort fact from fiction when it comes to these creatures, and to illuminate the critically important role that bats play in our ecosystem—why it’s important that we work to protect them, and how we might do just that.
One illuminating story that she shared, about the nature and rewards of her work, featured her team’s collaboration with Rwandan conservationists and officials as they sought to find the elusive (and potentially extinct) Hills’ horseshoe bat, last seen in 1981 in Rwanda’s Nygunwe National Park. With the help and guidance of a generous team of local collaborators, and a harp trap, on the tenth morning of their ten-day exploration, Dr. Frick and her team trapped and successfully identified the first Hills’ horseshoe bat seen in the wild in four decades.
“I find scientific research incredibly rewarding and satisfying in many ways,” Dr. Frick has said. “I love all aspects of research—from being in the field and observing nature, to designing a study, to answering interesting or important questions, to analyzing the data we’ve collected in the field, and finally writing up what we’ve learned to share with others.
A BCI communicates brain activity with an external device—in this case, a mobile app—to track anything from rest to focus, productivity to stress. Diverge specifically aims to monitor the brain activity of individuals with bipolar disorder so that they can better understand their own condition and take a proactive role in their self-care. “The idea is to use actigraph data from a device like a FitBit to predict when a bipolar patient is about to have a manic episode,” Kevin explained. This could allow people to get ahead of their manic states, alert friends and family members, and monitor patterns in their bipolar disorder.
People often think science isn’t creative, but I find research to be an incredibly creative process. Good science combines natural curiosity, a dedicated work ethic, and remembering to have fun.” Dr. Frick earned her Ph.D. at Oregon State University and is internationally renowned for her research on the disease ecology and impacts of White-nose Syndrome, a fungal disease that has killed over six million bats in North America. After her presentation she answered students’ many questions about bats and about her work with them. //
School 7
Kevin Wang (II) Places First in Global Conrad Challenge for Innovation Roxbury Latin
This spring Kevin Wang (II)—and the two other high school students who make up Team Diverge—won the 2022 Conrad Challenge Virtual Finals Showcase, a global innovation competition for student entrepreneurs creating tools to change the world. Kevin and his team—a cross-continental trio—earned their top spot in the competition’s Cyber-Technology and Security category with their brain computer interface (BCI) and actigraph tool that they call Diverge.
“Looking at the data at the end of the day,” Kevin explained, “people can see when they were most focused and learn more about their productivity.” Armed with information, those with bipolar disorder can feel more as though they are in the driver’s seat, as opposed to being driven by their mental health condition. Team Diverge—representing Massachusetts, New York, and California—placed first against the other finalist teams in their category during the Virtual Finals Showcase. During the challenge, Diverge reached out to partner with OpenBCI—an organization that produces EEG electronics—and the organization sent the team a BCI for their impressive, prize-winning project. //
Newsletter of The
Those using Diverge could also use the live sharing of motor activity and EEG data to learn about their own focus and productivity.
Throughout the year, members of the RL community take the stage in Rousmaniere Hall to share their experiences of faith, from a range of religious traditions—especially around the time of annual celebrations. The experience and exploration of spiritual life, in its rich variety of forms, has long been an important part of a Roxbury Latin education.
“What was initially a public, national pilgrimage shifted to become a symbolic familial dinner, and now Passover transforms the family dinner table into the altar of the holy Temple, elevating each guest into a Temple priest… However, much spiritual preparation must occur before such transcendent work can take place. Families deep-clean their houses in the days or weeks leading up to it. In a practical sense, it’s spring cleaning; we are enjoined to remove every trace of chametz—leaven grain substances—from our homes.
Metaphorically, however, chametz stands for the immaterial aspects of life that obstruct our spiritual strivings—such as materialism, or baseless hatred, or lust. While expunging chametz from my house, I like to reflect on my personal shortcomings: Which habits have narrowed my consciousness, making me a less present or compassionate father, teacher, or friend?”
Dr. Wilson walked students through the various “prescriptions and prohibitions” of celebrating the holiday, including eating matzah, or unleavened bread, and participating in ritual dinners called Seders, where those gathered read from the haggadah about the holiday’s lore and symbolism. “Seder means ‘order,’ and this little book provides the order and recipe for the rites of the evening. The most well-known Passover prohibition is the avoidance of certain grains (wheat, rye, barley, oats, and spelt) for the duration of the week, and this interdiction includes their possession as well as their consumption.”
Dr. Wilson, as he shared, was born into a culturally Christian, but wholly secular, family. “My father is an apathetic Irish-
8 Summer 2022
Dr. Andrés Wilson Shares His Experience of Judaism and Passover
“Passover is a weeklong spring-time holiday that commemorates the mytho-historical flight of the Hebrews or Israelites—the nation that would become the Jews—from the slavery and tyranny of Pharoah in Egypt to freedom in Canaan. Essentially, Passover demands each of us in every generation to question what freedom means and what prevents us from achieving it.”
On April 14, Dr. Andrés Wilson, a member of the English Department, spoke to students and colleagues about his unconventional path to Judaism, his love of the religion’s rich history and traditions, and his understanding and celebration of the Passover holiday.
“I have viewed Passover from contrasting perspectives—as a nonJew; studying Judaism from the outside in my late teens; as an Orthodox-Jewish convert and would-be rabbinical student in my late twenties, living the tradition while studying its more esoteric elements; and now, as a lapsed, spiritual-but-not-religious cultural Jew and father in my late thirties. I’m happy to share that journey, and what I’ve learned, with you all today.”
Gratitude “Passover is fundamentally an exercise in giving thanks to God for the foremost miracle in Jewish history—the Exodus from Egypt… Judaism tethers almost every action to an offering of thanks. Observant Jews begin each day by reciting ‘Modeh Ani Lifnanecha…’ (‘Thanking am I before you…’), which is a practice that I continue to do even now. There’s a bracha or ‘blessing’ before and after eating snacks and meals, upon seeing lightning strike, upon seeing a rainbow, and there’s even a blessing that one makes after going to the bathroom. Jewish Law demands that we thank before we are, which results in a seeming negation of the very idea of ‘I’ and whittles away at the ego, leaving in its stead unwavering, objective appreciation. Existence is the only prerequisite for gratitude. We are thankful to God quite simply because we are.”
Questioning “I’d like to underscore Passover’s—and, really, Judaism’s— insistence on questioning, on seeking but not necessarily finding answers. Unlike other religious traditions, Judaism stresses the primacy of action over faith, and action stems directly from seeking, studying, and questioning. Thus, a major aspect of the Passover Seder is to relate the story of Passover to our children, but not dogmatically. As a father, it is my responsibility to relate the mythic narrative to my own children, and I always do so in a spirit of debate and questioning in which ‘answers’ are not decisive, but rather are springboards for further questioning—an approach that I also bring to the classroom as a teacher. In life as in literature, the best answers are the best questions.”
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 9 Catholic, and my mother—who had been a Black Panther in the seventies—is deeply spiritual but also suspicious of organized religion. I was fascinated by world religions, reading every book I could find on the topic and exploring every religion I could, including Buddhism, from which I learned the essential practice of meditation—a practice that I continue to this day. To be perfectly honest, much of my love for Judaism was sparked by a love for the Hebrew language… and a girl who spoke it.” (That girl went on to become his wife.)
“The Passover story asserts the essentiality of human freedom,” Dr. Wilson explained. “Spiritually, Passover forces us to take personal inventory of those deleterious mindsets and unnecessary aspects of our lives that hinder our transcendence. Today, I want to focus on three enduring themes of Passover that enlighten my own life: gratitude, questioning, and hopeful wonder.”
Hopeful Wonder “We conclude the seder by joyfully singing, ‘Bashanah haba’a b’yerushalayim habanuya,’ which translates to ‘Next year in a rebuilt Jerusalem.’ The seder concludes with the hope and aspiration of being in a rebuilt ‘City of Peace,’ with a rebuilt temple, in which Passover can truly be celebrated. It expresses the longing for a future utopia in a place in which peace flourishes, bondage has been eradicated, and no one is left hungry.”
“At its best, religion offers us a productive way by which we might channel our awe; it prompts us to be more grateful, and provides practices that transcend the ego.”
“A Zen Buddhist saying cautions not to mistake the moon for the finger pointing to it. All too often I have witnessed Orthodox Jews and many other religious communities making this mistake, stressing dogma, political in-fighting, or faith-based litmus tests over the spiritual ends for which all traditions provide a roadmap. At its best, religion offers us a productive way by which we might channel our awe; it prompts us to be more grateful, and provides practices that transcend the ego. In my twenty years of celebrating Passover, I have found it to be one of Judaism’s most polyvalent and spiritually-productive holidays—a meditation on freedom, spring, and gratitude… I wish I could invite you all to our Passover Seder, but our dining room table is a bit too small. So I conclude with a spiritual charge for each of you, Jew or Gentile. In your own traditions, I challenge you to amplify the features and practices that make you act with more gratitude, compassion, and hopefulness.” //
grief into action and founded One Love, which to date has educated more than 1.8 million young people through in-person workshops and more than 100 million through educational video content. In Hall, students in Class I through Class VI heard a brief introduction from Ms. Giampetroni. Afterward, Class VI and Class V joined together in the Evans Choral Room for a session led by Ms. Giampetroni, and students in Class I through Class IV broke down into small discussion groups, led by a specially-trained student facilitator, and joined by two faculty members. Older students viewed the 15-minute film titled Amor del Bueno, which depicts two high school students over the course of what becomes an abusive relationship. After viewing the film, students reflected together about what they saw, felt, and learned. What were the signs? What could the characters’ friends have done to step in? How might these situations look and feel different from different perspectives? Was what we saw depicted on screen love? How do you know? Finally, groups walked through and discussed ten signs of a healthy relationship (e.g., honesty, respect, independence, trust, equality, fun), and ten signs of an unhealthy relationship (e.g., manipulation, volatility, betrayal, isolation, possessiveness).
Founded to honor the unnecessary and tragic death of Yeardley, One Love works to engage young people through compelling, relatable films and honest conversations about healthy and unhealthy relationship behaviors. We are grateful to have had Ms. Giampetroni and One Love help us to engage meaningfully in these important conversations with RL’s boys. //
The organization was founded in honor and in memory of Yeardley Love who—three weeks shy of graduating from the University of Virginia—was beaten to death by her ex-boyfriend. The shock of learning that news will stay with her mother, Sharon, forever. Like all mothers, Sharon sometimes worried that something bad would happen to her child—an injury on the lacrosse field, for example, or a car accident. That Yeardley would get hurt by her partner had never crossed her mind. “I didn’t know then what I know now, that relationship abuse is a public health epidemic and that young women in Yeardley’s age group are at three times greater risk than any other Sharondemographic.”Loveturnedher
10 Summer 2022
One Love Helps RL Students Explore Healthy Relationships
On April 28, Roxbury Latin welcomed Claire Giampetroni, local representative of the national One Love organization, focused on educating young people about healthy and unhealthy relationships, empowering them to identify and avoid abuse and learn how to love better.
Class V Takes On Ecological Research At Woods Hole
Class V boys were eager to return to the annual, springtime science investigation trip to Woods Hole, after a two-year, pandemic-induced hiatus. Roxbury Latin’s hosts for this trip are affiliated with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), located on the southeastern point of Cape Cod. For nearly 20 years, this hands-on experience has been a popular culmination of students’ fourth marking period studies in their Introduction to Physical Science (IPS) course, providing a complement to a spring unit focused on freshwater quality and local/global challenges that relate to this critical resource.
“The entire day has great value to the boys,” says Mr. Sugg.
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“They enjoyed a chance to learn and to get out on the water after being cooped up by the pandemic. Just being away from campus, as a class, is a good way to spend a day, but being able to experience, firsthand, the life and work of a major research community—that’s invaluable. They get a sense of how significant Woods Hole is in the world of biological research, and this exploration is a terrific, real-life extension of what we’re discussing in class.” //
While in Woods Hole, students—accompanied by IPS faculty Paul Sugg and Jackie Salas—spent an hour on a boat used by WHOI for its scientific research. Using sampling nets, they collected organisms from the sandy ocean bottom close to shore to handle, examine up close, and learn about some of the oceanic flora and fauna. Students were also treated to a fascinating talk by Bill Mebane, a leader at WHOI in the field of sustainable aquaculture. He shared with the group his team’s successful efforts in providing a sustainable source of protein for rural Haitians.
This spring marked the sixth year of RL’s now-staple RL@Work program, which connects students at the end of their Class II year with professionals in a broad range of pursuits—each an example of excellence in their particular field. Led by Assistant Headmaster for Program Andy Chappell (and soon by Director of Alumni Affairs Dave Cataruzolo), the program provides boys with an off-campus experience of discovery and growth— through visits to places of work, encounters with professionals, facilitated group discussions, individual reflection, and engagement in hands-on design challenges and case studies.
Nearly 30 generous alumni, parents, former RL parents, and friends of the school—scientists, lawyers, doctors, engineers, judges, developers, investors, professors, business owners—shared their time and passions with 52 Class II boys during the final days of the school year. Students trekked throughout and around Boston, Cambridge, and Worcester over four days, some getting their first taste of the MBTA commuting experience.
Consistent with the school’s mission, the program helps boys imagine how they might “lead and serve” in the years ahead.
RL@Work Connects Class II Students With What’s Possible
RL@Work offers boys exposure to various professions and types of leadership, challenging real-world problems, and solutions in-the-making, preparing them for citizenship, service, work, and the world. The program each year gives students a chance to pause and reflect; to imagine what the future might hold for them; to get a glimpse of some of the opportunities that exist in the world beyond RL; and to learn how their liberal arts education at RL intersects with that work.
12 Summer 2022
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14 Summer 2022
The first of the program’s four days began with an orientation for the boys, in order to set clear the expectations and opportunities as they met, engaged with, and learned from the various individuals and organizations they would encounter over the following days. Afterward the group headed into Boston’s Longwood medical area to Harvard’s MEDscience Simulation Lab, where students sewed sutures and assessed vitals on hightech practice “dummies” designed to blink, bleed, pulse, and cry as appropriate. There students also practiced assessing the symptoms of a test patient, working to diagnose the cause of the individual’s digestive complaints. Day two of the program began with a focus on a variety of professions and industries, ranging from investing to construction, cutting-edge research to the legal profession. Students learned from alumni and parents leading and affiliated with Bain Capital, Consigli Construction, Harvard’s Visualization Lab, the law practice of WilmerHale, and members of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. In the afternoon, the group headed into Cambridge to MIT, where they experienced a range of activities and learning experiences coordinated by John Werner P’21 ’26. They met with impressive researchers, designers, academics, scientists, and artists at work on inspiring and life-altering research and creations in MIT’s world-class laboratories. Students agreed that a highlight of the afternoon was hearing from Vladimir Bulovic, Director of MIT’s Nano Lab. The morning of day three offered a window into the world of real estate, entrepreneurship, private equity, and robotics design, through visits to areas and offices in and around Boston. That afternoon students returned to campus, where they heard from seniors presenting on their various Independent Senior Project endeavors, and then finally undertook a mini-course in college essay writing from RL’s College Guidance office.
The culminating day found the boys first at MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-Pal), led in part by Global Executive Director Iqbal Dhaliwal P’21. J-Pal works throughout the world to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. J-Pal’s leadership and staff do this through research, policy outreach, and training. Students met with individuals at work on various initiatives around the world, focused on areas of healthcare and governance, food security and education.
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We are grateful to the nearly 30 men and women who generously shared their time, talents, and spaces to provide our boys an insider’s view on so many possibilities and paths toward meaningful pursuits: Julie Joyal and Britt Lee P’22, ’23, Harvard Medical School, MEDscience Simulation Lab J.P Chilazi ’06, Brendan Hanrahan ’09 and Robert Shaw ’14, Bain Capital Matt Consigli P’24, President, Consigli Construction Rus Gant, Director of Harvard Visualization Lab Frank Kanin ’06, Masai-Maliek King P’28, Ramon Pascual ’07, Rob Settana ’01, Ed Zabin P’23, Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office Tim Silva ’88, P’17, ’22, ’24, and Arjun Jaikumar ’01, VladimirWilmerHaleBulovic, Director, MIT.nano David Chang, Entrepreneur Emilie Eldracher, MIT Ana Pantelic, Director, MIT D-LAB Ramesh Raskar, Director of Camera Culture Group, MIT Media Lab John Werner P’21 ’26, Link Ventures & MIT Fellow, Connection Science, MIT School Of Engineering Dave Grossman ’97 and Jake Grossman ’00, Co-Presidents, Grossman Companies Pete Mahoney ’98, John M. Corcoran & Co Chris Mitchell ’89, Spectrum Equity Jay Mitchell ’96, Audax Private Equity
Nathaniel Weinstein ’10, Boston Dynamics Iqbal Dhaliwal P’21 Global Executive Director of MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab Dan Rea ’05, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Worcester Red Sox Mike McElaney ’98, Vice President of Commercial Real Estate for The Menkiti Group
On the afternoon of their final day, students and faculty chaperones headed to Worcester—first for an engaging tour of College of the Holy Cross, and then to meet with and hear from Dan Rea ’05, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Worcester Red Sox, and Mike McElaney ’98, Vice President of Commercial Real Estate for The Menkiti Group, founded by alumnus Bo Menkiti ’95. Students learned a bit about the history of and recent development in the City of Worcester, and they received a special tour of Polar Park, home of the Worcester Red Sox. Afterward, the boys stayed with members of the faculty to watch the Worcester Red Sox take on the Syracuse Mets under sunny skies. Over four successful days, our generous partners and hosts reinforced to the boys—by virtue of their own professional experiences—themes familiar in any successful pursuit, regardless of the profession or discipline: the importance of teamwork and communication; willingness to fail and learn from that failure; creating networks and developing relationships; being open to the unknown, and to exploring new ideas; working hard and being persistent; and understanding that the path to meaningful success isn’t always traditional or straightforward.
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Patience—lots of patience—is what it took to direct the 34 squirrely seventh, eighth, and ninth graders who tried out for this spring’s Junior Play, Chalk is Cheap. Very likely, most of these promising (and some not-so-promising) thespians had not been on stage since their third grade production of A Christmas Carol, or HMS Pinafore, or maybe never. Blocking scenes, running lines, hitting marks, remembering entrances, all were new concepts to all but a few of the fresh-faced RL boys and girls (from Newton Country Day) in the cast, so Director of Dramatics Derek Nelson had to “take it from the top,” as they say in Forshowbiz.some reason (perhaps because I wrote the play) I took a particular interest in Chalk is Cheap, and fortunately Derek did not insist on a “closed set,” so he welcomed me to stop in regularly throughout the two-month production schedule—from early February tryouts and the first all-cast readthrough, through nightly rehearsals and “tech week,” to the Thursday evening “dress” as the final runup to Friday’s opening night. I had a backstage pass, and I used it freely. (You may have noticed that I am throwing around all the show terms I can muster, with little concern for whether or not I am using them correctly.)
All Chalk and Lots of Action by Mike Pojman
Those of you alumni who were in plays staged by the inimitable David Frank during his long and distinguished Roxbury Latin career remember his own eccentric directing style: he delighted in reciting the lines for each cast member in turn so that he or she could learn by imitation without much need for innovation. A theatrical chameleon, David could be Harold Hill at one moment and Desdemona the next, depending on whom he was coaching. His approach was idiosyncratic but effective, especially for those with little experience and even less talent. Derek’s style is more conventional, equally effective, and much more efficient, which was greatly appreciated by the very busy boys and girls in the cast, who were eager to finish by 7 p.m. so that they could get home by 8 p.m. to begin their homework—and equally by their overProduction poster and photos by Mike Pojman
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It is hardly an exaggeration to say that Derek would yell “cut” in mid-scene if necessary, so that a rehearsal would end at 7 o’clock sharp, as promised. Actually, Derek never yelled, never raised his voice, as he drew on 30 years of knowhow to manage pubescent energy masterfully without fighting it, and that had a calming effect on almost everyone. Like César Millan of that old “Dog Whisperer” reality show, he established himself firmly as the pack leader without ever needing to snarl.
18 Summer 2022 programmed parents, who lined up patiently in the front circle waiting for practices to end, which they invariably did, on time.
It was a great thrill to see the show take shape week-by-week, and I enjoyed watching the next generation of promising actors slowly emerge through Derek’s guidance as they progressed from stilted line-reading to polished performances once they were “off book.” Naturally not all the players reached the same high level achieved by the four leads (Lucas Connors, Ryan Miller, Maggie Crowley, and Taylor Elher), but all of them gave it their best, whether they had twenty lines or only three. Many gave truly virtuoso performances, including Zach Heaton as Mr. Opdycke, Liam Walsh as Mr. Quirk, Nick Glaeser as Mr. Matthews, Nick Makura as Mr. Reid, Brendan Reichard as Mr. Poles, Oliver Colbert as Mr. Buckley, and Teddy Smith as Mr. Sugg. And not to be upstaged, Mrs. Carroll and Mrs. MorrisKliment played themselves—via Zoom. Chalk is Cheap was intended to be produced as part of the school’s 375th anniversary celebration two years ago. As with so many other grand plans, however, the pandemic scuttled that scheme.
I felt some urgency about writing Chalk is Cheap because, well, being rather fond of the title, I thought it important that the work be performed before a reference to “chalk” was as unfamiliar to a teenage audience as a rotary phone. It may already have been too late. My fifthie English students kept asking me, “We know it’s a joke, but what does it mean?” An unapologetic punster, I’ve never been one to recoil from a good (or bad) play on words. Be that as it may, I am thrilled and grateful that Mr. Nelson took a leap of faith and offered to produce the show this past spring, with a little freshening up, to celebrate the school’s 475th—albeit a century early. Without his blind faith, imagination, foresight, and expert direction, Chalk is Cheap would have remained in COVID quarantine permanently—and an unchecked item on my bucket list. //
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 19
20 Summer 2022
“Our purpose for gathering today is to recognize discernible excellence in all areas of school life— academic and extracurricular,” began Headmaster Brennan. “In singling out certain prize winners, we are intending to affirm the highest standards of schoolboy endeavor. We do this even though we know that others in your seats may be more deserving of congratulations, for they have struggled mightily, come far, taken risks, and been honorable boys. To you goes the faculty’s admiration and congratulations.” While some of the major Class I awards were announced at the following day’s Closing Exercises, this year’s prize winners are as follows (lists on following pages): Prize Day
On June 3, the Class of 2022 took their rightful seats at the front of Rousmaniere Hall for the last time this school year. The year’s culminating Prize Day Hall honors the impressive roster of prizewinners, named such for their academic, athletic, artistic, and extracurricular achievements.
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 21
Joseph A. Sasserno French Deturs Tom Pogorelec (V), Omar Rahman (IV), Justin Yamaguchi (III), Justin Shaw (II), George Madison (I)
Summer 2022 academic awards
22
Headmaster’s Spanish Deturs Dylan Pan (V), Brendan Reichard (IV), Aidan D’Alessandro (III), Michael Thomas (II), Eli Bailit (I) Isabel M. Fowler History Prizes Flynn Hall (VI), Krish Muniappan (IV), Brett Streckenbach (III), Bobby Zabin (II), Zak Bashir (I) Richard M. Whitney Science Deturs Nishant Rajagopalan (VI), Liam Walsh (V), Eric Zhu (III), Will Hutter (II) N. Henry Black Science Detur Alex Yin (I) Donald L. Whittle Math Deturs Eric Archerman (VI), Avish Kumar (V), Xavier Martin (IV), Akhilsai Damera (III), Akshay Kumar (II) ARJUN BOSE (II) received this year’s Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute prize, the Rensselaer Medal, for achievement in math and science.
Islay F. McCormick Mathematics Prize Josh Krakauer (I) Anna Cabot Lowell Deturs in English Ameer Hasan (VI), Nick Glaeser (V), Lucas Connors (IV), Lucas Vander Elst (III), Kevin Wang (II), Theo Teng (I) Trustees’ Greek Deturs Sean Patrick DiLallo (III), Owen Butler (II), Brodie Lee (I)
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 23 Anna Cabot Lowell Deturs in Latin Paul Tompros (VI), Tom Pogorelec (V), Alex Giordano (IV), Jack Tompros (III), James McCurley (II), Teddy Glaeser (I) extra curricular awards Lower School Latin Declamation Prize Simba Makura (V) Upper School Latin Declamation Prize Marc Quintanar (II) Greek Declamation Prize Matt Hoover (II) Cameron A. Rylance Music Prize Ale Philippides (I) Ralph F.F. Brooks Art Prize Parker Collins (I) Joan M. Regan Service Prize Jamie Drachman (II) Class of 1976 Dramatics Prize David Sullivan (I) Rehder Prize in International Relations John Wilkinson (I) Albert W. Kelsey Debate Prize Vishnu Emani (I) Publications Award Jacob Tjaden (I)
24 Summer 2022 Class I Athletics Prize Winners Class II Book Award Winners Holy Cross Book Prize Owen Butler Dartmouth Book Award Justin Shaw Brown Book Award Arjun Bose Harvard Book Award Akshay Kumar Sportsmanship Award Nolan Walsh Scholar Athlete Award James Birch ISL Award Armando Walters Best Athlete Award Mark Henshon
Jack Parker
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 25 Prize Day is also the moment that the students, faculty, and staff recognize those adult members of the community who are leaving Roxbury Latin. Thanks to their endurance, loyalty, and commitment, very few adults move on from RL each year. We are the better for that continuity. This spring, however, we bid farewell to eight members of the faculty and staff— two of whom have completed their Penn Fellowships, and one as a retiree. Below are the remarks delivered in their honor by Headmaster Brennan on June 3.
Two years ago, Jack Parker arrived as one of two new Roxbury Latin Penn Fellows. A brilliant graduate of Middlebury College, he proved from the beginning to be an impressive teacher.
Justin Muchnick
Valete
The second of those fellows who arrived in the fall of 2020 is Justin Muchnick. Arriving at RL in the midst of our COVID adjustment must have been a special challenge for our newly
Confident, creative, conscientious, Mr. Parker, in each of his classes, represents a distinct talent to convey often difficult information and to ensure that his students develop the attitudes and skills to understand and enjoy mathematics. Mr. Parker taught across the curriculum—from sixies to seniors. He also offered his enthusiasm and expertise to our fifthie soccer team, as well as our junior and varsity wrestling programs. A voracious student himself, he will leave us with his Penn master’s degree in hand to continue his education at Duke University, pursuing a second master’s degree, this time in Data Analytics and Machine Learning. We will miss him, and we wish him well.
Alessandro Ferzoco ’14
Three years ago, Alessandro Ferzoco began his job helping to run our development and alumni operations, teaching Latin 1 to sixies, assisting with debate, and advising several lucky students. A much-beloved graduate of RL himself, Mr. Ferzoco represented a high standard for his various charges, channeling the distinctive flavor of an RL education and an RL boy. On behalf of our efforts to connect with alumni, Mr. Ferzoco proved a formidable asset. He is a connector by nature, and his eagerness to make contact with alumni of all ages proved invaluable as we sought the support and connection of these important graduates. He was also a special force on behalf of his own class, the great Class of 2014, whom he engaged in an especially nurturing, fulfilling way. As part of Mr. Ferzoco’s duties he was responsible for stewarding our most cherished benefactors by bringing to life in writing the values and activities of the school. Anyone lucky to be in his Latin 1 class knows what a stickler he was for precision in mastering this foundational language, and how eager he was to connect this mastery to the proper wielding of English. An especially attentive advisor, Mr. Ferzoco was committed to giving lavish time and attention to his young charges. A vivid genealogist himself, Mr. Ferzoco extended his historical and cultural commitment to conveying the essence of RL especially as he remembered it. “Back in my day” often preceded a robustly
26 Summer 2022 minted teachers. Despite the challenge, Mr. Muchnick proved from day one that he was up to the task—ready, willing, and able to take on his various duties. An enthusiastic, knowledgeable teacher of English, Mr. Muchnick thrived on the idiosyncrasies of the literature he taught. His energy was contagious as he mined everything from rudimentary grammatical concepts to more elusive principles of analysis. In the fall, he served as Mr. Chappell’s assistant coaching the redoubtable freshman soccer team, and, in the winter, he recreated his own high school wrestling career by assisting with the coaching of wrestling for boys of every grade. A classicist by his Stanford training, Mr. Muchnick could effectively see all that he read and taught through that rich lens. He goes on from here to continue his classics education pursuing a master’s in philosophy at Cambridge University’s Gonville and Caius College. We offer ave atque vale to Mr. Muchnick.
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 27 offered revelation about the people and the patterns of our past. We have benefited greatly from this good man’s commitment to Alma Mater, and we wish him well as he moves on from this sheltered bower. Mike Tomaino Mike Tomaino came to us three years ago in order to run our summer and auxiliary programs, and to lead our football program. Mr. Tomaino is a careful, reliable leader who reimagined our summer program and who creatively designed programs to extend our reach across the country. In his first summer in charge, programs had to be offered remotely. While new audiences were able to participate, these experiences were understandably different. With energy and clarity, Mr. Tomaino nonetheless ensured each was a valid opportunity. So, too, did he lead an impressive football program. As head varsity coach he had the responsibility for teaching our players and inspiring them to take on teams that out-manned us and outsized us. Nonetheless, he created a competitive ethos and a sense of team that made boys feel great about their joint efforts and made those joint efforts especially notable in competition. A fine high school and college athlete himself, Mr. Tomaino also made an impact assisting Mr. Reid with the excellent junior varsity basketball team and as the head coach of the 9-2 sixie baseball team. Mr. Tomaino also ran a memorable leadership program for our older boys and served as a dedicated advisor and member of the admission committee. Now, Mr. Tomaino goes off to try his hand at business. I am confident that his unassailable character and collaborative nature will serve him well in those efforts. Sue McCrory I had to go to Cortona, Italy, to find Dr. Sue McCrory. After a concert that a group I’m part of, Mastersingers USA, had sung, I noticed a small group of women gathered around the beautiful altarpiece in our concert venue, the Church of San Domenico. I could not help but be drawn in by the narrative of this confident, astute, enthusiastic interpreter of the work before us. Though she said she could not be sure of the specific artist, she placed him within the context of his time and place and paid attention to the use of shadows, the orientation of the characters arrayed before the Blessed Virgin Mother who was being crowned, and the use of brush stroke and color. I knew two things: This spectacular docent knew her stuff, and
When Nick Poles arrived back on campus in 2014 to celebrate his fifth reunion, he did not know that a conversation with me would change his life. He was working for a company on the tech side of its operation, but he was not loving what he was doing. Sensing a moment of weakness, I suggested that he might want to return to Alma Mater in our technology department— of course with all the bells and whistles of teaching, coaching, advising, serving on the admission committee. For the past eight years Mr. Poles has done that and more. For the past couple of years, he has been in charge of what we call “information services,” in effect ensuring that everything to do with technology in the whole school, in every department, in every classroom and office was running flawlessly. Mr. Poles is excellent about both the details and about the big picture. He’s been perfect for this role. Over the years he has distinguished himself as an excellent teacher of AP Computer Science and as a protean coach of cross country. A formidable scholar-athlete himself, he channeled his teen-like self to be an especially effective cross country coach. In his four seasons as head varsity cross country coach, Mr. Poles’s teams amassed a 54-8 record with two ISL championships, two New England championships, and runners-up distinctions in both the ISL and in New England in the other years. Had he continued in this role there surely would have been talk of a dynasty. His versatility caused Mr. Poles also to help out as a coach of wrestling and recently of JV lacrosse. His finest hour was during the pandemic when he mobilized his team and the rest of the faculty and staff to keep school by alternative means, with plenty of ZOOM and hybrid approaches. Mr. Poles was an impressive problem solver and an unflappable ally in realizing our mission. For all that and more, we are grateful to him. And as he goes on to the world of consultants, we wish him well.
Nick Poles ’09
There’s a good deal of talk in our literature, on our website,
28 Summer 2022 we had to have her at Roxbury Latin. Dr. McCrory fulfilled a dream of mine to have an upper level Art History course taught here. Indeed, she indicated she was available and this began our too-brief association with this talented art historian. Over time, Dr. McCrory created and taught Technology and Art to sophomores, Western Civ to freshmen, and, just this year, as part of the Arts rotation, Architecture to Class IV, as well. She has taught each of these courses with great imagination and effectiveness—always willing to venture into the unknown and learn about and then teach content that had previously been foreign to her. Her AP Art History course counts among the alltime favorites of many of our boys who were astute enough to elect it. Dr. McCrory has contributed lavishly to other courses— like serving as the wise guide to Florence on the Class of 2022’s trip to Italy, and in trips to local galleries and New York City. With integrity and enthusiasm, Dr. McCrory has inspired her charges to look beyond what one can see on the canvas or the page, to consider the subjects and the artist, to imagine the painting’s purpose in its time and its connection to each of us. She has decided to pursue again a career for which she was trained—as a curator and museum organizer. We will miss her many contributions, but rest assured that her lessons about seeing and wondering, and occasionally even believing, will last a lifetime.
Andy Chappell
More important than the number and the breadth of what Mr. Chappell has taken on and accomplished is the way in which he has done it. Talented, committed, hard working, he has realized in each of his efforts the mission of RL. Since he arrived here 25 year ago, Mr. Chappell has revered the traditions and idiosyncratic ways of our school, but he was always eager to see us evolve, to improve, to imagine an alternative way of doing things. In that sense, he has been an invaluable partner for me personally. I don’t believe I have known anyone in this business who is less hung up about delivering difficult news than Andy Chappell. He believes that it is better to be direct, to be honest, to hold a high standard. While sometimes people have not liked what he had to say, ultimately everyone had to respect Mr. Chappell’s willingness to tell it like it is, and then to move on. I happen to know that all of his work—the more benign and the
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 29 and on our lips about Roxbury Latin being a place where the generalist is celebrated. We like that boys are encouraged to try many different things, to come to understand strengths and weaknesses, to discover passions, and to pitch in on behalf of a school that, given our size, requires people to help out even in an area of school life that might seem mysterious or challenging. In large part, the generalist admonition works because so many adults in our community are generalists themselves. And for my money, no one embodies that ethos more impressively than Andy Chappell. In 1997, fresh out of UVA, he embarked on these shores eager to try his hand at teaching and coaching. Over the past 25 years, he has done virtually all there is to do on behalf of the mission of this ancient Latin school. He has taught Latin and Greek at all levels; coached first football, then soccer (and his teams were highly competitive, often undefeated), and also baseball, most recently as the assistant varsity coach; he has been intimately involved with the knowing and loving of RL boys as a superb, dedicated advisor and also as the class dean for Class V, Class III, and, most recently, for Class II; he has led the Classics Department as the chair; he has served as Director of Admission cultivating prospects, setting new markers for applicants (during his years in this capacity a new record of students north of 500 applied), and convincing them of the worthiness of an RL match—setting new records for yield as well; he has served as the Director of Studies—putting into place systems and expectations for curriculum development, student evaluations, and faculty feedback; and, most recently, he has served as Assistant Headmaster for Program, offering oversight to a range of school enterprises and people. Along the way, he was intimately involved in the planning for all the athletic renovations that took place a few years ago; he led efforts to imagine more extensive summer programs and the renting of our various spaces; he developed and led RL@Work, a signature program that takes juniors out into the professional sphere and connects us better to alumni and parents; and he has served as the first director of the RL Penn Fellows Program, providing guidance and support to our own fellows and mentors, but also to the broader cohort by teaching graduate courses as part of on-site weekends in Philadelphia and elsewhere. For the past 27 months, Mr. Chappell was one of the key leaders who enabled us to withstand the challenges of the pandemic and to honor our aspirations as a school.
During Mr. Buckley’s time here he has taught all types of art—painting, drawing, sculpting, ceramics. A fine artist himself, Mr. Buckley has not been afraid to learn something new, to apply new technologies to old problems. He has also worked his magic in some quite different spaces, from the three-room studio he first occupied on the second floor of the Ernst Wing (imagine Mr. Bettendorf, Ms. Delaney, and Dr. Beauregard covered in paint!) to the present IDEA Lab, which served as the art room for several years, to his long-time home in the idiosyncratic confines of the Smith Arts Building. But what Mr. Buckley and his students have done has never been confined to the space in which it was made. Rather, his good work spills out into the school punctuating our otherwise drab lives with color and form and life. One particular place in which Mr. Buckley’s work has consistently spilled out is into the theater, where he has been an especially productive scenic designer. Much of the time, in fact, he, with the help of some boys, has built sets and ensured that a production could both stand and live. Working closely first with the redoubtable David Frank, and for the past ten years, Derek Nelson, he has been instrumental in creating complicated, ambitious, delightful productions. In this realm especially, he has been a first-class problem solver.
Brian Buckley
30 Summer 2022 difficult—derives from his essential decency, his regard for both colleagues and boys, and his eagerness to hold up his end of the bargain. For me, he has been a stalwart colleague, a confidant, and a dear friend.
Every year when we review the Handbook we dwell on the passage, “We care most of all what kind of person a boy is.” And when your teachers review the Faculty Handbook, we emphasize that we are “role models.” In the best of all possible worlds those two objectives complement each other. I can think of no better person than Brian Buckley, and I can think of no better role model for the hundreds of students he has affected during his 36 years as a teacher, coach, and advisor here at RL. Kind, engaged, considerate, conscientious, caring, he is the same no matter what his task—a loving compatriot eager to help where he can. But he has also been a man with a mission. His mission has been to ensure that every student in our school can benefit from the potential place of art in our lives. He has achieved this by putting exemplary art before his students as models of greatness, but he also, most remarkably, has empowered all kinds of boys to make art, to see themselves as artists. Through various media and utilizing various innovative techniques (think grid drawing), Mr. Buckley has coached and prodded boys to do their best, to imagine the representation of ideas in two or three dimensions, to refine, and to complete works of art that dazzle and delight. Our school is bedecked with all kinds of versions of this artistic experiment from the most primitive works of sixies to the sophisticated, beautiful works of seniors. With focus, helpful instruction, vivid modeling, and, most especially, support, Mr. Buckley has consistently affirmed the artist in every boy.
It is no surprise that The Derryfield School would recognize that Andy Chappell will make for a remarkable head of school. He is ready and deserving of this opportunity, but we will miss him fiercely.
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 31
John Connaughton Father of Will ’18, John Connaughton and his wife, Stephanie, have been stalwart supporters of Roxbury Latin, including as leadership donors to the Annual Fund and the capital campaign, and as Annual Fund Parent Leadership agents.
Retiring Trustees
John was co-chair of the board’s Development Committee and an important member of the Investment Committee. During his years as Chair of the Development Committee, the school realized record fundraising. We are grateful to John for his love of the school and the unwavering dedication of his time and talents.
Jack Englert Member of the Class of 1977, Jack Englert is also the father of Cole ’18. Jack and his wife, Lee, have been leadership donors to the Annual Fund and capital campaign, and Jack has been a key member of the Board of Trustees, serving as a member of the Development Committee and the Land Strategy Committee, and employing his particular talents as the Chair of the Buildings and Grounds Committee. Jack has been a Class Agent, member of the Headmaster’s Council, and a sponsor for RL@Work. We will miss Jack’s steady and sage advice, and we thank him for his dedicated service.
Larry Lebowitz Member of the Class of 1978, Larry Lebowitz first joined the Board of Trustees in 1998 and has served in so many capacities over these many years: as member of the Executive Committee, Finance Committee, Development Committee, Land Strategy Committee, and the Buildings and Grounds Committee. Most significantly, Larry served as Chair of the Investment Committee and was responsible for modernizing that committee and the ways in which the school’s endowed funds are invested and managed. Larry and his wife, Naomi, have been leadership donors to the Annual Fund and capital campaigns, and generously funded the Harry Lewis Technology Center. Larry is the recipient of his class’s Wellington Award and was an inaugural member of the Alumni Leadership Giving Committee. Larry has long been a leading voice for budgetary discipline, modern financial management, and maintaining the school’s academic excellence and availability to all students regardless of their financial means. We cannot thank Larry enough for his dedication to The Roxbury Latin School, his unflagging energy, and his decades-long, active service to our community. //
For many years, in the spirit of RL, Mr. Buckley was the coach of the JV soccer team, another opportunity for him to positively affect the boys with whom he worked. Thanks to his leadership and mentorship, many other arts teachers have come and gone, but made a difference while they were here. As longtime chair of the Arts Department, Mr. Buckley has offered a respectful, considerate voice to the broader discussion of what our curriculum should be, and he has led conversations and resolves that, for example, have resulted in such innovations as the nine-part introduction to arts in Classes VI-IV, as well as AP Art History, Technology and Art, woodworking, water color, photography, and various other offerings over the years. Finally, we shall end where we started.
For 36 years, Brian Buckley has been a reassuring colleague, an innovative teacher, a creative set designer, a committed coach, and—especially and most distinctively—a committed advisor. Brian Buckley has loved us, and we are all the better for that. It gives me pleasure to affirm here, Brian, that we, too, have loved you. We thank you. And we will miss you. May you have many years of family, peace, and engaging adventures with art. // The following remarks were delivered during Closing Exercises by President of the Board Bob O’Connor ’85. Bryan Anderson Bryan Anderson is a member of the Class of 1988, and is the father of Bryan ’21 and Will ’23. Bryan is an incredibly dedicated son of The Roxbury Latin School. He is the recipient of his class’s Wellington Award; was a founding member of the Alumni Leadership Giving Committee; and has been the Chair of the Annual Fund for many years. Bryan has been a catalyst for so much philanthropic activity benefiting the school over the years, and he and his wife, April, have been leadership donors, including to funds supporting scholarship and the Jack Brennan and Steve Ward professorships. Bryan has also dedicated his time to important board committees, including the Development Committee and the Buildings and Grounds Committee. He has served as a Class Agent and was an inaugural member and the Vice Chair of the Headmaster’s Council. We are grateful for Bryan’s business sense, his sense of humor, and for his consistent commitment to the school.
32 Summer 2022
ofTheCelebratingClass2022
On June 4, the 377th year of The Roxbury Latin School culminated with Closing Exercises and the graduation of the Class of 2022. For the first time in two years, the school was able to hold its traditional, intimate ceremony—which includes the seniors, their families, the faculty, and trustees—in Rousmaniere Hall. Immediately after the ceremony, under bright and sunny skies, the 53 newest alumni of The Roxbury Latin School celebrated on the Senior Grass with classmates, family members, and members of the faculty. Beginning with opening remarks from Headmaster Kerry Brennan—which acknowledged the challenges and triumphs of this particular group of boys, and also noted their many, worthy accomplishments—the ceremony included the singing of traditional songs America The Beautiful, Commemoration Hymn, and The Founder’s Song, as well as a performance of Come Fly With Me sung by The Latonics, with a solo by graduating senior, Eli Bailit. The ringing of the school bell, chiming 3-7-7, officially concluded the school year.
Closing Exercises
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 33
34 Summer 2022
At the conclusion of Mr. Liebowitz’s address, Headmaster Brennan and President of the Board of Trustees Bob O’Connor ’85 awarded diplomas to the newest alumni of The Roxbury Latin School.
The commencement address was delivered by Ron Liebowitz, president of Brandeis University, and father to graduating senior Heshie and also Ezra of Class “HavingIII.watched first-year students arrive at college for the past 38 years, I advise you—in fact, urge you—to dedicate the next four years to personal growth. My point is that the world’s great problems can wait until you have done the hard and hopefully satisfying work that it will take to be in the position to make a difference,” said Mr. Liebowitz. (Read President Liebowitz’s complete remarks on page 42.)
Vishnu’s address began with his recounting of a parable originally written by German author Heinrich Boll, about a fisherman enjoying his humble catch on a sunny beach. A businessman comes along, extolling the value of the fisherman starting a company, enlisting distributors, and making lots of money so that he can, one day, relax on a beach without a care in the world. The fisherman ultimately replies, “What do you think I’m doing right now?” (Read Vishnu’s full remarks on page 36.)
The Richard A. Berenberg Prize, for generosity of spirit and concern for others, was presented to Alejandro Denis.
Three major Class I prizes were also awarded during Closing Exercises:
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 35
Class valedictorian, voted by his classmates, was Vishnu Emani, who delivered a personal, poignant, powerful speech that drew a standing ovation from his classmates.
The Class of 1913 Award, for significant contributions to the life of the school, was presented to Mark Henshon.
The William Coe Collar Award, for achievements and contributions to the school that are deemed by the faculty as most deserving of recognition, was presented to Vishnu Emani. //
Let Us AmbitionBalanceandContentment
The fisherman turned and responded, “Why would I do “Well,that?”ifyou can catch fish more efficiently, you can start selling some and start a small business.” “Then what?” “You seem to be the only fisherman out here, so you’d attract a lot of customers. With all that profit, you’ll be able to scale up and expand your business.”
I want to begin by recounting a parable, originally written by German author Heinrich Boll: One sunny afternoon, a fisherman was lying down on a beautiful beach, his line cast into the water, four small fish lying in his bucket. A businessman, visiting the beach on his lunch break, noticed the fisherman and stopped to ask him a question.
The fisherman paused and grinned. “What do you think I’m doing right now?”
36 Summer 2022
Valedictory address delivered by Vishnu Emani, who was selected by his classmates to speak on their behalf at Closing Exercises 2022.
“Have you ever thought of going out in a boat and using a net to catch more fish?”
The parable of the businessman and the fisherman underscores a crucial tension that we all inevitably experience: the trade-off between ambition and contentment. The businessman exemplifies the mindset of ambition, because he sees every moment as an opportunity to accomplish more and grow in the future. But his hunger for success in the future comes at the expense of living in the present. Now,
“Then what?” “Well, once you have credibility, all you need to do is find some big-name distributors, and next thing you know shelves of your tuna will be lining supermarkets around the globe.” “Then what?”
The businessman grew irritated. “Don’t you understand? If your business is booming, you won’t have to worry anymore. You won’t have to work day and night just to bring food to the table. You can finally go on vacation and relax on the beach without an ounce of stress.”
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 37 Contentment
When we reflect on our RL experience in ten years, what we will remember most is not the endless grind of studying, but the light-hearted moments that brought us together as a class. We will never forget our adventurous escapades on school trips, late night gaming sessions, Bumblebee Breath with Jordan Grinstein, and the time Luke ordered 50 boxes of Chicken McNuggets for himself, five others for the Yearbook staff and for Mrs. Carroll, our Environmental Science teacher. These were the moments that bonded us as a class and gave us a sense of perspective amidst the chaos of our high school years. In short, what defined us as a class was both our pursuit of excellence, and also—at the same time—our profound appreciation of the joys of life.
We have powered through, not just because we held our heads up high in the face of adversity, but because we held our hands together in the face of isolation. We relied on each other for support, because that’s what brothers do. That brings me to my second point: Despite being go-getters, we always found ways to step back and enjoy the moment.
While the Class of 2022 has made waves at this school,
38 Summer 2022 while it may not be obvious, the fisherman also makes some sacrifices. Although he is satisfied in his life, the fisherman has intentionally foregone opportunities to contribute to society and make a greater impact. This fundamental tradeoff is central to life’s most important decisions, for instance setting our work-life balance: Do we spend our nights preparing presentations, or do we enjoy a home-cooked dinner with our family? Do we take the corporate promotion that would have us traveling every weekend, or do we settle down in a place we call Thesehome?arethe sobering questions that high-achieving students like us, eager to make an impact in the world, are forced to confront. So how do we manage this trade-off? I think the story gives us some answers. The issue of the businessman in the story is not that he has chosen the wrong path in life or the wrong career, but that he has not thought deeply enough about his goals and how he strives to achieve them. The fisherman and the businessman essentially have the same core vision of happiness, but the businessman is wired to think that there is only one way to get there. He views life like a video game, striving to get as many points as possible, but doesn’t stop to consider why he is even playing the game in the first place. We can learn that we must keep our perspective about what we fundamentally value, so that we don’t get stuck chasing superficial marks of success—a good grade on a test, a promotion, or a nasty kill-to-death ratio in Call of Duty. We have to ask ourselves: Why are we making the decisions that we are? What is our intended goal, and what sacrifices are we willing to make to get there? So I say, let us dream big, let us take on life with vigor and passion, but most importantly let us keep our perspective, even as it’s so easy to be lured into the rat race that surrounds us. In many ways, the Class of 2022 has accomplished exactly that over our time here. We dreamt big and made it far, starting as insecure, immature children, but leaving as confident, talented, immature children. We are an ambitious class, one that boasts impressive diversity of talent. We were passionate about what we did, and we did what we were passionate about, inspiring others to the same. Fans were mesmerized by Mark’s dazzling plays on the basketball court, Ben’s slick moves on the soccer field, and Birchie’s dingers on the diamond. At Recital Halls, we were touched by the musical prowess of Alex, Heshie, and Theo, and at Latonics concerts, we marveled at solos from Ale and Eli. Outside of school, José and Alejandro inspired us through their impactful community service efforts, David through his award-winning public speaking performances, and James De Vito through his Fortune 500 fashion empire. But ambition doesn’t come without struggle. Our journey through RL has been wrought with twists and turns, highs and lows, but we powered through. We have powered through the intense academic rigor of RL. We have powered through illnesses and injuries, to ourselves and within our families. We have powered through the departure of former classmates and teachers. We have powered through the most devastating and life-changing event of the century, the COVID pandemic. We have powered through the terror of violence and bloodshed in the U.S. and across the world. I’d like to take a brief moment of silence for the members of our community and communities across the globe that have suffered from all the death and violence that we have faced over the past few years.
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 39
Mr. Pojman didn’t just teach us about obscure 90s TV shows; he also taught us some chemistry. Even if we forget a Latin declension or a math formula, what these teachers and coaches have imparted to us will be timeless.
I would be remiss not to recognize how the greater RL community has kept us afloat when we got lost in the deep. Our teachers, coaches, and advisors armed us with more than just knowledge; they armed us with unique perspectives and life skills that will stick with us for the rest of our lives.
Mr. Randall and Mr. Reid didn’t just teach us English and Latin; they brought ancient literature to life and illustrated its relevance in the modern world. Sr. Solís and M. Diop didn’t just teach us Spanish and French; they pushed us out of our comfort zones to communicate and express ourselves in newfound ways. Mr. Opdycke and Mr. Brennan didn’t just teach us music; they brought our class together in harmony.
Even after we depart from this memory-filled Hall today as graduates of RL, I feel that it will never leave us. While it may seem like we are embarking on a completely new stage of our lives, it won’t feel so new if we can bring our RL drive, our RL integrity, and our RL selflessness wherever we go. I look forward to seeing the heights to which this amazing class will fly in the years to come. It delights me to think about all of the talents that our class will pursue and the meaningful endeavors that we will strive toward. But, most of all, it gives me great solace to know that at the end of the day, no matter where we go, we will be happy people. We will be thoughtful, reflective, and gracious people like the fisherman in the parable. We will keep our perspective and not get lost in the dark well of self-pity and competition. We will bring joy to others, as you all have done for me in my six years here. I am so grateful to have been a part of such a wonderful community, and I hope to see you all back again at RL in the coming years. Thank you. //
I’d also like to thank all of the family members who supported us throughout our journey: For waking us up when we accidentally set our alarms to 6 p.m. instead of 6 a.m., for taking terabytes worth of pictures of us, and for trusting us with your decades-old, gas-guzzling cars. We simply could not have survived the intensity of RL without the support and love of our families.
40 Summer 2022
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 41
Excerpted from the commencement address delivered by Ron Liebowitz, President of Brandeis University, and father of two Roxbury Latin students. It would be tempting to join the legions of commencement speeches this year that have presented a variety of interpretations of the Jarvis Refectory maxim: “From those to whom much has been given, much will be expected.” Such a speech would have me sharing words of wisdom that explains why your generation faces the toughest challenges ever, and, because you are so talented, to then exhort you to be bold and go out and fix all that is wrong with the world—from climate change to racial injustice to antisemitism to poverty to emerging diseases to growing mental health challenges. This has become a common mantra this year, most likely because we old folks are out of good ideas or haven’t the energy to do anything more. But I won’t go down that path. Don’t get me wrong: all of the aforementioned topics are important—even critical—and certainly need fixing. But as philosophy professor Dr. Kathleen Stock has recently argued, we should stop this unfair burden of making your generation responsible for the big fix. She “...innotes:terms of large-scale influence on the political stage, in business, technology, the charity sector, the film industry, or wherever else your individual talents or interests may lie, statistically speaking you are highly unlikely to make any noticeable difference whatsoever to anything. The world is too large, the competition too great, attention spans too short, and issues too complex and multi-faceted.” I may not agree fully with Professor Stock’s statement, as I believe there is a very good chance that some of you here today will indeed succeed in solving some of the world’s most enduring problems. I have, after all, read your class’s Yearbook carefully enough to learn that one of you here today is pegged to find the cure for cancer by the age of 25. I would not bet against it. Or Buthim.even so, I believe Professor Stock is right enough in her commentary to steer me away from lecturing you on anything that challenges your generation to be our saviors… Instead, having watched first-year students arrive at college for the past 38 years, I advise you—in fact, urge you—to dedicate the next four years to personal growth. (More on this in a moment.) For now, my point is that the world’s great problems can wait, despite what we Boomers and Gen X’ers say, until
42 Summer 2022
The World Can Wait
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 43 Wait
44 Summer 2022 you have done the hard and hopefully satisfying work that it will take to be in the position to make a difference. To be successful, you will first need to be deliberate, thoughtful, and even brave in how you navigate your way through college.
I believe a most important feature of your RL experience, which might be taken for granted by those less familiar with secondary and higher education, is the school’s system of advising. Its architecture and rules of engagement create an environment in which one learns and grows in ways that prepare you well for college and beyond. It is rare to find the one-on-one, highly personalized and engaged advising that you have all received here. The pledge that rolls off the tongue of Mr. Brennan so naturally—that “every boy is known and loved at RL”—begins with the advising system and ends here today at graduation, with young men ready and well prepared to take on the opportunities and challenges beyond this campus. Through the RL advising system, you have learned to advocate for yourselves while parents are kept at armslength. And while this very intentional advising system may have at times been frustrating for you as students and maybe for your parents, too, it has taught you far more than how to approach and solve any particular problem. Consciously or unconsciously, as you deepened your relationship with your advisor, you took on a greater role in charting your future path.
I should note that my message to you today is based on many years of teaching, mentoring, and advising students as a faculty member, and then serving as dean, provost, and president of two very different institutions. I hope my long and broad perspective will provide useful advice, even if some of what I have to say is not all sweetness and light. As a parent of two RL’ers, and observing how the school “works” from where I sit, I can tell you with confidence that you are better prepared to succeed in college than you perhaps realize. I share this perspective not only because of the obvious strengths of your Roxbury Latin education—that is, the academics—but because of something else.
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 45
The impetus for their collaboration was an incident at a liberal arts college where a speaker was prevented from discussing his latest book because of previous research that was problematic and considered too controversial.
If you are unfamiliar with this duo, Professors George and West hold widely, and I mean widely, divergent political views. Yet their shared objective since 2017 has been to make clear on college campuses that democracy is threatened when individuals retreat into their own “echo chambers” and are no longer able or willing to engage those with different perspectives in civil discourse.
This process, over several years, was excellent training for figuring out what you need from your education to mature and pursue your goals with clarity and direction. You are now ready to move from the basics of self-advocacy to something more deeply tied to character, which I know is so central to your education here at RL; it connects the selfknowledge that comes from advocating for yourself to the hard work that lies ahead. In other words, learning to advocate effectively for oneself leads to self-knowledge. This self-knowledge, in turn, clarifies the work you need to do to make the most of your talents and strengths. The RL advising system brings every student through these stages, and elevates the likelihood for success in college and beyond. Though you should all go off to your respective campuses with a good dose of confidence, you should avoid doing so in cavalier fashion, believing that everything will be easy sledding. For no matter how excellent one’s education has been, there are some challenges you will face in college for which no high school can prepare you. And that brings us to the less sweet side of my message today. College campuses are, and have been for a long time, the most ideal places for young adults to pursue their academic passions and feed their curiosities. It is a place where one can expand his or her worldview by hearing from brilliant and inspiring faculty, and engaging in rigorous discussion in the classroom, the dining halls, residence halls, and the playing fields. Hopefully, you will find this to be your experience. It is important to understand, however, that a campus—any college campus—is a microcosm of our larger society, and as that society has become deeply polarized, so, too, have our colleges and Anduniversities.so,whileIam a great and unequivocal advocate for higher education, I would be doing you a disservice if I did not provide some advice on how you might prepare for a learning and social environment that, like the country at-large, has become highly politicized and less welcoming than a mere generation ago. It is hard to believe that it was less than four years ago, in late 2018, when Robbie George, Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, and Cornel West, then Professor of Public Philosophy in the Divinity School and the Department of African and African-American Studies at Harvard, came to Brandeis to debate the question: What happened to civil, public discourse in America? Their visit was part of a nationwide tour meant to model how to engage with those whose opinions differ greatly from one’s own.
Less than a month after the incident, which included a violent demonstration that sent the speaker’s host to the hospital, George and West issued a joint statement, calling for unfettered and free debate, even, and especially, when the topics are highly controversial and potentially offensive. More than 2,000 academics signed onto the statement. The Robbie George-Cornel West debate at Brandeis was all it was intended to be… but the reactions to the evening by our students were and remain instructive; they provide a good snapshot of the current political climate on college
Thecampuses.mostcommon reaction by students, raised in a number of classes the next day, was that West’s and George’s backand-forths were boring. Though the two academics held very different positions, and were erudite and articulate, their exchanges were viewed as “too friendly to be persuasive” and lacking any real significance. In these students’ opinion, the calm demeanor of the conversation diminished the quality of their arguments, and a good number of students said they tuned out midway through the event.
Here is a list of things to consider, some very practical, others that will require you to exercise leadership, which might at times create some discomfort.
First, choose your courses wisely. Find older students who are familiar with the very best professors and the subjects that are of interest to you. Get their opinions. Chances are,
“Try—at least for the next four years—to ignore or deflect the pressure we older folks seem to be putting on your generation to fix so many things wrong with the world. Instead, at least for now, focus on all you need to learn and experience in order to make the most of your formidable potential in a way that ultimately will make a positive difference in the world.”
And so: What might you do to find that ideal place where you can pursue your intellectual passions and growth amid the current campus environment? To challenge and perhaps even change your long-held beliefs...or deepen them...?
46 Summer 2022
A second reaction, voiced independently in one-onone meetings during my office hours, was that a student could never take the conservative and religiously-aware viewpoints expressed by Robbie George in any debate on campus without some unpleasant consequences. Students argued that Robbie George was a tenured professor at Princeton, so it didn’t matter that he bucked the campus zeitgeist: he was secure in his job, but they, the students, had to face their classmates, friends, and professors every day. It would be impossible, they believed, to express such a view and retain relationships and maybe even good grades. Self-censorship, they argued, was their only and therefore chosen path—keeping their heads down and saving their opinions for the safety of their own echo chamber—even if it was, in their view, a very small one. That was four years ago. The environment on most campuses has gotten even more polarized. Freedom of speech, the very foundation of higher education’s noble mission to pursue truth wherever it might lead, has become so politicized by both the right and left that self-censorship has severely limited rigorous debate; this has cast a long shadow on higher education’s mission. Truth now has multiple meanings. Bullying and rude exchanges enter into too many conversations. And visiting lectures, once an important complement to in-class learning, have become difficult to host if the content presented does not adhere to a particular ideology. All of this has made the learning environment far less open and more challenging for students who seek the lofty goals of a liberal arts education.
How do you put yourself in the best position to experience a most inspiring and consequential four years?
Fourth: When you do branch out and engage differences, express your views without anger, bitterness, or disdain. Try to understand why others might hold opinions that you find wrong and even hateful. This will be difficult. But what is the alternative? To remain silent and resort to self-censorship will leave you with a greatly diminished education, forfeiting all you would learn from engaging others with different life experiences and points of view. It is the unique opportunity for personal and intellectual growth as a young adult among a sea of talented peers that is at stake here.
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 47
they know more about the curriculum, the faculty, and the classroom environment than your assigned adviser.
Third: “Find your people,” as they say, and once you have developed trusting friendships, encourage the group to join you in consciously engaging students who are different from you—those whose deepest held values are not like yours and are sure to offer new perspectives on any number of issues. And, rely on these trusting friendships to join you in resisting the kind of groupthink that appears void of facts or simply doesn’t make sense.
Class of 2022, you have been blessed with an extraordinary education here at Roxbury Latin. I know you will do great things when you are ready to do them. Right now, our generation needs to look to you not to solve all of our problems, but to see how self-confident, broad-minded, and well-educated young adults will build strong and caring communities in the future. Congratulations, and good luck. //
And, finally: Try—at least for the next four years—to ignore or deflect the pressure we older folks seem to be putting on your generation to fix so many things wrong with the world. Instead, at least for now, focus on all you need to learn and experience in order to make the most of your formidable potential in a way that ultimately will make a positive difference in the world.
Second, review the syllabi for the courses you are considering. Does the reading list appear to present a range of perspectives, allowing you to develop a strong foundation for the subject matter and to form your own opinions?
First Row: Aidan Brooks, Will Silva, Parker Collins, Nolan Walsh, Josh Krakauer, Anton Rabkin, Alex Yin, Theo Teng, James De Vito, Headmaster Brennan, George Madison, James Birch, Dom Cuzzi, Jedidiah Nelson, Frankie Gutierrez, Ale Philippides, Heshie Liebowitz, Andrew Sparks.
48 Summer 2022
Second Row: Krishan Arora, John Fazli, Jojo Dable, Teddy Glaeser, José Flores, Eli Bailit, Kayden Miller, Will Callewaert, Kieran McCabe, John Paul Buckley,
The Class of 2022
Austin Kee, George Humphrey, Jacob Tjaden. Third Row: Zach Donovan, Brodie Lee, Rami Hayes-Messinger, Alejandro Denis, David Sullivan, Zeb Jacoby, Armando Walters, Mark Henshon, Liam Grossman, Ben Kelly, Max Williams, Oliver Wyner. Fourth Row: Luke DeVito, Vishnu Emani, Liam Finn, Charlie Clough, Zak Bashir, Drew Streckenbach, Colin Herbert, Sunil Rosen, Chris Weitzel, Alex Messier, Connor Berg.
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 49
50 Summer 2022
University of Southern California (1) University of Virginia (1) University of Wisconsin (1) Vanderbilt University (1) Wake Forest University (1) Wesleyan University (3) Williams College (1) Worcester Polytechnic Institute (2) Yale University (1)
Baylor University (1) Brown University (3) Case Western Reserve University (1) Colby College (1) Colgate University (1) Columbia University (1) Dartmouth College (1) Georgetown University (6) George Washington University (1) Harvard College (5) College of the Holy Cross (1) Johns Hopkins University (2) Middlebury College (2) Providence College (1) Trinity College (1) Tufts University (3) Tulane University (1) Union College (2) University of Chicago (1)
Accurate as of July 18, 2022
Class of 2022 Matriculation
University of Massachusetts, Amherst (4)
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 51
At(51.30).themeet,
• Armando Walters (I) scored in an incredible four events (4×100 anchor leg, 400m, 200m, 4x400 anchor leg).
• In a positive sign of the future, Benji Macharia set the freshman record in the 400m (54.94)!
Cross Country team stand-out Kofi Fordjour (II) set a new school record in the 1500m (4:01.43), besting the previous record set by Joey Mullen ’15 by a full three seconds.
A Remarkable Showing for RL Track and Field
On May 14, Roxbury Latin’s Track and Field team had a remarkable showing at the 2022 ISL Championships, held at Thayer Academy. The team finished in second place, earning 79 points—RL’s best finish since 2013. The event included several highlights and strong performances from RL Co-captainathletes.Jedidiah Nelson (I) scored in three events, including a second-place finish in the long jump and pole vault. Jed now sits third all-time at RL in the pole vault with a massive one-foot personal best (12’). Co-captain Armando Walters (I) now holds the second best all-time RL record in the 400m dash
• Seven boys set lifetime personal bests.
Zak Bashir (I) and Carter Crowley (II) both scored in two events—Zak in the high jump and triple jump, and Carter in the 300m hurdles and javelin.
On May 21, at Governor’s Academy, the team competed in the New England Championship meet where they tied for second place with Suffield Academy, falling short only to first-place Middlesex. This was the team’s first year competing in Division II. Individual successes from RL athletes at the New England Championship meet were many:
• Scoring in multiple events were senior co-captain Jedidiah Nelson (long jump, 4x100), senior Zak Bashir (high jump, triple jump), junior Adam Kuechler (800m, 4×400), and sophomore Alejandro Rincon (pole vault, 110m hurdles).
• Kofi Fordjour (II) was a double champion in both the 3000m and 1500m. He also placed second in the 800m (his third event of the day) and recorded a school record in the process (1:57.14). Kofi was named Outstanding Performer of the Meet on the boys’ side.
52 Summer 2022
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 53
The Roxbury Latin Varsity Tennis team capped off another amazing season with a New England Class B Tournament Title. The team’s 4-1 victory over Belmont Hill on May 24 sealed the championship for RL, its third NEPSAC Title—winning also in 2019 and 2013. At the end of every regular season, the top eight tennis teams in Massachusetts and Connecticut compete in a tournament in their respective divisions. Roxbury Latin earned the number two seed in the Class B Tournament and hosted the first two rounds on May 21. In the quarterfinal, Roxbury Latin faced Pomfret Academy. RL started strong, winning two of three doubles matches to win its first point.
Varsity Tennis Wins Third NEPSAC Title in School History
54 Summer 2022
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The Varsity Tennis team had lost a close match to Belmont Hill during the regular season, and knew that winning early doubles points was crucial. After splitting the first pair of doubles matches, Eric Diop and captain John Fazli (I) got the first point for RL after in a close match that went to a tiebreaker. In singles, Cole Oberg, Eric Diop, and Jiho Lee were the first to finish their matches, pushing Roxbury Latin to the four points needed to be crowned New England Champions.
Six singles matches followed, and RL needed to win at least three to advance. Cole Oberg (IV) at number-two singles, Akshay Kumar (II) at number-three singles, and Jiho Lee (III) at number-five singles, were the first to finish, and RL qualified for the afternoon semifinal against Green Farms Academy. RL once again started fast, winning the first point in doubles. RL and Green Farms were tied 3-3 after Eric Diop (III) and Tait Oberg (II) won their singles matches. Only Akshay Kumar in number-three singles remained. Akshay won a fiercely contested match to send the team to the finals against top-seeded Belmont Hill, hosted at St. Sebastian’s School in Needham.
Coach Diop and the entire Varsity Tennis team thanks RL Nation—students, faculty, alumni, and parents—for standing with the team throughout the tournament. Their support was critical to RL’s victory. Many former tennis players who were part of the 2019 New England Championship team were also present for the final: Brendan Jimenez ’19, who plays for Skidmore; Joey Barrett ’20, who plays for Colby; and Walker Oberg ’21, who plays for Yale, were in attendance. We are extremely proud and grateful for the continuity of our tennis program. Our two seniors, co-captain John Fazli and Frankie Gutierrez, have been instrumental in the team’s success over the years and will be greatly missed. We know we will see them next year, cheering us on at the 2023 tournament. //
56 Summer 2022
Spring Athletic Accolades, Boston Globe Scholarship Honors for Mark Henshon Mark Henshon, Class of 2022, was honored in June at a ceremony at Fenway Park, celebrating his selection as a Boston Globe Foundation / Richard J. Phelps ScholarAthlete. In its 36th year, this selective scholarship program honors some of Massachusetts’ finest high school scholarathletes and student leaders. Supported by the Globe Foundation and Mr. Richard Phelps, 18 high school seniors earned scholarships valued at $3,000, awarded based on excellence in academics, athletics, and extracurricular activities. As described by the scholarship materials, the ideal candidate plays three sports and, ideally, captains those sports. He or she has earned league honors; is well respected as a leader by both teammates and coaches; maintains strong academic standing; and is highly involved in extracurricular activities both in and out of school, committed to serving their school and outside community. In addition to receiving the Globe/Phelps scholarship, Mark earned league honors this spring—being named ISL All-League in baseball and earning the ISL’s Silver Slugger Award, which goes each year to the league’s top
Many of Mark’s classmates and teammates—as well as several talented underclassmen—earned Independent School League (and, for Kofi Fordjour in Track and Field, All-New England) honors this spring across all sports: Baseball James Birch (I) – ISL All-League Mark Henshon (I) – ISL All-League; ISL Silver Slugger award (league’s top hitter) Antonio Morales (II) – ISL All-League James Henshon (III), Patrick Schultz (II), and Thomas Pender (IV) – Honorable Mention All-League Lacrosse Hayden Cody (III) – ISL All-League David Sullivan (II), Chris Weitzel (I), Nolan Walsh (I), Will Anderson (II), and Johnny Price (IV) – Honorable Mention All-League Tennis John Fazli (I) – ISL All-League Cole Oberg (IV) – ISL All-League Track and Field Kofi Fordjour (II)– All-New England Zak Bashir (I), Carter Crowley (II), Kofi Fordjour (II), and Jedidiah Nelson (I) – Honorable Mention All-League //
During the school’s Prize Day ceremony on June 3, Mark was honored as a 15-season athlete (starting at RL in the eighth grade) and he received the school’s Best Athlete award, given to a member of the graduating class. During RL’s graduation ceremony on June 4, Mark was awarded the prestigious Class of 1913 Award—one of three awards conferred during Closing Exercises—given annually to a member of the class who has made significant contributions to the life of the school. Headmaster Kerry Brennan said of Mark, during the awarding of those honors: “A superb scholar, Mark marries sheer determination with considerable talent, earning high honors grades across his time in the school and one of the coveted spots in the Cum Laude Society. A dominant force in three seasons, he not only performs brilliantly, but, thanks to his example and his leadership, he was elected a captain of each of those sports. His precocious excellence earned him distinction as a 15-season varsity performer (earning a berth on the varsity cross country team, varsity basketball team, and the varsity baseball team—all as an eighth grader). Mark was the winner of the ISL individual championship in cross country; winner of the New England individual championship; led the team to an undefeated season; and in two different seasons earned both ISL and New England team championships. Mark held a 19-point per game average in basketball, with nine rebounds and six assists per game, and a 48% field goal percentage. In baseball he had a .479 batting average (tied for the league lead); achieved the remarkable feat of 11 RBI’s even from the leadoff position; and executed impeccable defensive play, including instigating the first triple play in modern RL history. He was elected to all-ISL and New England teams in all three sports, embodying the old-fashioned athlete who offers his best efforts in season and only occasionally beyond. He loves to play, and his commitment and joy in competing prove infectious. Mark is an exceptional person—caring, kind, intense, disciplined, honest, friendly, responsible, and catalytic. He earns the respect and affection of all who know him. To me, this young man’s most sterling credentials are personal and about attitude and resolve. His teammates know that they can count on him—for grit, for consistency, for leadership. He never asks more of others than he does of himself. And he does all that he does with understated class and generosity.”
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 57 hitter. Mark also earned several Roxbury Latin school prizes, recognizing his athletic commitment and skill, his dedication to academic excellence, and his character as a classmate, teammate, student, and friend.
58 Summer 2022 c lass i varsity athletic awards Soccer Kieran McCabe Lacrosse Chris Weitzel Hockey Connor Berg Tennis John Fazli Football Luke DeVito Basketball Mark Henshon Track & Field Jedidiah Nelson Cross Country George Madison Wrestling George Humphrey Baseball James Birch
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Lessons in Civic Responsibility, From A Range of Engaged Citizens answer questions posed in the American citizenship test. In this “May Madness” competition, as it’s called, fifthie Liam Walsh emerged victorious, while his classmates Oliver Colbert and Simon Albrechtskirchinger finished as close runners-up. In the following meeting, during a class on the judicial system and the important role of jurors, Mrs. Dromgoole, Mr. Lieb, and Mrs. Berg spoke about their experiences serving as jurors on both civil and criminal trials. Continuing the focus on a healthy judicial system, The Honorable Thomas Finigan, First Justice of Massachusetts’ Wrentham District Court, spoke with students about his role and responsibilities as a judge; the path that led him there; and some of the myths that people believe about the roles of judge, jury, lawyer, and the judicial process that are often depicted on television or in film. Judge Finigan is the father to three Roxbury Latin alumni—Cavan ’12, Duncan ’14, and Will ’16. In a class session dedicated to military service, Chase Gilmore, "May Madness" winner Liam Walsh and runners-up Oliver Colbert and Simon Albrechtskirchinger
For several weeks, students delve into topics such as the American election process, our branches of government, the roles of elected and appointed officials, immigration, and naturalization. After introductions into what the course would entail, students had a taste of the experience that individuals seeking United States citizenship face, as they attempted to
60 Summer 2022
Each spring, Class V students convene several times a week for a crash course in civic engagement and responsibility. Led by Mr. Thomsen and Mr. Heaton of the history department, and by Headmaster Brennan, the mini-course includes a series of lessons and guest speakers focused on various elements of what it means to be informed, responsible, participating citizens of the United States. This course, conceived of by Mr. Brennan, has been a hallmark of the Class V program since 2011. It provides students early in their RL tenure with lessons on the inner workings of the United States government, their own civil rights and responsibilities, and the many forms that service to country and commonwealth can take.
It is fitting that the Class V Civics course relies on so many teachers. To rely on the collective efforts of many individuals is in itself a lesson on the American government and civic responsibility. //
Since a Garethwinningfromavoidingnewstheythetheboysiselementcentralofdemocracybeinginformed,thelearnedaboutimportantroleofmedia,andhowcanbediscerningconsumers“fakenews,”PulitzerPrize-journalistCook.
Since a central element of democracy is being informed, the boys learned about the important role of the media, and how they can be discerning news consumers avoiding “fake news,” from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gareth Cook, whose work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine among other reputable news journals. Gareth is father to two RL boys, Aidan ’20 and Oliver ’25.
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Two other accomplished individuals who have dedicated years of their career to government service and diplomacy were Peter Martin, Class of 1985 and father to Nicholas ’23 and Xavier ’25, and John Tobin, father of Danny ’26. Peter served as an ambassador and member of the U.S. Foreign Service for more than 20 years. His diplomatic career featured work as a team leader and policy advisor at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., and in various foreign posts.
Class of 2012, spoke to students about his service in the Army as an Armor Officer assigned to the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado. Chase served as a Tank Platoon Leader at Fort Carson and in Europe and later deployed to the Middle East as an Aide-De-Camp. He offered an overview of the structure of the U.S. Military; the extensive training that is required to join; the reality of active duty; and the many paths that veterans take after service.
Peter now serves as Special Assistant to the President of Boston College. John committed to civil service at the local level, as he was elected District 6 representative to the Boston City Council in 2001, and was re-elected four times. He now works at Northeastern University as Vice President of City & Community Affairs. Both men spoke to the students about their work as ambassadors, officials, and diplomatic leaders of their country and city. Finally, boys heard from three members of the RL community who were born outside of the United States and became U.S. citizens by way of three very different paths. Ousmane Diop, chair of the modern language department, has been a member of the RL faculty since 1994. Born in Senegal, West Africa, Mr. Diop came to the U.S. originally as a student at Phillips Andover. Emose Piou—mother of RL alumni Hansenard ’14 and Noah ’16—grew up in Haiti with 12 brothers and sisters, and came to America as a young adult to pursue higher education, enrolling at New York Technical College to study engineering. Finally, senior José Flores was born in Guatemala City, where he was adopted at age three by his mother and father, who were born in the U.S. Virgin Islands and in El Salvador, respectively. José gained full U.S. citizenship in 2011 but had to wait several years before he received his official documents and citizenship ceremony. These three individuals shared not only their personal stories, but also similar challenges, such as overcoming language barriers, facing discrimination, and maintaining their own cultures while also trying to acclimate to America.
May looms large on the Class IV calendar: It is when students turn in and present their Western Civ projects, long a component of the freshman curriculum in which students research, produce, and orally defend a model or reproduction of an artifact, building, or historical scene that is linked to their study of Western Civilization. Parameters dictate that the student must make his project with his own hands (no kits). Making use of technologies offered in the IDEA Lab is allowed, but plugging in a prefabricated design for something in a 3-D printer and presenting this as one’s project is not allowed. All work is done in school. In addition to being graded on the oral defense, each student is graded on his accuracy in representing the original, his workmanship, and the project’s degree of difficulty. Projects were on display in the Admission Suite during the final weeks of the school year. //
62 Summer 2022
Western Civ Projects
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Jonathan Slater, known as the “MBA Agent,” has been named one of Greater Boston’s top real estate producers for 2022 by Boston Magazine in its June issue. Jonathan is also the recipient of Keller Williams’s Platinum Sales Award for 2020 and 2021 and currently ranks in the top one percent of all Zillow Premier Agents as rated by clients and other metrics, earning him distinguished “Best of Zillow” honors.
Ambassador Mark Storella (ret.) finished a teaching gig at Boston University’s study abroad program in Geneva (Global Governance, Economic Development, and Human Rights) and has spent part of the summer in France. He recently delivered a TEDx talk on U.S. diplomacy and human rights, the video of which is available online. In it, Mark seeks to use a different medium to reach a wider audience about what American diplomats do, as he recounts a risky approach the U.S. took in Cambodia to keep the democratic opposition leader from jail and possibly worse. As the fall approaches, Mark looks forward to returning to BU to teach.
64 Summer 2022 1954 Charles Halsted writes: “When my father took a job at UCLA, my family moved to Los Angeles in 1950, hence depriving me of the last four years of an RLS education. After public high school, I attended Stanford, where I majored in European history. Upon my graduation, I obtained my post-graduate education at the University of Rochester, MD 1958, then fulfilled my military obligation at the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit in Cairo, Egypt. Then on to my specialty training at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. I moved to Davis, California, where I spent the next 42 years as a physician at the UC Davis School of Medicine. Upon retirement in 2015, I initiated my new career as a poet. My most memorable RLS moment was playing midget football and being mowed over by the quarterback kid from 1961Nobles!”
Richard Lewis, MD, MS, was recently awarded the Lawrence Family Achievement Award in Genetics at the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, where he has continued his clinical and research work in disorders of the human visual 1962system.
Jon Dandridge retired from Interactive Data Corporation in December 2019, where he had served as a Senior Software Developer since 2003. He is now living full-time in his former summer home in Lubec, Maine. His son, Chris, married in May 2019 and is expecting a child in December. Jon has been busy fixing up his house and is active in the local Catholic church and volunteers for the food pantry. He also volunteers at Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, where he is on the operating crew for a fleet of antique streetcars. The museum has a number of pieces of equipment originally from the MBTA, and sometimes Jon wonders “if that history map that I still owe Mr. Rehder could be in one of those vehicles, maybe slipped down behind the seats?”
Gerald Clarke reports: “After 56 years of commitments and obligations to military, academic institutions (MIT and BU), municipal and state government, as expert witness for many financial service industry clients, and consultant in public health, I finally have retired (almost) with the expiration of various 1967appointments.”
Martin Koughan is happily retired after making a career in television as a writer, producer, and director. William J. O’Reilly published a second novelic trilogy and completed the autobiography Vexations, anticipated for release this summer.
Stephen Rand “failed retirement” and is still the virtual supervisor of four grad students at University of Michigan on three active grants. Stephen and Paula moved back to Canada during the COVID pandemic. class notes 1972 Walter Berry retired from the Environmental Protection Agency in December, after working there in one capacity or another since 1979. Nonetheless, he remains busy as ever, but “at least I get to take a nap if I have to get up early.” 1977 David Mix Barrington reports that his first grandchild, Graham Heron Porter, was born in March. David’s daughter teaches at Tabor Academy.
2018 Will Connaughton graduated from Harvard in May and was awarded the John H. Williams Prize, given to the best economics student in the graduating 2019class.
1990 Frantz Alphonse is co-founder and Senior Managing Director of Project Black at Ariel Alternatives, LLC. He is a 2022 Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School and is working with Senior Lecturers Henry McGee, Jeffrey Bussgang, and Archie Jones on the MBA EC course Scaling Minority Businesses. He is collaborating with the MBA program on creating new models for supply chain diversity and equal economic development.
Bobby O’Grady was named Big East “Rookie of the Year” and earned All-Big East honors in his first year playing on Marquette’s varsity lacrosse team.
2021 Nolan McKenna finished his freshman season on the Trinity College Track & Field team, during which he lowered his personal best in the 400m to a stellar 48.92 at the Division III New England Championships. This time ranked him first among all 400m runners in the Division III Mideast Region! (Nolan is #3 all-time at RL in the 400m, running a 51.62.)
7 Will Greer and Joey Ryan ’20 faced off for a Cape Cod Baseball League game on June 24—Will playing for the Brewster Whitecaps and Joey playing for the Falmouth Commodores. Will plays varsity baseball at Bucknell, and Joey is on the varsity team at Boston College.
1982 1 Charles Pinck’s award-winning short documentary Operation Overlord: OSS and the Battle for France was shown on May 6 at NATO Special Operations Forces Headquarters in Mons, Belgium. There the OSS Society also presented a replica of the OSS Congressional Gold Medal to its commander, Lt. Gen. Antonio Fletcher. The film was also shown at the Utah Beach Museum in Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, France, on June 4 to commemorate the 78th anniversary of D-Day, and at Washington’s Metropolitan Club on June 14 as part of a dinner commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Office of Strategic Services’ founding.
2004 3 Billy Quirk and his wife, Mary, are excited to announce the arrival of Winifred (Winnie) Frances Quirk, born on June 29. Billy says, “We are cherishing these special early days as a family of five and feel overwhelming gratitude for the good health and happiness we’ve been fortunate to 2005enjoy.”
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2002 2 On May 31, Jamie Kirchick appeared on Good Morning America to discuss his new book Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington, which was also reviewed in The New York Times on May 23. 2003 Chris Bird and his wife, Meagan Doyle, welcomed their first son, Henry, on April 17, 2022.
4 Brendan Powers and his wife, Sarah, welcomed their second daughter, Savannah Kiyoko Powers, on May 5. Savannah joins big sister Eliza, who turned two in March.
2013 JB Gough and his business partner own and operate The Pinebrook Group, a private equity investment firm, which recently acquired The Thoreau Club. Pinebrook is partnering with longtime club General Manager and COO Keith Callahan. Prior to co-founding The Pinebrook Group, JB worked at Juniper Square, a real estate SaaS company providing investment management software, as well as at Jefferies. 2016 6 Chris Rota celebrated his delayed 2020 graduation ceremonies at Harvard College this spring. The day was particularly memorable, as his father, John Rota, graduated this year from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government with an MPA.
2017 Joe Lomuscio is now a Pac12 champion. He and his teammates on Stanford’s varsity baseball team won the league championship game on May 29, entering the NCAA tournament this spring as a #2 seed.
5 Dan Rea III and his wife, Lindsay, welcomed their patriotic son, Benjamin Lawrence Rea, on July 4. Dan says they look forward to introducing him to the RL community and “giving” him fireworks for his birthday every year!
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Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 67 2022 8 Nolan Walsh and John Paul Buckley graduated from New Student Indoctrination on June 27, in preparation for ROTC at University of Southern California and Vanderbilt, respectively. 9 They’ve still got it! Alumni of RL’s tennis team, from across several decades, returned to campus during Spring Family Day/Reunion Weekend to take to the courts. Pictured are Derek Ho ’92, Andrew Lee ’92, Dan Botwinik ’98, Dylan Zhou ’18, Peter Martin ’85, head tennis coach Ousmane Diop, Eric Diop ’24, Daniel Stepanyan ’25, Ricky Ghoshroy ’06, and Alex Jacobs ’08. Boston Investors Group 10 A meeting of the Boston Alumni Investors Networking Group took place on May 25 at Hogan Lovells, generously hosted by Greg Noonan ’94. The evening included a presentation on the investment of RL’s endowment and the school's finances by trustees Mike Giarla ’76 and Chris Mitchell ’89, Roxbury Latin’s CFO Mike Stanton, and Christoph O'Donnell of Cambridge Associates. // 9 7 8 10
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Former faculty member Kai Bynum selected to lead Seattle’s Lakeside School as the 11th head of school
Dr. Kai Bynum—who served as Roxbury Latin’s Director of Studies and Strategic Initiatives from 2012 to 2016—became the 11th head of Lakeside School in Seattle this summer. Kai has just completed his headship at Connecticut’s Hopkins School, the third oldest independent school in the nation, where he has served since 2016. In his years as an educator—including his time as a teacher, leader, coach, and advisor at Roxbury Latin—Kai’s focus on students’ experiences has encompassed every aspect of their education; he understands that students need to know they are seen and cared for as part of their educational experience. In his roles at Hopkins, at RL, and at Belmont Hill, where he was the director of community and diversity, Kai proved himself to be an energetic leader—one who has studied and published on teenagers’ spirituality and emotional intelligence. At the independent schools where he has served, Kai has led initiatives focused on academic excellence, innovation and global education, access and affordability, diversity and inclusion, faculty hiring, student wellness, and community engagement. Kai holds a doctorate in educational and organizational leadership from The University of Pennsylvania, where he since served as an adjunct professor, beginning in 2015. At Columbia University, where he earned a master’s in education, he focused on independent school leadership and financial sustainability. Kai’s training as a teacher is grounded in his studies at Harvard, where he earned a master of liberal arts, and the University of Washington, Seattle, where he earned his bachelor’s degree. //
Annual Fund Sets New Record record number of donors
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As the 2021–2022 Annual Fund closed on May 31, Annual Fund donations totaled $4,812,364, setting another record. Annual Fund Chairman Bryan Anderson, Alumni Leadership Giving Committee Co-Chairs Jay Mitchell and Andy McElaney, along with Parent Fund Co-Chairs Janet and James Nahirny and Vice Co-Chairs Krista and Ian Lane did an outstanding job leading a team of dedicated volunteers. As a result, parent participation was 100 percent this year. Parents raised a record $1,842,721. Our alumni volunteers also worked diligently to ensure that the 2021–2022 Annual Fund was a banner year for them—alumni raised a record $1,946,739, with 55 percent participation. None of this would be possible without the energetic, persistent leadership of Tobey O’Brien, Director of Development and leader of the Annual Fund. The continued level of commitment to Roxbury Latin demonstrated through the Annual Fund is both a ringing affirmation of the difference the school makes in boys’ lives and a testimonial to the tireless devotion of the men and women who served as volunteers. We extend our deepest gratitude to all those who invested in Roxbury Latin, allowing us to preserve the school’s unique financial model. On behalf of the boys—your beneficiaries—we thank you for your continued support. There is no better way to honor the boys and their teachers, today and always. Roxbury Latin is the school that it is because of you. //
The Class of 1951 (Dr. Nicholas Chester “Chet” Reynolds, Jr. highlighted)
70 Summer 2022 feel that he will become a fine man and [that he] has the personality for a medical career—a career upon which he has been determined for some years.” Chet attended Harvard College, where he competed on the crew team and earned his AB in biochemistry in 1955. He then earned his MD from Boston University in 1959. Chet’s medical cohort was the first to be trained in both general and vascular surgery. In 1958, Chet married Carolyn “Candie” Nichols, daughter of the Reverend Fessenden A. Nichols (RL 1921), whom he had met through a conference run by Trinity Church. Over the next four years Candie and Chet had one son and two daughters as the family moved between Boston and Providence for Chet’s surgical residencies at Massachusetts Memorial Hospital (now Boston Medical Center) and the Providence VA Hospital. There, Chet enjoyed ample opportunities to practice surgery and became a respected surgeon. In 1966, Chet was drafted to serve in a M.A.S.H. unit in Vietnam. His foreign service was followed by a one-year assignment at the U.S. Army Hospital Fort Meade in Maryland. In 1968, the Reynolds family returned to Massachusetts, where Chet started a surgical practice in Andover. He practiced vascular and general surgery and covered Emergency Room shifts at Lawrence General Hospital and Bon Secours Hospital in Methuen. Chet and two colleagues formed a new practice: Andover Surgical Associates. In 1986, Chet and Candie retired to New London; before long Chet was invited to join a surgical group at Dartmouth Hitchcock Concord. He accepted the invitation and enjoyed practicing surgery and teaching medical residents at Concord Hospital until he retired again in 2000. Chet was a Fellow of the Society of Laparoscopic Surgeons; he lectured on the topic in Brazil. He was also a member of the American College of Surgeons and the International Society of Endovascular Surgeons. He was an active member of the New London Rotary Club. Chet and Candie founded the Kearsarge Ecumenical Refugee Sponsor Group, which sponsored families from Bosnia and Algeria, and they enjoyed housing Colby Sawyer College
Dr. Nicholas Chester “Chet” Reynolds, Jr. ’51 died at the age of 88 on May 14, 2022, at his home in New London, New Hampshire. Chet was born on February 18, 1934 in Boston, the son of Florence Ash and Nicholas Chester Reynolds, Sr. He attended the McKinley School in Revere prior to gaining admission to Roxbury Latin. Later in life, Chet reflected that his fondest memory of RL was “the opportunity for new horizons” that he enjoyed as a schoolboy, which made the nearly four hours he spent commuting by public transit each day worthwhile. Chet was an accomplished student and active participant in extracurricular life at RL. He played tennis and baseball, sang for the Glee Club, participated in Chess Club, and, as a senior, he managed wrestling, served as cheer leader, and worked on Tripod. Headmaster Weed wrote in his college letter: “Reynolds is conscientious, modest, and most likeable. He has fine character and is naturally a gentleman. His ideals are high, and he is socially concerned for others. He represents all that is cleancut and fair indeed … I can't [help] but
In Memoriam
Gerry’s peers wrote in Yearbook, “The class’s most avid and varied reader, [Gerry] has never ceased to amaze us with his never-ending fund of obscure knowledge, especially in the fields of world affairs and current events… he can discuss knowledgeably the problems facing the school and America today as well as teenage dating and the twist… far from alienating the class, his outspoken views have endeared him to it as is evinced by his popularity in the offices he has held.”
Newsletter of The Roxbury Latin School 71 international students from Cote D’Ivoire, Afghanistan, and Nepal in their home near campus. In addition to travel, Chet enjoyed landscaping and forestry, skiing, golfing, and tennis. He delighted in classical music, dabbled in piano, and took up the cello in Chetretirement.issurvived by his beloved wife of 64 years, his son, daughters, and their families, and his extended family. The family held a Celebration of Life Service on July 23 in New London, New Hampshire.
Roger A. Hussey ’57 died at the age of 82 on June 13, 2022, at his home in Waterbury, Vermont. He was born on June 16, 1939, the son of Margaret Rule and G. Raymond Hussey. Roger attended the Longfellow School prior to gaining admission to Roxbury Latin. In his college letter, Headmaster Weed noted that Roger did “very well” as a student and he noted that “he is anxious to go below the surface in intellectual matters and is intellectually curious.” Roger attended Harvard and subsequently worked as a Consulting Systems Analyst. He later worked in computers and also did extensive traveling as a merchant marine. He was active in public service in Vermont, and in his retirement he became an active member of the senior center in both Waitsfield and Waterbury. Roger loved music and played banjo often. He had a quick wit and kept in touch with his classmates by sketching cartoons of himself fishing in Vermont and working on computer code. He is survived by a son and many friends.
Andrew “Andy” J. Deraney ’56 of HoHo-Kus, New Jersey, died at the age of 80 on September 13, 2019. Andy was born on November 30, 1938, the son of Rose Nicholas and James Deraney. He was a West Roxbury native and attended the Beethoven School prior to gaining admission to Roxbury Latin. In his college letter, Headmaster Weed called Andrew a “modest, quiet, hardworking boy.” Andy played football, basketball, and baseball and ran track. He performed on stage, both in dramatics and for the Glee Club. He also wrote for Tripod. He was a strong math and science student. Andy attended MIT, where he earned his SB in Mechanical Engineering in 1960 and served in the ROTC. He then served in the United States Air Force as a First Lieutenant from 1961 to 1963 and subsequently as a Captain. In 1965, Andy earned his MBA from Harvard Business School. He married Adrienne Shaker of Brooklyn, New York, in 1967. Their family eventually moved to Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, where they lived for nearly 50 years. Andy worked as a financial administrator at IBM for the majority of his career, and then worked in the same capacity at Pearson Education until his retirement. He remained a proud Red Sox fan throughout his life. Andy is survived by his beloved wife of 51 years, his three children, and their families.
Dr. Gerald “Gerry” E. Warshaver ’62 of New York died at the age of 78 on April 30, 2022. He was born on April 12, 1944, the son of Charlotte Kline and Milton Warshaver. He grew up in Waban and attended the Beethoven School prior to gaining admission to Roxbury Latin.
As an RL student, Gerry participated broadly in the life of the school. He played soccer and tennis, sang in the Glee Club, led the debate team as president, and wrote and edited for Tripod. He was an exceptional student of history and maintained a keen interest in current affairs. Headmaster Weed wrote in his college letter, “[Gerry’s] interests are primarily academic writing, reading, debating, classical antiquity, politics, etc. … He is a conscientious worker, with a good head and positive interests … a good, reliable citizen, willing and cooperative.”
Gerry attended Columbia University, where he earned an AB in government in 1966. He conducted graduate work at Hebrew Union College in the years that followed. He earned his MA at Indiana University in 1974 and his PhD in 1979 from Indiana University. He subsequently worked in various capacities at Rutgers University. He served as Associate Dean of the Faculty and Sciences and taught English, history, urban anthropology, and urban folklore. In 1967, Gerry married Lillian Feigenblatt, with whom he had one daughter. He is survived by his wife, his daughter, and his grandchildren. //
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Photo by Mike Pojman
