The Newsletter - April 2018

Roxbury Latin THE NEWSLETTER

APRIL 2 0 1 8

Tactile Learning

The art and science of making things

The Roxbury Latin School

Headmaster Kerry P. Brennan

The Newsletter is published quarterly by The Roxbury Latin School in October, January, April, and July for alumni, current and former parents, and friends of the school.

Editorial & Design Joyce Hempstead joyce.hempstead@roxburylatin.org 617.477.6324

www.roxburylatin.org facebook.com/roxburylatin/ instagram: @roxburylatin twitter: @roxburylatin

Erin Berg erin.berg@roxburylatin.org 617.477.6326

Photography Gretchen Ertl, John Gillooly, Mike Pojman, Adam Richins, Evan Scales, John Werner. © 2018 The Trustees of The Roxbury Latin School 101 St. Theresa Avenue West Roxbury, MA 02132 t: 617.325.4920

The Newsletter April 2018 | Volume 91 | Number 3

INSIDE

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DEPARTMENTS

Creating Space for Understanding and Expression

18 Hall Highlights

Boys explore a range of media and technique in Class III

21 Faculty Spotlight

10 Engineering to Empower Others The Work of Matt McCambridge ’94

11 Debunking the Digital/ Analog Dichotomy Nate Piper Creates

12 Scholastic Art and Writing Accolades

13 Art History class enjoys up-close study of original Renaissance works

14 A Powerful and Personal History of Segregation Dr. Alvin C. Powell ’74 helps R.L. celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

20 The Limits of Language Poet Amaud Johnson broaches the awkward and the unsayable

22 Exelauno Day: Olympians of the Classics

27 Jazz It Up

Hunter White, French

24 The Arts > Student Production: Riverside Drive 24 > Junior Play: The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail 25 > Concert and Recital Highlights 26

28 In and Out of the Classroom 30 Student News 32 Athletics Heart and hustle propel a winning wrestling season

40 Alumni Gatherings 44 Class Notes 48 In Memoriam > Virginia Wing, the School’s First Female Trustee 49

52 Ramblings from the Archives

by Christopher Heaton

55 Varsity Athletics Calendar

Jane Monheit and Michael Kanan ’81 perform in Hall and for the February Flurry

38 Winter Family Day Above: Bauer Science Building and Smith Arts Center after a mid-March nor’easter. (Photo by Mike Pojman)

Home Team Success and Dedication of the Hennessy Rink

Cover: Kam Miller III examines a rough-cut plank in Nate Piper’s woodworking shop. (Photo by John Gillooly)

Send address changes to julie.garvey@roxburylatin.org.

Send alumni news and other correspondence to alumni@roxburylatin.org.

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April 2018

CREATING

SPACE for Understanding & Expression

Boys explore a range of media and technique in Class III

by Erin Berg

our classrooms on campus are distinguished, for the senses, by what happens within them. Marked by scents of sawdust or drying plaster; paint-splattered and etched by decades of R.L. boys; peaceful and lit in a way that brings colors to their intended vibrancy; or buzzing (literally), each of these spaces is ripe for creation. While you may have to work to find these visual art classrooms—nestled downstairs, back stage, in quiet corners—those efforts are richly rewarded.

“The ultimate goal of our department isn’t to make artists, but to make art lovers,” says Brian Buckley, long-time chair of the arts department. “We’re not intending to make masters, but rather students who are sophisticated at looking, and appreciating, and accessing meaning in art. Those are important skills in a complicated world.”

At R.L., boys are introduced to this discipline early. As sixies, in their Natural Design class, students are exposed, by Brian, to the fundamentals of three-dimensional design and construction: linear perspective, structure, function, aesthetics. There, boys become familiar with hand tools and the unforgiving countenance of poplar. In Class IV, boys grasp the fundamentals of drawing, and move through a variety of media, in Introduction to Visual Art.

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By the time boys enter Class III, they have a solid foundation for success in the visual art electives of the Arts 10 curriculum: Introduction to Watercolor, Art & Technology, and Woodworking. “The courses aren’t rigorous, but they are challenging,”

says Brian. “The boys relax in those classrooms, but they do serious things, and through this lens we teach patience, planning, perseverance, pain—all the P’s.”

Inherent, and purposeful, in the Arts 10 curriculum is a respite for Class III boys.

“We’re not intending to make masters, but rather students who are sophisticated at looking, and appreciating, and accessing meaning in art.”

—Brian Buckley

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The classrooms are dedicated havens. The units are graded, but not test-driven. Boys are challenged, but by a different kind of mental exercise than they would encounter in a math class, for instance. The boys leave their backpacks outside the door, “both literally and symbolically,” says Jim Ryan, who teaches Introduction to Watercolor and Spanish.

In Jim’s watercolor course, the stated goals are threefold: 1) to introduce boys to the medium; 2) to help them appreciate watercolor’s place in the evolution of art; and 3) to empower them to feel competent expressing themselves through the medium. Jim’s personal goal, however, is more broad: to get students to look closely at the world around them.

“In order to render something in watercolor, you have to spend time looking at it,” says Jim. “Nature gives you all the variety and dynamic you could want, but young people don’t necessarily spend much time really looking at a tree—its colors, texture, shape, form.” That’s why, during a recent sunny afternoon, Jim’s class headed outdoors to paint en plein air. During a quick lesson on rocks, Jim insisted that—amid the stimulus of shape, texture, light, color—the boys simplify the granite outcropping to the basic shapes and to the tones they detected.

The class is built around a series of exercises that developmentally help students gain confidence. The first day they practice achieving water-to-pigment ratios that provide five different tones of a single color. Using artist-grade paints that are vibrant and lasting, the boys respond to the quality of the materials in their hands—they’re respectful of the tools, and the outcome is more rewarding.

In Nate Piper’s woodworking shop, the materials themselves act as teacher, which is something he loves about the craft. “The nature of the wood we use dramatically influences both the process and the final product,” says Nate. “We’re taking advantage of the grain structure, patterns, color, and shape of a very specific and unique piece of wood.”

“The nature of the wood we use dramatically influences both the process and the final product. We’re taking advantage of the grain structure, patterns, color, and shape of a very specific and unique piece of wood.”

—Nate Piper The boys always begin with fresh-fromthe-mill, rough-cut lumber, so a portion of the course is focused on getting the wood from its raw form into flat, finished, ready-to-use stock. “That process might sound elementary or boring, but it’s a hugely rewarding experience. Boys leave with an understanding and appreciation of where wood comes from and of the different types of wood used in traditional

New England furniture making.”

Working in hardwoods—cherry, maple, walnut—students learn the basics of the machine shop, as well: how to use the jointer, planer, table saw, chop saw. The boys show great respect for the tools and for one another in this space, which is critical when you’re working with this kind of machinery.

This semester, boys are crafting endgrain cutting boards, and Nate says they’re

often surprised by the beauty of their final pieces. “The goal is not to have a finished dining set by the end of the semester, but rather for the boys to understand and appreciate what goes into creating a beautiful piece of woodworking. They’ve thought through the process, navigated the pitfalls, and ideally they walk away with something they’re proud of.”

This understanding of medium and process, as a means of problem-solving, is at the root of Dr. Sue McCrory’s course, Art & Technology, introduced to the curriculum in 2015.

“My goal is to give the boys a historical sense of the technologies and techniques employed by artists, architects, and engineers over time—and through which those individuals responded to practical or creative problems,” says Sue. “Technology looks different from age to age. Technology as the students know it doesn’t apply to ancient Rome, or ancient Egypt. Tech-

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Dr. Sue McCrory

nique is inextricably tied to technology, and I want to give the boys a sense of what’s possible with the materials we study.”

Sue organizes her class into three media: architecture, sculpture, and painting. From there, she introduces a historical study and then a contemporary unit. In sculpture, for instance, boys might first learn how Michelangelo carved marble, and then study a modern-day kinetic sculptor, or a land artist who relies on found, organic materials, rejecting technology entirely.

“Many of these boys have been on the Class IV trip to Rome, so they recall some of the ancient artwork they saw there, including Bernini,” says Sue. “So we’ll look at Michelangelo, and Bernini, and then the boys will work their own small piece of soapstone. They come to appreciate how difficult that is.

“I want the students to feel proud of their work, but I’m not interested in the product.

I’m interested in the process. I want to know they’re fashioning their models thoughtfully to respond to the issue at hand.

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“With [alumnus and engineer] Matt McCambridge on campus this year, we began our architecture unit with a contemporary artist—a Japanese architect named Shigeru Ban, who won the Pritzker Prize in 2014. He won it not for his commercial

powerhouse designs, but for his designs in humanitarian relief architecture. He goes into areas that have been devastated by a natural event and produces residences for that community. Having been exposed to Matt McCambridge’s work in design-

Building (and Busting) Bridges In winter term, Class III Physics students tested their newly acquired engineering knowledge in a bridge-building assignment.

The challenge is to build the lightest bridge possible that will support the heaviest load, while meeting certain specifications. The bridges were loaded to failure—tragically, there is only one way to find out how strong they are—and scores were based on a loadto-mass ratio. Ian Richardson designed the winning bridge: an I-beam design that finally failed at 180 lbs (1.73 lbs/gram). John Harrington’s bridge (left) won the “most aesthetic and best constructed” bridge. We will never know how strong John’s was, as Mr. Moore did not have the heart to test its limits!

“My goal is to give the boys a historical sense of the technologies and techniques employed by artists, architects, and engineers over time—and through which those individuals responded to practical or creative problems.”

—Sue McCrory ing wheelchairs for people in developing nations, the boys see these elegant, thoughtful design solutions that address very real, practical needs.”

From Shigeru Ban’s clean, architectural designs, which combine purpose and aesthetics, Sue introduces the bridge building techniques of ancient Rome; after learn-

ing about the structures, materials, and processes, the boys break into two groups creating bridges in that ancient style.

Sue and Brian first, together, figure out what materials the students will use to simulate the stones and mortar, to represent the riverbanks, and to fill the spandrels.

With their charge, materials and tools, the

boys step up to the task, and they come away with an appreciation of what these great, ancient architectural achievements mean when they witness them in the world.

“Boys here are curious, diligent, creative,” says Sue. “They’re willing to suspend their pride. And boys don’t have to actually succeed in this class—all they have to do is work hard, because exposure and understanding are really the lessons.

I love when the boys’ eyes pop when I’m introducing a new historical period or technique.”

By the end of their Class III year, boys have a different means of expression available to them. Their eyes are opened to the natural world, to the sophistication of elegant design, to great feats of architecture, and to another kind of problem solving that demands of, and engages, the senses.

Western Civ Projects February 26 looms large on the Class IV calendar. It is the due date for 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 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. 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.

Since Class IV’s service project focuses on the residents of Deutsches Altenheim, Class IV Master Jim Ryan arranges for his freshmen to host a reception in their honor in the Great Hall. The boys stand by their projects to explain them to the guests and answer questions. Señor Ryan also has his Spanish students (mostly freshmen) present their projects to their classmates entirely in Spanish.

Conor Downey (top left) and Bobby Luca (bottom left) earned the informal “Best of Show” awards, with their representations of the famous stained-glass window from the Cathedral at Chartres, France, featuring Mary and the Christ Child, and a model of an Irish harp. Pictured at right: Will Specht with his trebuchet.

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Matt McCambridge ’94 (right) discusses his designs with Phuc Truong ’94 and Rick Dower in the Great Hall.

Engineering to Empower Others The Work of Matt McCambridge ’94

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att McCambridge ’94 commits his creativity, time, and training to making a difference in the lives of people in need. Since graduating from Stanford with a degree in engineering, Matt has designed and manufactured mobility technology for people with disabilities in the United States and in lessresourced settings around the world.

In Hall on 9 January, Matt gave an illustrated presentation that described his 20-year path, beginning with the idea to redesign the basic wheelchair (fundamentally unchanged since the 1930s) to function outdoors and over rough terrain, where the disabled in developing countries are most likely to require mobility. More significantly, he considered ways to empower the disabled by designing a chair they could manufacture and repair themselves. Customizing chairs for different abilities and engaging the local workforce to build them, Matt has changed lives in villages all over the world.

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confined if you don’t have a wheelchair,” Matt began. “People’s livelihood depends on their mobility, and these individuals have so much talent and creativity and dedication that they can’t use without the simple ability to get around.”

One of Matt’s colleagues, from the Department of Health in the Philippines, described her first time meeting him: “Matthew was very down-to-earth, even unassuming,” she says. “You’d never guess who or what he really is. The first thing you see is his open curiosity and genuine interest in people. I guess that’s why he’s so good at his job. He listens well, and he makes you think about how devices can work better.” While in Mexico as a volunteer, Matt invented effective and low-cost sewing machine adaptations so women with disabilities could use the machines without using their legs. More than ten years later, the women are still using the same adaptation.

Matt works to create high-performance mobility technology and embraces the additional challenge of distributing, using, and maintaining this technology in very low-resourced areas with often challeng-

ing terrain.

Matt has worked on teams creating sophisticated technologies (like the iBOT self-balancing wheelchair) and simple, robust ones (like Whirlwind Wheelchair’s RoughRider). He teaches courses in mobility and design in MIT’s D-Lab, and he works as a research engineer developing and carrying out innovative tests of wheelchairs in developing countries.

Today, Matt works at the Burlington-based studio, Desktop Metal.

This inventiveness, openness, dedication, and drive that Matt shows in his life and work should come as no surprise to us. As an R.L. student, Matt showed great enthusiasm for learning and found joy in pushing himself. He earned praise from masters of all disciplines who pointed, in particular, to his “agile and incisive mind,” “characteristic inquisitiveness,” “effusive enthusiasm,” and “almost childlike wonder.”

After Hall, Matt visited classes throughout the day, and met with boys studying physics and engineering, as well as students enrolled in Class IV Math-Science Investigations and in AP Economics.

An exhibit of Matt’s work, Making Ideas Real: Service in the Global Commonwealth, was on display in the Great Hall through 6 February. He joins other recent visiting artists who have shared their creations with the school, included kinetic sculptor Anne Lilly; “situation” artist and alumnus Andrew Witkin ’96; photographer and former faculty member Andrew Katz; and internationally-acclaimed painter Winston Chmielinski ’06.

Debunking the Digital/Analog Dichotomy Nate Piper creates

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ate Piper moves between two roles that, at a glance, seem in direct opposition: as R.L.’s Director of Technology, and as the school’s woodworking master. The disparateness, however, is misleading, Nate claims. Fundamentally creative, Nate is most satisfied by taking raw materials—“whether those are bits and bytes, or logs and glue,” he says—and pulling them together into something that didn’t exist before. “It’s not different parts of my mind or soul that function in these two spaces,” says Nate, “they just exhibit themselves in very different ways.”

Nate’s educational background is in computer science, which is less about maintaining a network and more about building software, he explains. That work is an opportunity to “take small, individual things that don’t mean anything on their own and pull them together in interesting ways—to communicate, or solve a problem, or express something artistically.”

Just after earning his degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, he spent one month holed up in a woodshop, making Christmas presents for his family. He crafted a set of kayak paddles for his mom, a cutting board for his dad, a jewelry box for his sister, and a large picture frame for his brother. That immersion ingrained his interest in woodworking.

His hobby gained momentum, and in 2012 Nate purchased a piece of land in Leyden, Massachusetts, where he now mills his own wood—cherry, maple, beech, ash—for his projects and his students’ projects, as well. In addition to providing a deeper connection to his finished products, managing this land has also sparked Nate’s interests in nature, forestry, and land management.

Woodworking was a staple of the R.L. curriculum for many years, taught by mathematics master Bob Jorgensen; how-

ever, without a dedicated caretaker of the shop, that course ended in the late ’80s, resurrected when Nate arrived at R.L. Part of the now IDEA lab and Nate’s office, the woodworking shop has had several lives, including as the school’s weight room for a time.

In 2011 and 2012, R.L. sponsored Nate’s involvement in three week-long summer workshops at the North Bennett Street School in Boston’s North End, where craftspeople and artisans hone their skills. Nate says those courses moved him beyond hobbyist status, cultivating the mastery with which he now instructs R.L. boys.

Being able to share his personal passion with the boys enables meaningful relationships with them: “I feel like I can be myself around our boys, and that’s a permission granted both from the school,

but also from the boys themselves. They want to have meaningful relationships with their teachers; they want to be a part of this larger community and contribute in ways that are bigger than themselves.”

At the end of a project—whether a successful class, or a piece of woodworking—Nate prefers to let his work speak for itself. “When I create something I’m proud of, I feel like that expresses who I am and what I value—something carefully considered and created, well put together and beautiful. That’s the world I love to exist in, and it’s where my tech and woodsy interests intersect.”

Director of Technology Nate Piper mills his own lumber on his land in western Massachusetts.

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Scholastic Art and Writing Accolades

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Erik Zou II, “Dreaming”

Erik Zou II, “East Meets West,” winner of the National Gold Key award.

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his winter, several boys earned recognition for their visual art and writing creations. In the 2018 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, four boys earned a combined 20 regional awards in categories ranging from painting and portfolio to humor writing and critical essay, two of them going on to earn national recognition.

Erik Zou II won twelve regional awards for fifteen art entries. His paintings “In the Blue” and “Dreaming” each earned a Gold Key, as did his entry titled “East Meets West” in the drawing and illustration category. Erik also earned four Silver Keys and five Honorable Mentions. Dylan Zhou I won a Gold Key for his Portfolio work. Dylan also earned two Silver Keys and two Honorable Mentions. Andrew Zhang III won an Honorable Mention in painting; and Adam Berk II won a Gold Key for a piece of humor writing titled “Advisor Letter,” which went on to win a Silver at the national level in mid-March. Adam also earned an Honorable Mention for his critical essay submission.

Erik’s drawing “East Meets West” earned him a National Gold Key Award—his third National Gold Key. R.L.’s last National Gold Key winner was internationally renowned painter Winston Chmielinski ’06.

Erik’s work was also chosen as one of 66 from among 800 artworks submitted for the Emerging Young Artists 2018 Juried Exhibition, sponsored by UMass Dartmouth. Dean David Klamen, of the school’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, selected works to be displayed in the Campus Gallery for the highly competitive exhibition, for which nearly 500 students submitted their work from 35 New England high school art programs. Erik’s work was also recently on exhibit as part of a solo show held at the West Roxbury branch of the Boston Public Library this winter.

Dylan Zhou I, “Scrutiny”

Evan Lim I, Dr. Frederick Ilchman, Dylan Zhou I, Quinn Ebben I, Dr. Sue McCrory, and Joshua Morris II standing before “The Dead Christ with Angels” by Rosso Fiorentino, c. 1525.

Art History class enjoys up-close study of original Renaissance works

O Dylan Zhou I, “Five Faces”

Dylan Zhou I, “Explode”

n 27 February, Dr. Sue McCrory’s AP Art History class paid a visit to the Harvard Art Museums to view several original works of art on paper.

The majority were Italian drawings in chalk dating to the Renaissance, although they viewed three Northern Renaissance engravings (one by Dürer!) and a tiny etching by Rembrandt, a self-portrait. The single non-Western work they studied directly during this visit was an illuminated page from the exceptional Great IlKhanid Shahnama (Book of Kings) dating to the mid 14th-century and produced in a collaborative effort by Mongol artists at the Islamic Persian court.

All works were specially selected by Dr. McCrory for their direct correlation to the AP curriculum, and the boys seemed taken with the directness of their encounter with these original works. What truly “wowed” them was when the art handler removed an early drawing after Giotto

from its temporary frame and flipped it over. Voilà! A new series of drawings appeared on the reverse, executed in brown ink and wash.

Two days later the class traveled to Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts for a meeting with Frederick Ilchman, Chair of the Art of Europe Department and Mrs. Russell W. Baker Curator of Paintings. Dr. Ilchman led an informative and charismatic tour of several Renaissance works on view in the galleries, while also speaking to the boys about museum careers and his specific responsibilities as a curator.

Highlights of the visit included both Dr. Ilchman’s infectious passion for art and the opportunity to view a MFA conservator in action, cleaning a Rembrandt painting before the boys’ eyes.

Dr. Sue McCrory teaches AP Art History to upperclassmen and the Class III elective, Art and Technology.

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Ma r t i n Lu th e r Ki ng J r. Day

Dr. Martin Luther King leads the Freedom March in Boston in 1965.

A Powerful and Personal History of Segregation Dr. Alvin C. Powell ’74 helps R.L. celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Alvin Powell ’74 was one of the first students of color at R.L. A distinguished nephrologist and internal medicine physician—who served in the 1990s as chief of staff at the previously segregated Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro, North Carolina—Dr. Powell returned to school on 11 January to deliver the Martin Luther King commemoration Hall address. With the historical backdrop of the memory of Dr. King, Dr. Powell intertwined and personalized a brief history of segregation as it relates to his family, his education, and his profession.

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et me begin with a story. My parents grew up in rural Alabama and relocated to Boston for better opportunities for their young and growing family.

Our family would travel to Alabama for summer vacations to visit our extended family. We traveled in our 1959 Ford station wagon. Since I was the youngest and most spoiled of eight children, I got to sit in the front seat between my parents. You may not be able to imagine this, but we did not have video games, so we had to be creative. We talked to each other, sang songs, and played games.

During those journeys we stopped on the side of the road and ate food my mother had prepared for the trip; we stopped to use the restroom behind the bushes, taking turns—the girls first then the boys; and we slept in the car at rest areas. When any of the siblings awakened from our naps we asked the annoying proverbial question, “Are we there yet?”

Jim Crow I enjoyed our family trips, and I suspect you also have fond memories of your family travel. I thought everyone traveled the

way we did. But not until a few years later, when I was older, did I realize that because we were traveling into the southern United States, we brought food with us because we could not go into restaurants to eat. We used the shelter of bushes for a restroom, because we could not use the public restroom facilities. We slept in the car, because we were not allowed to pay for and sleep in a hotel. And I realized that my mother and father were protecting their children from the humiliation and indignity associated with legalized racial segregation and discrimination, known as Jim Crow.

You see, during that time and for decades in the South, African-American people could not legally eat in restaurants, use public restroom facilities, drink out of certain public water fountains, or sleep in the same hotels as white people. We could not attend the same schools as white people, and even were refused medical treatment at many hospitals. It was the law, and if broken you could be arrested and placed in jail.

Some of you are familiar with the story of Rosa Parks, an African-American woman in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955 who was arrested because she refused to give up her seat and move to the “colored” section at the back of a segregated city bus so a white man could sit. Rosa Parks was tired of the feelings of oppression and indignity of segregation and discrimina-

tion. Her refusal to move and subsequent arrest sparked a city-wide bus boycott.

Thousands of African-American people refused to ride the city buses and instead walked, car pooled, and rode bicycles and motorcycles for 381 days. That boycott ultimately resulted in desegregation of Montgomery city buses.

The legal segregation and discrimination in the South known as the Jim Crow era stretched from 1890 to 1965 (75 years!).

I was born during that era in 1956. Some of your grandparents, parents, or teachers were born and lived during that era as well.

Many of us also experienced an important era of change in the 1950s and 1960s, referred to as the Civil Rights Movement and led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. That movement challenged and changed Jim Crow and other injustices of that period.

Boston School Desegregation Many families from the South moved to the North to escape the senselessness of segregation. Unfortunately, many forms of discrimination still occurred in the North.

Housing discrimination affected my family when my father, a World War II navy veteran, in the 1940s tried to get housing in South Boston designated for veterans. He was denied because of his race. A common practice, called redlining, restricted bank loans to certain locations where African

Americans could purchase homes.

The redlining of African-American families, combined with a rapid exodus of white families from integrated urban neighborhoods (also known as White Flight) eventually resulted in segregated neighborhoods, and therefore segregated neighborhood schools. Since segregated schools were illegal, the courts mandated busing of students to improve racial balance in Boston public schools, prompting violent protests, student violence, and strife throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

That was a difficult time in the city of Boston, and that history has continued to scar the city. It was so significant that in 1965 Dr. King organized a Freedom March from Dudley Station in Roxbury to the Boston Common and spoke on racial segregation, housing, and education in Massachusetts. I was young, but I remember holding hands and singing songs while marching with my family and thousands of people with hope for a more equitable America.

Fifty years ago, in 1968, with guidance of my parents, I escaped the turmoil of Boston public schools and entered Roxbury Latin as a sixie. It was the same year many Americans mourned the death of Dr. King.

R.L.’s then headmaster, the late Richmond Mayo-Smith, was a transformative leader.

He, along with the Board of Trustees, extended R.L. admission to students of Affiliated with Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital, Dr. Alvin C. Powell ’74 grew up in Roxbury and earned his bachelor’s degree from Columbia and his medical degree from Tufts.

In 1982, Dr. Powell received a Henry J. Kaiser National Merit Award, given nationally to minority graduate students who demonstrated exceptional academic achievement. He has served in various leadership capacities in his field, both clinical and managerial. A partner with Carolina Kidney Associates in Greensboro for 28 years, he worked for the National Health Service Corp in Ft. Pierce, Florida, and one of his great passions is embarking on medical mission trips to Haiti and Honduras. His family and friends (pictured at left) were among our honored guests on 11 January.

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color and to less affluent white students from the city of Boston. We were kids from Roxbury, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, and Roslindale. R.L. began an obvious initiative to become more racially and socio-economically diverse. Take a look at the photo-gallery on the wall downstairs and scan old yearbooks—you can see a pictorial representation of the change.

I don’t have to tell any of you that R.L. was a challenging academic experience, especially transitioning from Boston public schools. It was indeed difficult. Despite the academic rigor, R.L. for me was also a nurturing, comfortable, and safe place to receive an education.

However, outside the boundaries of the R.L. environment, as close as St. Theresa Avenue, my experience in West Roxbury was different. On occasions, after school, while we walked down St. Theresa Avenue to the bus stop, we (both African-American and white students) would encounter “townies” on the other side of the street.

These local boys would never cross the street, but would hurl verbal taunts of racial slurs or throw something at us. I do not know if any of us ever shared those experiences with the R.L. administration; but, given the racial climate in Boston at that time, the behavior, although inexcusable, was really not unexpected.

Hospital Desegregation Like many of my R.L. classmates, I pursued a career in medicine. During more than 30 years of medical practice in Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina, I learned that healthcare also had an ugly legacy of racial segregation and discrimination. It is a story not often told. Dr. King said, “Of all forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane.”

To use a medical metaphor, southern hospitals were afflicted by a debilitating sickness called segregation. Some segregated hospitals refused to treat AfricanAmerican patients, even for medical emergencies. In other hospitals, these patients, when allowed admission, were 16

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Dr. Alvin C. Powell ’74

almost always housed separate from the main medical wards. They were often placed in makeshift medical wards located in basements or attics, storage areas or in separate buildings from the main hospital.

If patients needed to be transported to the hospital by way of ambulance, they were often made to travel in a hearse from an African-American funeral home instead of a city ambulance reserved for white citizens.

Just as segregation in schools corresponded to poor academic results, segregation in hospitals resulted in substandard medical care. The disparities in healthcare prompted concerned white and AfricanAmerican people in communities to work together and establish small hospitals referred to as Colored or Black Hospitals.

At one time, there were more than 150 Black Hospitals in the U.S. Greensboro, North Carolina, where I live, had one: L. Richardson Memorial Hospital. Greensboro also had two other hospitals during the 1960s. Moses Cone Hospital, the largest, did not allow African-American doctors on staff to admit their patients; but white doctors could admit AfricanAmerican patients requiring care that they

could not get at L. Richardson Hospital.

The other hospital, Wesley Long Hospital, completely refused admission to AfricanAmerican patients and doctors. So, in spite of the vast capacity of medical resources in Greensboro with three hospitals, most of the medical care delivered and received

by African Americans was at the small and overcrowded L. Richardson Hospital.

In 1963 a lawsuit in Greensboro District Court challenged the practice of segregated medical care. The plaintiffs, led by Dr. George Simkins, two other dentists, six medical doctors, and two patients, sued Moses Cone and Wesley Long Hospitals for not allowing African-American doctors to work on staff or African-American patients to be treated at those hospitals.

The lawsuit was known as Simkins v.

Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital, et al.

The hospital won the initial lawsuit.

However, upon appeal, the doctors’ and patients’ legal team argued that because the hospital received construction money from the federal government and therefore from all taxpayers, there could be no discrimination based upon race. In November 1963, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the doctors and patients. Segregation in hospitals was declared illegal in the United States.

That lawsuit was a landmark decision and resulted in the equal access to hospitals, to all patients, and physicians, in every state, regardless of their race.

Dr. King said, “Americans should learn to live together as brothers, lest we die together as fools.” A moment of hope occurred in September 2016, when the Moses Cone Hospital chief executive and board publicly apologized to the last surviving plaintiff, 94-year-old Dr. Alvin Blount, for the hospital’s role in segregation and discrimination. Dr. Blount graciously accepted the apology and about two months later passed away. That was 53 years after the legal decision, and although the apology was very late, it was important for Dr. Blount, the plaintiffs’ families, and the community.

Conclusion Let me close by paraphrasing from the Bible the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

It is a story of a man traveling down an unsafe road. The man is beaten, robbed, and left for dead on the side of the road.

A priest sees him, passes by him, and does not help. A Levite sees him, passes by him, and does not help. Then a Samaritan sees the man and has pity on him.

Although the beaten man was of a different race and was his enemy, the Samaritan tended to his wounds and put him on his donkey and carried him to an inn.

At the inn he continued to help the man, then paid the inn keeper to care for the man until he returned. He promised he

would pay him whatever else he owed him upon his return.

The moral of the story was that, despite our differences—no matter what they are, we are all neighbors and should love one another.

My Roxbury Latin family, many good people of all races, religions, and socioeconomic status, worked for civil rights.

Rosa Parks refused to move and give up her seat on the bus so others did not have to. Dr. George Simkins and others sued two hospitals so everyone could receive equitable healthcare. Dr. King’s life was tragically ended during his struggle to make life better in America for each of us.

The Good Samaritan taught us to love one

another despite our differences.

The seal of Roxbury Latin states, Mortui Vivos Docent or, as we know, “the dead teach the living.” Fifty years after his death, the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life continues to teach us about the important struggles for civil rights and equality. I ask you to teach others about the awful history of segregation and discrimination, and about the brave people who fought against it. Teach against bullying, bigotry, negative peer pressure, or name calling. Teach others by your moral and ethical actions. Teach by what you say. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and love your neighbor as yourself.

May God bless each one of you.

Snow Day by Benjamin LaFond I ACROSS 1 Cries of recognition 4 Org. for whom paid athletes are up their alley?

7 ___-o’-shanter 10 Winter hrs. in Manitoba 13 Prefix with meter 14 Next-of-kin: abbr.

15 Exist 16 Cry of alarm 17 Rapper Missy 19 Baller Jeremy 20 Abbr. for many a corporation 21 Take control of an enemy’s fortifications 24 Book that’s not light reading 25 “Of all these bounds, ___ from this line to this...We make thee lady”: King Lear 26 Certain split 28 Boston, MA–Boston, UK dir.

29 Funnyman Morgan 31 Prefix with gram 32 Make like a dove 33 Interjection that’s often followed by a question mark 35 Skewer 36 Pantry item that’s decorated with a rooster 40 Base of the neck 41 Many a French film’s end?

42 ___-haw 43 Makes a run for it 45 Sheer 47 Cheat: var.

50 Where to keep excess fat, apparently 52 “To ___ is human” 53 River that flows through Florence 54 Many a costume party Answers on page 26

57 Diarist Anaïs 58 Common currency: abbr.

59 “I ___...”

60 Gonorrhea, e.g.

61 Ending with improv 62 Words that often come with a wink or a nudge 63 Take in, as from a straw 64 “Just so you know...”

65 Sine qua ___ 66 ___-mo 67 There are 1,760 of them in a mile: abbr.

DOWN 1 “___ Fideles” 2 Snazzy hotel chain 3 Oscar Wilde play about the death of John the Baptist 4 Senior-year highlight, for some 5 In an improved condition 6 Gibson who won the French Open in 1956 7 Baby powder substance 8 Opera solos 9 “Someone to admire and emulate,” per Leo Rosten 10 Woman who became the constellation Ursa, in myth 11 Point-of-purchase fee 12 Cannabis chemical: abbr.

18 Fury 22 Witch or wizard, perhaps 23 Lover of Pyramus 27 “Angry” collective 29 Like a ___ of bricks 30 ___ it up (laugh) 32 Belief systems 34 Thor who sailed on Kon-Tiki

36 Disaster 37 Modus ___ 38 Lucy of “Kill Bill” 39 “Game of Thrones” honorific 40 49ers org.

44 One of many on some flashy costumes 46 Swaps 47 Like Argentina’s pampas 48 Ornamented with gems, perhaps 49 Anemone structures 51 ___-Japanese War 53 “Honest” prez 55 ’50s PM Anthony 56 Jyn of “Rogue One” 57 Org. with grant money

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hall highlights Dr. Richard Prum The work of ornithologist Dr. Richard Prum has led him to support an unpopular theory put forward in 1915 by the eminent English biologist Ronald A. Fisher: that females prefer some male traits not because they might promote survival of future offspring, but simply because they’re attractive. On 1 February, Dr. Prum gave a presentation on aesthetic evolution, positing that “natural selection and sexual selection—mate choice and survival—can work in opposite directions, which makes us realize that…preference for beauty can drive evolution in a distinct way.” He sees such aesthetic choices as driving a gradual “aesthetic remodeling”—an evolutionary reshaping of mating behavior, and even of male social behavior more widely, by the pressure of female preference. Dr. Prum asks bold questions, challenges conventional thinking, and—as the New York Times reported—he has, more than once, found himself “on the winning side of initially unpopular ideas.”

A 2009 recipient of the MacArthur prize, Dr. Prum is the William Robertson Coe Professor of Ornithology, Ecology, and Evolutionary Biology at Yale. His recent book, The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin’s Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World—and Us, was named a best book of the year by the New York Times, Smithsonian, and the Wall Street Journal.

“Freedom of choice and sexual autonomy is a force in nature. It was not invented by suffragettes and feminists in the 19th and early 20th century. It is an evolved feature of social-sexual species in the wild.”

Derek Ho ’92 and David Friedman P ’21 On 13 February, Derek Ho ’92 and David Friedman, father of Class IV’s Daniel Sun-Friedman, co-presented in Hall on the role and work of the Supreme Court. Both practicing lawyers, Messrs. Ho and Friedman each clerked for Supreme Court justices—Mr. Ho for Justice Souter, and Mr. Friedman for Justice Stevens. Their presentation included a review of some landmark cases and a preview of some cases likely to come, offering a sense of what hangs in the balance vis-à-vis politicization of the court and the political process more broadly. In an increasingly polarized climate, the reliability of this venerable institution is ever more important. Messrs. Ho and Friedman spent the rest of the morning discussing related topics in classes with upperclassmen in U.S. History and Class VI history students. Mr. Ho is a partner with the firm Kellogg Hansen, and has successfully represented clients in three of the Supreme Court’s most significant recent class action decisions. Mr. Friedman is senior vice president for legal and government affairs for the Red Sox and senior counsel for Fenway Sports Group.

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“The legitimacy of the court depends on its ability to convince the American people that it is a legitimate part of our constitutional system. Historically, it has done that by trying to stay above the political fray.”—Derek Ho ’92

Dr. Maria Ivanova The fourth and final of this year’s Smith Scholars, Dr. Maria Ivanova has worked closely with national governments and with the United Nations to bring analytic rigor to deliberations about a range of global environmental issues, including climate change. On 19 January in Hall she explained just how the Paris Agreement was a game changer in the international response to climate change. Of critical importance was a change in the narrative from one of sacrifice to one of opportunity. A native of Bulgaria, Dr. Ivanova holds advanced degrees in environmental studies and international relations from Yale. She teaches in the McCormack Graduate School for Policy and Global Studies at UMass Boston. In 2013, UN Secretary-General Ban-Kim Moon appointed Dr. Ivanova to his 26-member Scientific Advisory Board, and in 2015 she was awarded an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship to support her pioneering research on international environmental governance.

“In Paris, we had a game changer: the confluence of science, economics, and politics. We knew what the problem was, we knew what needed to be done, and we knew how to do it.… ”

Dr. Moon Duchin

“One of the hardest things about working on gerrymandering is that you have to decide what your norms of fairness are going to be.…The math is there to tell you that you can’t have all your norms satisfied at once. You have to prioritize them and think hard about the trade-offs.”

In January, a panel of federal judges blocked a congressional redistricting map in North Carolina because they believed lawmakers drew it seeking political advantage.

In Hall on 25 January, Dr. Moon Duchin discussed her work in the applications of geometry and computing to eliminate gerrymandering in U.S. redistricting. Dr. Duchin majored in mathematics and women’s studies at Harvard and earned her doctorate in mathematics at the University of Chicago. Now associate professor of math and director of the Science, Technology and Society program at Tufts, she focuses her research on geometric group theory and topology, with tools from dynamics.

Dr. Duchin’s mathematical expertise, combined with her interest in history, philosophy, culture of science, and civil rights, inspires her goal to harness computing power to generate massive numbers of maps that describe fair districts. Believing that gerrymandering of all kinds is a fundamental threat to our democracy, she launched the Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group, a Bostonbased team of mathematicians, to study applications of geometry and computing to the redistricting problem.

Following Hall, Dr. Duchin continued the discussion with John Lieb’s Advanced Math Topics class.

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The Limits of Language Poet Amaud Johnson broaches the awkward and the unsayable

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e’re always fighting to come to terms with the things we see…[and] to develop a vocabulary for that.” For poet Amaud Johnson, one of those fights is to create a framework to manage what has always been in front of him.

The author of two books of poetry, Amaud Jamaul Johnson talked about his work in Hall on 15 February. His first book, Red Summer, which won the Dorset Prize, is about the race riots of 1919, during which nearly a hundred African American men in cities across the country were lynched. His second book, Darktown Follies, examines (and cross-examines) that very popular form of American entertainment for many years: the minstrel show.

Mr. Johnson described his hometown of Compton, California, as “a fairly violent place” during the ’70s to early ’90s. He acknowledges a kind of survivor’s guilt and recognizes his desire to historicize that violence as one of the forces that drove him toward poetry. “Was this narrative just connected to my street, my neighborhood? Or was there something larger, something embedded in our identity as Americans, and particularly as men, that created a seed for a certain kind of aggression?”

Mr. Johnson did extensive research into the race riots of 1919 for Red Summer. His poem “The Manassa Mauler” explores boxing—one outlet of this aggression contemporaneous with the race riots—and the bloodiest fight in heavyweight history.

“When I started reading more about this relationship between historical violence, sport, and racialized violence, it’s almost as if everything in my life seemed connected. The things that I began to see happening in my house, the things that were happening in the street, and the way I was reading history all helped me process this larger question in terms of who we are.”

Mr. Johnson wrote Darktown Follies in part to explore that “awkward space” created when comedy co-opts racialized violence. The title of one poem, “Pigmeat,” is named for Pigmeat Markham, the last African-American comic to perform in blackface. “Pigmeat’s joke is that [blackface] made him look lighter—which isn’t really a joke, but it depends on where you are in that conversation.”

What we laugh at says a great deal about who we are in a cultural moment. “We can look at our comedians as maybe the best among us because they can see these things that we’re still trying to figure out culturally. We laugh partly in recognition of a truth we haven’t really heard articulated in that way. But we’re also kind of uneasy, 20

April 2018

because we’re not really sure what it means.”

“So let’s say someone tells you a racist joke. You say, ‘Oh, that’s, like, racist,’ but because you were educated in a certain way, you think, I don’t want to say anything because I don’t want to draw attention to the problem. Maybe you just laugh to defuse the tension, but that laughter makes you complicit in the joke—right?—because that racist individual who said the joke now thinks that he’s funny.

This is the strange tension in the way we negotiate humor.”

Mr. Johnson didn’t imagine himself a poet as a youth. In high school he was an athlete, but he was also on the debate team, where he learned to see an argument from all sides. “You almost have to fight against yourself to be able to process what the conversation is and then be able to pinpoint exactly what you want to say and how you want to say it. I began to think of poems functioning in the same way.”

“Part of what’s functioning at the heart of poetry is identifying the limits of language—when the word is insufficient, it collapses into metaphor. …I think something similar happens in comedy: you’re leading the audience to a point where they’re doing the cognitive work, where they think, Are you saying what I think you’re saying?... The most successful art forms seed participation.

You have to work emotionally and intellectually to internalize that meaning.”

Amaud Johnson

“Ultimately,” Mr. Johnson explained, that in poetry, as in comedy, “we’re always trying to figure out how to say the unsayable.”

Mr. Johnson earned degrees at Howard University and Cornell and currently teaches in the MFA Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he directs the Institute for Creative Writing. After Hall, he visited Kate Stearns’ senior writing class, and Cary Snider’s sophomore English class.

Fa cul t y Spo tl i ght Hunter Mayo White teaches French 1, French 2, and French 4, coordinates all school travel, and coaches Junior Tennis.

H un te r W h i te , Fre nch

W

hat strikes students immediately when they walk into Hunter White’s classroom is the collection of Monet paintings decorating the walls. A lover of French art, culture, and history, Hunter welcomes her students into the Francophone world.

Hunter was not always a Francophile.

Though her second-grade teacher first piqued her interest with the basics of the language, it was her middle school French teacher, Erica Wallach, at the Highland School in Warrenton, Virginia, who sparked a passion for French that has never waned. Hunter majored in French at Trinity College, and spent a full year in Paris, studying and living with a family to immerse herself in the culture and language. There she met her future husband, who encouraged her to become a teacher.

Fresh out of college, “Madame” White joined the R.L. faculty in 1982 at age 22. “I think I was crazy,” Hunter admits, “in part because I was the only female faculty mem-

ber at the time. Thankfully, that isn’t the case today.” During those first few years of teaching, she also earned her MA in French Language and Literature from Middlebury College, with R.L. support. After leaving in 1985 to raise a family, she returned for good in 1998. Alongside Ousmane Diop, she has helped the French program become more immersive, global, and welcoming of new technologies. Recognizing that learning French is all about exposure and practice, Madame White encourages students to read, watch videos, listen to music, and ultimately practice the language where it’s truly spoken. Thus, she and M. Diop take their first-year students to Quebec each March for a four-day immersion trip, and they lead a cohort of rising juniors to Normandy and Paris for the month of June.

Back in her classroom, Madame White strives to give her students “confidence in the language and the motivation to continue to develop their skills.” As a nonnative speaker, Madame White is empa-

thetic: “I know how long it takes, and how much effort it takes to learn the language.”

On a personal level, she wants to share with her students the wonder that she enjoyed learning French and how knowing a second language has enriched her life. Ultimately, she hopes “the language will open doors for [her] students to new friendships, perspectives, and experiences.”

No text does this better, in her opinion, than Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince), which she teaches every spring to her second-year students. In her mind, “the story offers inspiration for meaningful personal reflection, which, in turn, allows them to internalize—for the first time in their study of French—their experience of learning to express themselves authentically in a foreign language.”

When not guiding students through the streets of Quebec or the human intricacies of Le Petit Prince, Hunter enjoys hiking and canoeing in Vermont where her family has a home.

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John Paul Buckley V

Exelauno Day: Olympians of the Classics

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ixteen boys from Classes VI through I competed on 1 March in the David Taggart Clark Competition in Greek and Latin Declamation in Rousmaniere Hall. Exelauno Day is a uniquely Roxbury Latin event that allows for the singular annual pleasure of hearing from boys of every age and level of exposure to Latin and Greek.

Under the inscrutable gaze of the entire Classics faculty, seated across the dais and listening intently, each boy declaimed his memorized lines from the likes of Ovid, Virgil, Cicero, or Pliny the Younger. Traditions like this one have a way of evolving

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over time. What began more than a century ago as a straight recitation of ancient texts in their original tongue is now amplified with as much physical drama as adolescent boys are capable of, limited only (and thankfully) by what the space will allow.

And contestants grow bolder with every generation. Jackets and ties have been coming off for years, but this year, Class IV’s Benjamin Chang-Holt also took off his shirt and draped it over his head, tying the arms under his chin—a veritable paradigm shift in the telling of Ovid’s story of Deucalion and Pyrrha “throwing stones to save the world.”

Sometimes it takes a rookie to push the envelope. Sixie Adam Kuechler, brand new to Exelauno customs and practice, not only staged a convincing backstroke at the feet of his teachers, but then jumped off the stage and ran down one side aisle and up the other to finish—back on stage and breathless—his telling of Ovid’s story of Arethusa, who, “bathing naked, is stalked and chased by Alpheus.”

Throughout it all, the Classics faculty sits stone-faced in a row of chairs that, incidentally, have held generations of their predecessors. Despite the stoical countenance of these masters (or because of it?), declaimers

Thomas Bulger I

Nate Lopes II

Jere Rose III

Adam Kuechler VI Winners: Coleman Smith II, Robert O’Grady IV, Thomas Bulger I

Ben LaFond I

2018 DECLAIMERS Lower School Latin Adam Kuechler VI James McCurley VI Robert Zabin VI John Paul Buckley V Vishnu Emani V David Sullivan V Benjamin Chang-Holt IV James Lomuscio IV *Robert O’Grady IV

exploit them shamelessly as props. This year, Greek declaimer Thomas Bulger I, a.k.a. Patroclus, being “fatally wounded by Hector,” delivered 90 percent of his speech, right up to his last gasp, slumped up against the knees of Master Darian Reid.

So peculiar to this school is Exelauno Day that alumni continue to mark it in local pubs in cities around the country (see page 40), and more than 350 watched the livestream of the Hall. Memories were made again this year, but most especially for the brave boys who took a chance on stage to recite in an ancient—yet living—language.

As Classics chair and master of ceremonies Jamie Morris-Kliment affirmed in her introduction (all in Latin, of course), “Lingua Latina et lingua Graeca non mortuae sunt.”

The judges, to whom R.L. extends sincere gratitude, were Anthony Breen from Buckingham Browne & Nichols School; Mark W. Harrington from Noble and Greenough School; and Timothy Joseph from the College of the Holy Cross.

Ben Chang-Holt IV

View the livestream of the event‚ with its attendant ceremonies, via the link at right.

Photos: www.flickr.com/photos/roxburylatin/albums/ Livestream: www.roxburylatin.org/page/rl-tv

David Sullivan V

Upper School Latin Avi Attar III Jeremiah Rose III Ethan Kee II *Coleman Smith II Benjamin LaFond I Greek Nathaniel Lopes II *Thomas Bulger I *Winners Judges Anthony Breen Assistant Director of Middle School Latin Teacher Buckingham Browne & Nichols School Mark W. Harrington Latin Teacher Noble and Greenough School Timothy Joseph Associate Professor of Classics College of the Holy Cross

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the arts

Student Production

directed by Marc de Fontnouvelle I This year’s Student Production, Woody Allen’s Riverside Drive, drew a crowd to the Smith Theater on Saturday, 27 January.

Directed by Class I’s Marc de Fontnouvelle, the one-act comedy pits the two halves of a writer’s psyche against each other. Reis White I plays Jim, a successful but bland young writer, who is waiting for his mistress (played by Winsor’s Katie Tsai) when Fred (played by seniors Jack Golden and Quinn Ebben), a creative genius who has gone insane, engages him in an absurd conversation. Jim reveals that he is intending to end his affair, but is blackmailed by his mistress when he tries to do so. He and Fred then engage in a battle of wits and morals as they struggle to solve the issue.

The crew of four included Andrew Gray I, Technical Director; Johnny Ryan II, Stage Manager; Nick Chehwan III, Soundboard Operator; Carson Straub I, Set Construction.

Upperclassmen were invited to a catered dinner in the Refectory prior to the show.

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Junior Play

The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail Over the first weekend in March, R.L. thespians of the younger classes (with a welcome trio of Winsor actresses) staged Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee’s The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, this year’s Junior Play, in the Smith Theater. The play tells the story of Thoreau’s night spent in jail for refusing to pay the poll tax, levied to support the MexicanAmerican War and, indirectly, slavery.

For Henry David Thoreau, says Director Danny Bolton, “there were no random acts.

His thoughts were deliberate and his deeds aligned completely with a steadfast commitment to finding truth,” which led him to adopt some new—and sometimes unpopular—ideas. There was no disconnect between his thoughts and actions, but the course of his actions had consequences. In the play, Henry confronts myriad issues—including slavery, the role of government, women’s rights, the power of nature and what he called the “liberality of learning”—and is arrested for daring to challenge them. Over his time in jail, he retraces the steps that have led to his profound philosophy and the solid foundation of thought he has pursued.

Mr. Bolton (who has directed for us several times before, including An Evening of Scenes two years ago and Hard Times five years ago), sees in the play a timelessness that continues to inspire us “to ask questions, convert thought into action, and live for the ‘unplanned, unexpected interruptions’ that greet each day.”

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The Latonics, at the Joint Concert on 4 March.

R.L.–Winsor Joint Concert. On 4 March, the Glee Club joined forces with Winsor musicians to perform selections from Leonard Bernstein’s Mass in Rousmaniere Hall.

Arts Calendar Fri, 6 Apr 7:30 pm: A Cappella Fest

Jazz Band performed in Hall on 14 March.

Fri, 20 Apr 7:30 pm: Senior Concert Fri & Sat, 4 & 5 May 8 pm: Spring Musical: Oliver Thurs, 10 May 7:30 pm: The Sly Voxes’ Spring Concert Fri, 18 May 7:30 pm: Spring Instrumental Concert

Answers to puzzle on page 17:

Recital Hall, 31 January: Eric Zaks II (Haydn: Cello Concerto No.2 in D Major, 1st movement); Chris Zhu III (Liszt: Waldesrauschen, 1st concert étude); Jonathan Weiss III (Chopin: Nocturne op. 27 no. 1); Dylan Zhou I (on piano with Eric Zaks); and Jake Wexelblatt I (The Greyboy Allstars: “Hot Dog”).

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Jazz It Up

Jazz pianist Michael Kanan ’81 with jazz vocalist Jane Monheit in the Smith Theater

Jane Monheit and Michael Kanan ’81 perform in Hall and for Flurry

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ith each new crop of sixies, R.L. is primed with potential: budding writers, actors, mathematicians, athletes, and artists. (A glance at the Class Notes bears this out.) In 1975, one such sixie, Mike Kanan, expressed a passion for music from the start and was known throughout his R.L. years as an outstanding piano soloist. Brilliant though he was at that time, his teenage years were a pale foreshadowing of the career success he would enjoy.

On Friday, 23 February, Mr. Kanan, who now lives in Brooklyn, returned to school with jazz vocalist Jane Monheit as this year’s Berman Artists in Residence. Since graduating with the R.L. Class of 1981, Mr. Kanan studied with internationally-renowned jazz pianist Harvey Diamond, accompanied legendary vocalist Jimmy Diamond, and today studies classical music with pianist Sophia Rosoff. He has been the pianist and arranger for Ms. Monheit’s band since 2001, touring all over the world and performing on several of her albums and CDs. Ms. Monheit, whose recordings have earned her two Grammy nominations, has collaborated with such artists as Michael Bublé and John Pizzarelli (who performed at R.L. in 2010). She has been featured on the nationally-televised Christmas at the White House and other high-profile U.S. Capitol events. Ms. Monheit’s newest album, The Songbook Sessions: Ella Fitzgerald, is a

tribute to Ms. Fitzgerald’s songbook album.

We are especially fortunate when the greater school community can also enjoy the bounty that our Berman Artists bring to Roxbury Latin boys. As have a number of our recent Berman Artists, Ms. Monheit and Mr. Kanan shared their talent with R.L. parents as the featured entertainment for the February Flurry on the evening of 24 February. The annual winter social for parents, faculty, and staff was, once again, masterfully inspired, designed, and conducted by the Parents’ Auxiliary.

Since Ethan Berman ’79 and his wife, Fiona Hollands, established the Claire Berman Artist-in-Residence Fund in 2005, the school has been honored to welcome actors Charles Holt, Kate Burton, Christopher Lloyd, and Tovah Feldshuh; actor and director Roger Rees; the troupe of The American Shakespeare Center; poet laureate Billy Collins; jazz artist John Pizzarelli; rock-and-roll performers of BEATLEMANIA NOW; musicians Jason Vieaux and Julien Labro; singer/songwriter Livingston Taylor; and last year, “The ExperiMentalist” Gerard Senehi.

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Seniors Evan Lim and Mahamud Hashi with Dr. Andrew Eyre ’02

I n a n d O u t o f the Class room

With Help from the Pros, Honors Bio Students Tackle Big Questions

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ow do you detect irony in someone’s voice? What part of a plant is best for vegetative propagation? What effect does a combination of alcohol and sleeping pills have on water fleas? Over the last couple of months, the Honors Biology students in Dr. Peter Hyde’s class were answering these questions and more, with help from medical professionals and research scientists.

For the fifth year, Honors Bio students spent winter term immersed in their Independent Research Projects (IRP). Posing questions of their own scientific interest, the boys developed experiment proposals and turned to the professionals for realtime feedback, honing their approaches all the while. Even before the winter break, the students met with their IRP mentors—R.L. parents and alumni who are also research scientists, pediatricians, surgeons, oncolo28

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gists—in person or over Skype. With the feedback from those sessions, the boys refined their experimental plans, and in January and February they collected their data. The IRP mentors then met with their mentees again to discuss the data and findings, and worked with the students

on developing compelling presentations, which were on exhibit after spring break.

Other research projects included the effects of music on reaction time and memory; the effects that the pH level in soil has on plants; and whether bacteria will evolve a resistance to UV light.

Special thanks to our generous mentors, who include: Dr. Sandip Bose (P ’16, ’23), Research Scientist, Schlumberger Dr. Margaret Crawford (P ’18, ’21), Framingham Pediatrics Dr. Sirisha Emani (P ’17, ’22), Boston Children’s Hospital: Surgery Dr. Andrew Eyre ’02, Brigham and Women’s Hospital: Emergency Medicine Dr. Leonor Fernandez (P ’18, ’22), BIDMC: General Medicine Dr. Ephraim Hochberg ’88, MGH: Oncology and Hematology Mr. Tim Poterba ’09, Research Scientist, The Broad Institute Dr. Merrill Weitzel (P ’16, ’18, ’20, ’22), Boston Children’s Hospital: Obstetrics and Gynecology Dr. Scot Wolfe (P ’15, ’18), UMASS Medical School: Molecular, Cell, and Cancer Biology

Lessons in Detox

Over two visits to Elizabeth Carroll’s Environmental Science class, Dr. Jennie Liss Ohayon, a post-doctoral research fellow at the Silent Spring Institute, spoke to the seniors about the public health risks associated with every day toxins (cleaners, personal care products, etc.). She had the boys catalogue the products they use (and the toxins in them) and then commit to trying to change 5-10 “behaviors” to reduce their exposures—from removing their shoes indoors to avoiding plastic products containing BPA to choosing fragrancefree products. They tracked their progress with a “Detox Me” app that Silent Spring developed. On Dr. Ohayon’s return visit students discussed what they had learned.

Sixies visit Pequot Museum Class VI visited the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center in Ledyard, Connecticut, on 17 January. The visit provided a rich, hands-on complement to their history readings from William Cronon’s Changes in the Land. The class explored the recreation of a Pequot village and watched a few short videos on the wampum trade—each of which was expertly contextualized by the docent. The visit culminated in a showing of The Witness, a 30-minute film that dramatizes the Pequot War of 1637 from a Native American perspective. The trip, made possible thanks to the John Eliot Fund, enabled the boys to imagine life in a Pequot village before and after European contact and understand the complex web of relationships between Pequots and both Dutch and English traders in the 16th century, and to consider from all three perspectives the conflicts that arose and eventually culminated in war.

Faculty Development Day: Diversity and Mindfulness

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hile students enjoyed a holiday on the Tuesday after Presidents’ Day weekend, the Roxbury Latin faculty met to consider two important topics: diversity and mindfulness in independent school education. In the morning, teachers gathered for a screening of the film American Promise, an award-winning documentary by Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson. Set in New York City, the film follows the lives of two African-American boys from the time they enter the Dalton School at age five to the time they graduate thirteen years later (one from Dalton and the other from Benjamin Banneker High School).

R.L. faculty members then met in small groups to discuss the obstacles these boys and families faced in their experience of independent school education, where and how each boy found success, and how their experiences compare to those of Roxbury Latin’s boys of color.

The afternoon began with a workshop led by Rose Pavlov, founder and CEO of Ivy Child International, a nonprofit organization that seeks to develop mindful leaders who will engage and impact social change, prioritizing urban populations and their multicultural needs. Focusing on meditation and breathing exercises, Rose demonstrated how teachers could enhance the overall wellness of their students, as well as their own. The day concluded with two presentations: the first by faculty member Chris Heaton, who reported on the action research project he has undertaken for the International Boys’ Schools Coalition, involving the practice of mindfulness in the cross country team’s training; the second by the school’s consulting psychologist, Dr. Boaz Levy, who traced the history of meditation practice from its origins in ancient India and demonstrated its influence on Western thought, focusing specifically on therapeutic relationships.

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student news a provision that a victim of sexual harassment is to remain silent about his or her sexual harassment as part of the agreement.

Andrew Steinberg I, Marc de Fontnouvelle I, Stewart Thomsen, Eoghan Downey I, and John Philippides I at the Kingswood Oxford Public Speaking Tournament.

First Place Finish and the Googins Cup at Kingswood Oxford On Super Bowl Sunday, public speaking advisor Stewart Thomsen took the fourman team of Andrew Steinberg, Marc de Fontnouvelle, Eoghan Downey, and John Philippides (all Class I) to the Kingswood Oxford School in Connecticut for the Forensics Union Public Speaking Tournament. The competition included four events in all—Persuasive Speaking, After-Dinner Speaking, Impromptu Speaking, and Ethical Dilemmas—with each boy competing in two events.

The R.L. team acquitted itself well among the competition: Marc placed first in Ethical Dilemmas, and Andrew placed first in both Persuasive Speaking and Impromptu Speaking. John took third place in Persuasive Speaking, and Eoghan 30

April 2018

took third place in Impromptu Speaking.

Marc finished as the tournament’s second place speaker overall, and Andrew earned first place speaker of the tournament.

Roxbury Latin also won the Best School Award, bringing home the Googins Cup for the third consecutive year.

Loomis Chaffee Debate Tournament Two weeks earlier, Mr. Thomsen traveled to Windsor, Connecticut, with Nick Chehwan III, Kam Miller III, Eric Ma III, and Willem Santry IV for the Loomis Chaffee Debate Tournament. R.L. took the 3rd place novice four-person team award debating the following resolution: Resolved, that in the United States of America, formal agreements, including Non-disclosure Agreements and Out of Court Settlements, should never include

Middle School Victories at Northeastern Model UN Twenty-eight Class VI and V boys participated in the Northeastern Model UN on 2 December, led by faculty advisors Daniel Bettendorf and Rary Delaney. Competing among more than 600 Greater Boston middle school students, Vishnu Emani V won Best Delegate (representing the U.S.A. on the topic of Food Security); and two R.L. teams won Best Speaker in their respective committees: Carter Crowley VI and Gabriel Stankovich VI, who represented Nigeria on Climate Change; and Josh Krakauer V and David Sullivan V, who represented Germany on Clean Water.

R.L. Earns Silver at Regional Middle School Science Bowl On Saturday, 24 February, eight boys from Class VI and V traveled to MIT to compete in the Northeast Regional Middle School Science Bowl, joining 30 of the region’s top teams. R.L.’s Class V team—Vishnu Emani, Teddy Glaeser, David Sullivan, and Alex Yin—went undefeated (6-0) in their preliminaries and moved on to the qualifying rounds. In the semifinals, R.L. trailed until 30 seconds before the bell, then rallied with an 18-point flurry to win by 14 points.

The only loss of the day for the team came in the final match against the defending national champions, earning R.L. the competition’s second-place trophy.

Robert Moore—science department

chair and the teams’ advisor—remarked on the boys’ energy, class, and sportsmanship, as well as on the leadership of senior Dylan Zhou. President of the Science Club, Dylan met with members of the Class VI and Class V teams countless times to help them practice and prepare for the event.

Two Class II boys win Massachusettts History Day accolades Lucas Zheng II won first place in the Senior Historical Paper category in the Massachusetts History Day–Greater Boston District. The 2018 competition theme was “Conflict and Compromise in History.” Lucas’s essay topic was “The Crumbling Façade: The Lasting Effects of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne,” covering the Greco-Turkish conflict in the post-WWI era. Lucas moves on to the State Competition on this spring.

Adam Berk II received an Honorable Mention for his paper titled “John Quincy Adams and the Transcontinental Treaty: Taking America from the Atlantic to the Pacific.”

Massachusetts History Day is the state affiliate of National History Day, an interdisciplinary research project for students in grades 6-12 that encourages exploration of local, state, national, and world history.

The program culminates in the Kenneth E. Behring National Contest each June held at the University of Maryland at College Park.

National journal publishes article by R.L. senior The Journal of American Organ Building published an article written by senior Andrew Gray in its November 2017 issue. Last June, with the support of an O’Connell Fellowship, Andrew attended a pipe organ construction program of the American Guild of Organists at the workshop of Parkey Organbuilders in Atlanta, Georgia. Andrew’s article described the week-long tech program, which included classes on organ mechanical basics, demonstrations of practical skills, and visits to area organs.

Middle School Science Bowl Silver Medal winners: Science Club President Dylan Zhou I, Vishnu Emani V, Alex Yin V, David Sullivan V, Teddy Glaeser V, and faculty advisor Robert Moore.

Adam Berk II and Lucas Zheng II

Eagle Scouts Honored Two members of Class II, Lucas Zheng and Adam Berk, earned the highest rank in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America this past year. Lucas, a member of Troop 89 of Medfield, was recognized in its Court of Honor last May. Adam was the newest Eagle Scout for Wellesley’s Troop 182, which held its ceremony honoring Adam on 28 January as the 130th Eagle over the Troop’s 104 years of continuous activity.

The Eagle Scout is the highest rank in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America. To earn this award, a Scout must earn at least 21 merit badges and complete numerous other requirements, including an extensive service project conceived, planned, organized and led by the Scout.

Lucas has been a Boy Scout for six years.

A wrestler and cross-country runner, he also plays piano in R.L. chamber music recitals, and is a member of the Math Club, Spanish Club, Glee Club, and Science Bowl team. For his Eagle Scout service project, Lucas blazed a trail at Hale Reservation.

Adam joined Troop 182 in 2011 as a sixth-grader. His Eagle Project also benefitted Hale Reservation. He led more than 30 volunteers in building two archery platforms in a single day for the Hale Outdoor Learning Adventures program, which brings inner-city youth to an outdoor setting during the summer.

Adam—whose father, R.L. trustee Michael Berk, is also an Eagle Scout—is active on campus with the school newspaper, debate team, Classics Club, Glee Club and Varsity Track and Field.

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2018 Winter Team Records Basketball Varsity....................... 12-9-0 Junior Varsity.............. 11-6-0 Third.......................... 10-5-0 Fourth........................ 15-4-0 Hockey Varsity....................... 13-9-1 Junior........................ 14-3-0 Wrestling Varsity....................... 19-2-0

athletics

Heart and hustle J o s h W il d e s , h e

ad

co a

propel a winning wrestling season

Photos by Adam Richins

ch

E

very high school wrestling meet has 14 weight classes, which means that on any given day a team has fourteen possible starters. This year, 28 R.L. boys competed in varsity matches, which speaks volumes of the program’s depth.

“If you visited a practice this winter, you wouldn’t be able to tell who the starters were,” says head coach Josh Wildes. “All the wrestlers did the same drills, did the same conditioning, had the same practice. We didn’t rely on any single wrestler to carry the team—in fact, doing that in this sport is impossible.”

A wrestler can only score six points for his team in a dual meet.

With 21 dual meets, R.L. finished the season at 19–2, and only four times were R.L.’s competitors within a twelve-point finish. At the annual Graves-Kelsey tournament (the league championship named, in part, for long-time Roxbury Latin coach Bert Kelsey), twelve R.L. boys placed, earning the school a second-place finish. At the New England championships, eleven wrestlers made it within one round of placing, achieving an overall team finish of eighth.

This year’s team included seven seniors who set the tone and contributed in countless ways, which Coach Wildes explicitly listed during the winter sports wrap-up in Hall—calling individual Class I boys out for their courage, tenacity, hard work, and flexibility.

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“In every match you’re going to have some pain, but really successful wrestlers fight through it and summon the energy and strategy to contort themselves out of a bad spot.”

P a u l K u e chl e

rI

—Paul Kuechler I, co-captain

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“We were a team of depth, and that’s because of the environment the seniors created,” he said. “We worked together, like a family, to succeed. Our seniors did the small things that make a big difference, and I admire each of them greatly.”

Ayinde Best I, one of the team’s three co-captains, began wrestling as a reluctant sixie, cut from the basketball team and unsure of being “one of those scrawny kids

in the singlets.” Taking a leadership role on the team was not something that he foresaw. “When Ayinde was in the room, he took every drill seriously,” says Coach Wildes. “He pushed himself through the conditioning, and he wrestled hard. As a sixie, Ayinde would have laughed at me if I told him he was going to be a varsity starter, with a 9-3 season record, and a fifth-place finish at the Graves-Kelsey.”

Co-captain Paul Kuechler I was injured last year and unable to wrestle. Despite that, his team had the confidence in him to select him as captain. Injured again this winter—in his seventh match pinning his opponent using what he later realized was a broken hand—Paul became “de facto coach,” according to Mr. Wildes, helping to run practices, attending every meet, even joining the drive to Pennsylvania to help coach at the national tournament.

Evan. “I’d always assumed the captains were kids who were more prepared, and that being a leader felt different. When I got to that first practice as captain, I just felt like one of the guys, but now I had to lead them.”

Evan enlisted an approach he often saw in the movies, thinking that was “the ideal of leadership—standing up in front of everyone, loudly urging them on,” like in battle.

“That was difficult, because it wasn’t really me,” Evan says. “I eventually realized my team chose me because they saw something in who I was that they wanted. I ended up just doing my best to be myself—to be the kid who reaches out to the younger guys, who makes practice fun but also is a good example of work ethic.”

Each of the captains has great respect and affection for Coach Wildes who, Paul explains, tailors his approach depending on the wrestler. “For one guy,” says Paul,

E va n L i m I

“Though I couldn’t contribute a lot physically to the team this year, I could help my teammates get prepared mentally,” says Paul. “In every match you’re going to have some pain, but really successful wrestlers fight through it and summon the energy and strategy to contort themselves out of a bad spot. Even if you lose the match, losing by only three points instead of getting pinned helps the team significantly. I’d say even more than athleticism, mental toughness is an important component.”

Evan Lim, co-captain and the team’s most decorated senior, went 16-2 in dual meets and placed third at the GravesKelsey. Disappointed with his ISL finish, he bounced back to place third at the New England tournament—far higher than his 11th place seed, overcoming one competitor to whom he lost at the Graves-Kelsey.

“Evan’s individual accomplishments are minor in terms of what he contributed to the team,” says Coach Wildes. “He was there to build the team up before matches, and he was a rock for us to count on.”

Finding his rhythm as team captain wasn’t something that came naturally to

“I’d always assumed the captains were kids who were more prepared, and that being a leader felt different. When I got to that first practice as captain, I just felt like one of the guys, but now I had to lead them.”

—Evan Lim I, co-captain N e w s l e t t e r o f Th e R o x b u r y L at i n S c h o o l

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“Last year at the Graves-Kelsey I was beating a kid 4-0, and I tried something different—I got too aggressive, and the kid came back and pinned me. I had just been elimated. I felt horrible that I’d lost it for us, and Coach said, ‘Don’t worry— you were trying, and I like that.’”

—Ayinde Best I, co-captain

e A yi n d B e st I

“Coach Wildes might literally scream and yell at him and tell him what to do, because that’s what he needs to perform well. And then with other guys, Coach Wildes will just quietly say, ‘Do this move,’ and there will be silence for a little; the kid will do the move and it works.”

“The best thing about Coach Wildes is that he doesn’t get mad at you if you’ve lost a match, as long as you’ve honestly put in the work and given it your best,” says Ayinde. “I remember last year at the Graves-Kelsey I was beating a kid 4-0, and I tried something different—I got too aggressive, and the kid came back and pinned me. I had just been eliminated. I felt horrible that I’d lost it for us, and Coach said, ‘Don’t worry—you were trying, and I like that.’”

Compounding the team’s success, several R.L. wrestlers found individual victories this season. Doevy Estimphile II was selected to All-ISL, a title given to wrestlers earning first or second place at the Graves-Kelsey tournament. The team’s four All-New England wrestlers included Evan, Doevy, Mat Cefail III, and Evan Kisselev III. The future is bright for R.L. wrestling.

Next year’s varsity captains—Makoto Kobayashi II, Nate Lopes II, and Alvin Massenat II—will undoubtedly pick up the mantle. Coming up behind them, the junior team, coached by Cary Snider,

shows promise with 31 boys—14 of them sixies, who made great strides over the course of the year. Seven of R.L.’s younger boys placed in the culminating competition, at the Fessenden tournament, to which simply being invited is an honor.

Led by James DeVito V and Josh Krakauer V, the junior team had lots of reasons to celebrate this season, including three firstplace finishes at the Fay and Eaglebrook tournaments (by Will Hutter VI, John Balson IV, and Justin Shaw VI) as well as Will Grossman VI managing a season recordsetting, six-second pin of an opponent.

Varsity Wrestling. Kneeling: J. Ringel, A. Fuqua, E. Chang, J. Wilkinson, S. Morris-Klement, B. Morris, M. Cefail, M. Rincon, E. Simeonev, D. Estimphile, R. Impert. Middle row: Coach Josh Wildes, K. Sahin, E. Auguste, A. Attar, E. Kisselev, D. D’Alessandro, P. Kuechler (captain), E. Lim (captain), A. Best (captain), R. Deykin, A. Massenat, B. Gibbons, L. Zheng, J. Philippides, Coach Paul Sugg. Back row: B. Keough, J. Balson, L. Monteiro-Clewell, B. LaFond, M. Kobayashi, L. Rimas, J. Regan, N. Lopes, E. Downey, J. Rios, E. Zaks, A. Steinberg (manager).

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April 2018

Varsity Hockey. Kneeling: L. Streckenbach, D. Cuzzi, J. Roberts, A. Lovett, J. Duffy (captain), Z. Milton (captain), J. Sporn, J. Brosnan, J. Luca, M. Jones. Standing: Coach Dave Cataruzolo, F. Lonergan, P. Frates, R. Luca, W. Murphy, S. Ginsberg, K. Demore, B. Lovett, K. Swan, P. Morrissey, M. Traietti, Coach Mo Randall, K. Miller, Coach John Halverson. Missing: J. Ryan.

Varsity Basketball. Kneeling: S. Wellman (captain), M. Davis (captain). Standing: Coach Sean Spellman, W. Connaughton, S. Borgard, J. Nero, C. Weitzel, D. Brennan, A. Rosado, B. Rosenzweig, W. Greer, Coach Tony Teixeira.

Missing: J. Wexelblatt (manager), A. White (manager).

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Wi n te r Fa m il y Day

Home Team Success & Dedication of the Hennessy Rink

O

n Friday, 26 January, the mats, courts and rink of Roxbury Latin were abuzz with healthy competition and R.L. spirit. On a historic evening, three varsity contests were complemented by the dedication of the Hennessy Rink, named in honor of Jack Hennessy ’54 and his wife, Margarita.

Cheered on by fans of all ages during Winter Family Day, Varsity Wrestling came out victorious over Noble and Greenough, 48-25. Varsity Hockey, taking the ice against Groton, tied 4-4 in an exciting game. Meanwhile, J.V. Basketball went into double overtime against Nobles, ultimately falling short by one point, 52-53. Finally, Varsity Basketball topped Nobles 44-42.

Central to the evening’s celebration was the Hennessy Rink dedication ceremony, 38

April 2018

which drew boys and their families; faculty and staff; alumni from more than six decades; and honored guests including members of the Hennessy family, Headmaster Emeritus Tony Jarvis, and trustees including both the former and current board presidents, Dennis Kanin ’64 and Bob O’Connor ’85.

Headmaster Kerry Brennan emceed the ceremony, offering a brief history of R.L. hockey and chronicling the school’s “rinks” of the past: “In 1934, hockeyplaying boys—who to that point played the rare pick-up game on some local pond—would get a hockey rink…of a sort.

Cobbled together by two-inch pipe, volunteer post-diggers, and old track used for boards, a ramshackle outdoor rink served the school’s hockey team on what became the football practice field and is, in fact, the very

site we occupy this evening.”

On an evening honoring and thanking Jack and Margarita Hennessy—two of Roxbury Latin’s most generous benefactors—Mr. Brennan described “the boy whom many thought to be the school’s best athlete [of the time], Jack Hennessy.

In Jack’s senior year there were not enough boys to form

a hockey team. Despite the precarious nature of this sport then, the lessons of competition, fair play, and leadership resonated powerfully in young Jack’s noggin’ and he would go on to apply this knowledge to a life of commerce, service, and philanthropy.”

Following remarks from Mr. Hennessy himself, hockey cocaptains Jimmy Duffy and Zach Milton presented him with an R.L. hockey jersey featuring the name Hennessy over the number 54. “At Roxbury Latin, we’re always taught to play for the name on the front of the jersey,” began Zach, “but today, Mr. Hennessy, we play in honor of the name on the back of yours.”

Hockey captain Hubert Murphy ’36 on R.L.’s first hockey rink, which the team built out of lumber from the old track on precisely the same site as the new Hennessy Rink.

Co-captains Zach Milton I and Jimmy Duffy I presented Jack Hennessy ’54 with an R.L. hockey jersey.

Headmaster Brennan referenced the Hennessys’ ongoing support of various programs—like the Hennessy Scholars, who for 14 years have represented R.L. for a gap year at England’s Eton College; the annual Jarvis Lecture, which has brought to the school distinguished speakers on world affairs; the boys and faculty who have experienced the world through the Hennessys’ support of

travel abroad; and the boys on financial aid who are sponsored as Hennessy Scholars. “The Hennessys have made Jack’s school appreciably better thanks to their gifts,” continued Mr. Brennan, “but I have a hunch that their benefaction of this rink may be the most enduring monument to R.L.’s inveterate spirit and the loyalty and generosity of its alumni.”

Jack Hennessy ’54 with Tony Jarvis and Kerry Brennan.

“It is the dream of all who work in education… to somehow guide and touch deeply all young minds. Roxbury Latin did just that with Jack Hennessy, in the most incredible way. Nothing and no one in his mind comes even close to having instilled in him the sense of duty, of hard work, of dedication, and of service that he has. And those lessons have been and will continue to be taught at R.L. for centuries. Now his beloved school has the rink that this rink rat always wanted it to have. May many enjoy it for a long time.”

—Margarita Hennessy

Jack Hennessy ’54 prepares for the puck drop with team captains, Dennis Kanin ’64, Bob O’Connor ’85, and Kerry Brennan.

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Upcoming: Spring Alumni Luncheon Monday, 2 April, 12-2 p.m.

Putnam Club – Gillette Stadium

alumni gatherings

Reunion Weekend 2018 Friday & Saturday, 11-12 May For more information, visit www.roxburylatin.org/page/alumni

Reception for Jack Hennessy and Eton Scholars On 27 January, following Winter Family Day on the 26th and the dedication of the Hennessy Rink, the Headmaster hosted a reception for Jack Hennessy ’54 and the many beneficiaries of his Eton Scholarship since its establishment in 2004.

Pictured: Michael Beam ’10, Sam Klug ’07, Matt Wang ’05, Michael Grenier (Eton housemaster), Jack Hennessy ’54, Kerry Brennan, Brendan Hanrahan ’09, Collin Epstein ’13, Kevin Zhu ’16, Sam Balthazard ’14. (Not able to attend: Fernando Rodriguez-Villa ’06, Jake Connolly ’08, Michael Rosengard ’11, Oliver Booth ’17.)

Exelauno Pub Night

BOSTON After Exelauno Day comes Exelauno Pub Night. Alumni and faculty gathered at Clery’s in Boston after work on Thursday, 1 March, for the annual festive celebration.

Kyle Layne-Allen ’09, Drew Volpe ’96

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Brett Drucker ’11, Nelson Tamayo ’11, Brandan O’Loughlin ’11

Shaun Houlihan ’13, Mike Hurley ’13

Tim Poterba ’09, Stewart Thomsen

Kerry Brennan, Richard Habib ’79

East Comes West: Alumni gathering in San Francisco Some 35 alumni in the Bay Area enjoyed a cocktail reception and visit with Headmaster Kerry Brennan at the Wayfare Tavern in San Francisco on the evening of 11 January.

Roy Mabrey ’01, JJ O’Brien ’01, Jeff Crowe ’74

Kevin Harrington ’08, Kevin O’Brien ’08

Joel Grossman ’95, Paul Castleman ’60

Bob Baxter ’86, Arnold Lee ’96

Jim Rooney ’70, Stephen Kuenstner ’11, Ken Baclawski ’08

Garrett Spitzer ’05, Mike Ryan ’05, Jack McGeary ’07, Kerry Brennan, Tyler Boyer ’03

Guy Green ’13, Kerry Brennan

Arya Alizadeh ’09, Amir Ameri ’09

Anna Frausini, Sean Spellman ’08, Richie Iskra ’08

Darian Reid ’05, Sam Klug ’07, Kerry Brennan, Lamarr Rollins ’05, John Wolff ’07

Clifton Jones ’97, Graham Pingree ’97, Kevin O’Connell ’99

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Julian Silver ’08, Matt Elliott ’95, Josh Kidd ’95, Tim Sola ’92, John Abbott ’92, Will Pinkham ’10, Dan Settel ’06

Los Angeles celebrates Exelauno Day Los Angeles alumni gathered on 5 March to celebrate Exelauno Day. John Abbott ’92 wrote, “A funny thing we discovered—all attendees had wrestled at R.L. Fond reminiscences of Liv Carroll and Steve Ward ensued.”

R.L. Investors Group R.L.’s Boston Investors Alumni Group gathered on 12 February at Highfields Capital to hear from guest speaker Chuck Clough, chairman, CEO, and portfolio manager of Clough Capital. Mr. Clough shared insights from his 45 years of securities and investing experience. A graduate of Boston College and University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, Mr. Clough led investment strategy and research for such firms as Merrill Lynch, Cowen & Co, and The Boston Company.

Pat Sullivan ’98, Dan Botwinik ’98

Alex Raffol ’09, Scott Roman ’06, Kevin O’Connell ’99

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Jared Ginnetty ’13, Paul Matthews ’13

Chuck Clough (guest speaker), John Cornish ’96, Andy McElaney ’96

Young Alumni Giving Challenge The gauntlet has been thrown!

The classes of 2009-2012 are participating in the first-ever, young alumni giving challenge. As students, R.L. boys enjoyed competing on the athletic fields and debating in the classroom. Who delivered the best declamation on Exelauno Day? Who separated and identified all off the substances during the Sludge Lab? Who scored the winning touchdown against Nobles? And now: Which young alumni class will have the highest participation rate in this year’s annual fund? The victorious class will win bragging rights for the year and will make a difference in the lives of the R.L. students and faculty through their support of Alma Mater. Stay tuned to see who wins…

Reminder: the Annual Fund closes on 31 May Thank you to our dedicated phonathon volunteers:

A sincere thank you to all who have contributed to the school through the 2017-2018 Annual Fund. As of 27 February we raised $2,933,097 in gifts and pledges—81 percent of the way toward this year’s $3,600,000 Annual Fund goal.

The Annual Fund is critical to the financial health of the school, contributing over 22 percent of the operating budget. The remarkable generosity of our parents and alumni in support of the Annual Fund has made a dramatic difference in our ability to be a distinctive school. Lest there be any doubt, we need you to continue to give what you can to Roxbury Latin.

If you would like to make your gift to this year’s Annual Fund, please use the envelope in this Newsletter, or go to www.roxburylatin. org/giving and make your gift securely online.

Remember, the Annual Fund closes on 31 May. Thank you for your continued support and commitment to Roxbury Latin. www.roxburylatin.org/giving

Parents: Ellen Berkman Claire Callewaert Connie Gutierrez Robyn Steinberg Tracy Streckenbach Merrill Weitzel Alumni: Paul Bowers ’70 Bill Collatos ’72 John Connors ’76 George Curtis ’76 Stephen Kane ’76 Chuck Katz ’80 Rob DiVirgillio ’82 Pat McCabe ’87 Luke O’Connell ’87 Steve Popeo ’89 Justin Jagher ’99 Kevin O’Connell ’99 Brendan O’Loughlin ’11 Alumni phonathon volunteer Bill Collatos ’72 on 5 March.

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Reunion: 11-12 May 2018 Send your news to alumni@roxburylatin.org

class notes 1948 70

Georgia and Georgia Institute of Technology.

1950

1958 60

th

Janet and Clark Heath have lived in Woodbine, Georgia, since 1999. The couple travel often to Sewanee, Tennessee (where they own property), to be with their daughter and two grandsons.

1951 The work of psychologist David Hershenson, who studies the effects of retirement on one’s psychological status, was cited in the international science journal Nature in an editorial on the importance of retirement policy.

1953 65

th

1954 Hal Bernsen is enjoying life in his new home on the oceanfront.

“As they say, ‘Life is good!’—Virginia Beach.” He had a wonderful three-day visit with classmate Peter Dodge in Sierra Vista, Arizona, in September, who showed him “terrific hospitality.”

th

1963 55

th

David Scheff’s offices at Roslindale Pediatrics, which had been located in the Roslindale area since 1999, have moved down the road to 2020 Centre Street.

He writes, “It is truly the circle of life.”

1966 After 25 years with Ballard Spahr, Carl Roberts retired and opened a solo law practice out of his home. He writes, “The house became substantially quieter in late August when my son, Finn, started college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he seems to be thriving. Susan and I made up for the reduced noise

levels by spending the month of November in Chicago with our older children and five grandchildren (and a puppy).” They are now back in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, and enjoying life and work.

Hampshire’s White Mountains, staying at the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Galehead Hut at an elevation of 3800 ft. “We had a great time enjoying the fall foliage with some time to catch up,” writes Bob.

1968 50

1976

th

Jack Calareso has been named the sixth president of Labouré College, effective in January. Jack earned his undergraduate degree in English and Theology from Boston College. He holds an MA from St. Bernard’s School of Theology and a PhD from Marquette. He is a prolific writer and presenter, and he lives in Reading with his wife, Rose.

1973 45

th

In October, Bob McTighe and Steve Linsky hiked in New

1978 40

th

1979 David Powell, Bruce Landay, and Dwight Heiman continue their work at C.H. Powell & Co. Classmate Richard Habib has also recently joined the company’s ranks.

1983 35

th

1957

1985

Reed Freeman and his wife, Nancy, have taken up ministry at St. Thomas, Palm Coast, Florida, their 14th church assignment in 22 years. Recent college graduations among their seven grandchildren include at University of

Peter Martin is currently on a State Department assignment as an Arleigh Burke Fellow at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.

Steve Linsky ’73 and Bob McTighe ’73 in the White Mountains this fall.

44

Brian Aldous is still designing lighting for theatres and museums and teaching at City College of New York. His older daughter is taking physics in high school at Brooklyn Tech and he says he is surprised to find that the memory of what he learned from Mr. Whitney is sometimes enough to help his daughter with her homework...sometimes!

April 2018

class notes

A Pencil Factory Through the Lens of Christopher Payne ’86

In July 2017, Dr. Dan Driscoll ’74 returned to St. Rock Haiti with a group that included John Lawler ’75 and current sophomore Pete Levangie (pictured above with Dan). Pete was accompanied by his mother, Enid, and his sisters, Maddie and Kate. Their work supports the mission of the St. Rock Haiti Foundation Centre de Sante in the hills above Port au Prince. Dan was the trip leader, and he and John both serve as board members for the foundation.

1988 30

1998 20

Peter Viechnicki lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, and is Chief Data Scientist at Deloitte Center for Government Insights in Arlington, Virginia.

2003 15

th

1990 Joe Viechnicki lives in Petersburg, Alaska, and works as a news reporter for KFSK, the radio arm of Alaska Public Media.

1993 25

th

1994 Zach Altschuler was recently appointed partner at DavidsonKempner in New York.

1997 Grant Garrison and his wife, Danielle, welcomed their first child, Henry, in May 2017.

th

th

2004 Mike O’Brien married Drew Davis on 2 December 2017 at the Red Lion Inn in Cohasset.

(Photo on page 46.)

“Inside One of America’s Last Pencil Factories,” in the New York Times Magazine (14 January), featured the photography of Christopher Payne ’86. Specializing in architecture and American industry, Christopher most recently photographed a Tesla factory for the magazine. In this personal project, Christopher documented every phase of the pencil manufacturing process over many visits—from the processing of charcoal in the colorless factory basement to the brilliant paint in the dipping machines at the finishing end. His photos find beauty in the gritty machinery, “chains, conveyor belts, glue pots, metal discs, and gears thick with generations of grease.” The writer, Sam Anderson, has this to say about Christopher’s images: In an era of infinite screens, the humble pencil feels revolutionarily direct: It does exactly what it does, when it does it, right in front of you. Pencils eschew digital jujitsu. They are pure analog, absolute presence. They help to rescue us from oblivion. Think of how many of our finest motions disappear, untracked—how many eye blinks and toe twitches and secret glances vanish into nothing. And yet when you hold a pencil, your quietest little hand-dances are mapped exactly, from the loops and slashes to the final dot at the very end of a sentence.

Photographs like these do something similar. They preserve the secret origins of objects we tend to take for granted. They show us the pride and connection of the humans who make those objects, as well as a mode of manufacturing that is itself disappearing in favor of automation. Like a pencil, these photos trace motions that may someday be gone.

2005 Colin Murphy is enrolled at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management.

2006 Perry Laberis and Sari Fromson were married by Brendan Kelly on 23 September 2017 on Cape Cod. Perry’s classmates Ricky Ghoshroy, Joe Webster, Brendan Kelly, Scott Roman, Dan Gonzalez, and Colin Murphy ’05 were in attendance. (Photo on page 46.)

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class notes

2013 5

th

2014

Sam August ’09

O’Brien Wedding. JJ O’Brien ’01, Tobey O’Brien, Drew Davis O’Brien, Mike O’Brien ’04, and Joe O’Brien.

2009 While pursuing his master’s degree in education at Harvard, Sam August has also picked up a side gig as lead guitar for Boston-based rock band The Ultra. The band dropped their self-titled EP in February. More details about the band can be found at rocktheultra.com.

Laberis Wedding. Ricky Ghoshroy ’06, Joe Webster ’06, Brendan Kelly ’06, Colin Murphy ’05, Sari Fromson Laberis, Perry Laberis ’06, Scott Roman ’06, Dan Gonzales ’06.

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Actor Julian Silver played Robert Souza in Episode 6 of Season 14 of Grey’s Anatomy and has appeared in the TV series Criminal Minds, among others. He is currently writing for the series SEAL Team.

Julian Silver ’08

April 2018

Robert Shaw ’14

Grammy for Adam Granduciel ’97 and The War on Drugs Adam Granduciel ’97 and his indie band, The War on Drugs, joined an elite group of rockers when the 2018 Grammy Award winners were announced over the last weekend in January. The War on Drugs’ album A Deeper Understanding was named Best Rock Album of the Year, an honor held in past years by music legends such as The Rolling Stones, Green Day, U2, Led Zeppelin, Coldplay, and Bruce Springsteen. It was the first Grammy nomination for The War on Drugs, the Philadelphia-based, six-man band. The group toured in the southern hemisphere through February, and will play festivals in the U.S. through the spring and summer, including Coachella in April and Xponential Fest in July.

Born Adam Granofsky, Adam goes by the stage name Adam Granduciel, the nom de la classe (“of Sky”) given to him by Kenny Conn, his Roxbury Latin French teacher. Adam’s brother, Burt, and his father, Mark, also attended Roxbury Latin, Class of ’94 and ’51.

2008 10

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The 2018 New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (NEILA) Division I named Robert Shaw to its preseason second team. The goalkeeper enters his third year in the net for the Crimson, carrying strong stopper credentials as a 2017 Second Team All-Ivy selection and being named player of the week on multiple occasions.

class notes

Aaron Keebaugh offered this commendation in The Boston Classical Review: “In the hands of Jackiw and Denk, the bold sections of the four pieces bristled with a down-home, bucolic verve. The second movement of the Violin Sonata No. 2 is aptly titled ‘In the Barn,’ and Jackiw dug into the music with zeal.”

2015 Amherst college junior Cole Steiger is studying Spanish literature and history during his semester abroad at Salamanca University in Spain. As a senior counselor at Camp Becket last summer, Cole was awarded the Harold Finkelstein Award which is given each year to the staff member who best exemplifies the eight mottoes of the camp.

Entering his third season for Duke University’s Men’s Lacrosse and featured by the New England Lacrosse Journal’s front page in January, Sean Lowrie is poised for his junior campaign. He claimed credits in the Journal again after a veteran-level performance against Air Force in Duke’s season-opening contest; he tallied two goals in the win on his way to player-of-the-week recognition for Division 1 colleges.

www.roxburylatin.org/reunion

What unlocked all of this for me was reading something Ives remembered his father saying when they encountered a stonemason singing off-key. His father said, “Look into his face and hear the music of the ages. Don’t pay too much attention to the sounds, for if you do, you may miss the music. You won’t get a wild heroic ride to heaven on pretty little sounds.”

Register online or by mail by Friday, 4 May:

Violinist Stefan Jackiw ’03 and pianist Jeremy Denk performed a rare Celebrity Series of Boston recital devoted to the complete set of Ives’ four Violin Sonatas on 26 January in Jordan Hall.

The event included the vocal ensemble Hudson Shad, who sang the original hymns that Ives quotes in his sonatas.In a Globe interview before their Boston appearance, Stefan described the challenge of “finding the right sound world” for Ives’ pieces—“the ‘unschooled earnestness’ of hymn tunes”:

REUNION 2018

Celebrity Series of Boston features Stefan Jackiw ’03

Fri, 11 May • 11 am to 3 pm

Roxbury Latin Today Fri, 11 May • 6:30 pm

Class of 1993 Reunion 25th anniversary class family picnic for alumni, their parents, and families.

Sat, 12 May • 11 am to 12:30 pm

Back to School New this year!

Sign up for English lit with Joe Kerner or Mo Randall, current events with Dr. Sally Stevens, or discover the “maker” culture in Nate Piper’s STEAM class.

Sat, 12 May • 12:30 pm

Spring Family Day & Reunion Cookout Enjoy a cookout with family and friends and come cheer on all varsity teams as they compete against Lawrence Academy.

Sat, 12 May • 6 pm

Reunion Class Dinner All alumni are welcome to this event. $50 per person, $25 for members of the Classes of 2013 and 2008.

In order that we might honor our deceased alumni, we ask survivors and friends to kindly send information to kyle.layne-allen@ roxburylatin.org

in memoriam 1950: Jonathan Fine, MD Dr. Jonathan Fine died on 17 January 2018 in his home in Cambridge. He was 86. Born in Boston to Dr. Jacob (longtime chief of surgery at Beth Israel Hospital) and Anna Fine, Jonathan joined the sixie class at Roxbury Latin in 1944. Over his R.L. career, he was elected senior class president, president of both the Debating Society and Student Council, and was active in World Federalist groups. He enjoyed photography, earning a prize in the 1947 National High School Photographic Awards.

He received a BA in economics from Swarthmore in 1954.

While earning his MD at Yale School of Medicine (1962), he was awarded a Fulbright grant to study health needs in India—the beginning of a lifelong concern with international health and development. After earning his MA in public health from Johns Hopkins in 1963, he served as an advisor for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Washington, D.C., and Peru.

From 1969-1974, he held an appointment as Boston’s director of public health and community services. In 1981, as director of the North End Community Health Center, he received a call to help investigate the kidnapping of three physicians in Chile during the Pinochet regime. The experience redirected his focus, and in 1986 he helped found Physicians for Human Rights in Boston. In the late 1980s he helped found IFHHRO, an international health-related human rights advocacy initiative. Dr. Fine returned to R.L. to speak in Hall in the spring of 1984 at the invitation of Headmaster Jarvis.

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In 1993, Swarthmore awarded him an honorary doctor of science degree “for his leading role in responding to human suffering around the world.” In the last dozen years of his life, Dr. Fine helped found Bedside Advocates and At Your Side, two organizations that help fragile or elderly patients navigate the health care system. His marriage to the late Edith Witty, a longtime judge, and with whom he had three children, ended in divorce. In 2014 Dr. Fine married Chris Connaire. At home, Dr. Fine was energetic and enthusiastic, introducing his family to numerous outdoor pursuits. He also instilled in his children a profound sense of duty to fight injustice. In addition to his wife he leaves his daughters, Annie and Elizabeth; a son, Grant; and seven grandchildren.

1960: Richard Brayton Olson Richard Brayton Olson of Provincetown, formerly of Boston, died on 3 January 2018. He was 75. The adopted son of the late Hugo Einar Olson and Charlotte (Brayton) Olson, Richard entered Roxbury Latin as a fifthie in the fall of 1955 from Dover public schools. In his yearbook, his classmates remarked on his “sharp wit, golden tongue, and explosive ambition.” Elected class president in Class III, he was the recipient of several academic prizes and was active in Debate (as president), Glee Club, and theater, and served as co-editor of Tripod. He graduated from Harvard in 1964 and earned his JD from Harvard Law School in 1968. From 1965 until 1972 he served in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, and enjoyed a 30-year

career at Palmer & Dodge in Boston until his retirement as a partner in 1988. His longtime membership in Boston’s St. Botolph Club provided reciprocal memberships in London’s Garrick Club and Dublin’s St. Steven’s Green Club, which he enjoyed on his regular trips to the U.K. Richard retired to Provincetown and embraced the political side of community service. He served on the town’s planning board, and held a seat on the board of selectmen for five years. He chaired the Provincetown Cemetery Commission until late 2017, and was a member of the choir and occasional guest preacher at the Universalist Meeting House.

A supporter of the arts, he was a former trustee of the Boston Ballet and The Triangle Theatre. One of his proudest accomplishments was to persuade (where many had failed) the Eugene O’Neill Society to finally come to Provincetown for its annual conference, for which he served as the conference’s chairman. Adopted as an infant (“by the best parents who could have picked me”), Richard obtained his original birth records, which revealed that he was of all-Irish ancestry. In a note to a Harvard publication, he wrote, “the Irishness explains a lot—like how much I love to sing in pubs!” Richard leaves his cousin Linda Farrell Boie; her four children and their families; and many friends.

1961: J. Raoul St. Pierre, MD Dr. Raoul St. Pierre, of Seattle, Washington, died on 16 January 2017 at the age of 73. The son of the late Joseph and Dorothy (Grimes) St. Pierre, Raoul grew up in Jamaica Plain and came to

Roxbury Latin from the Manning School. Among his interests was interscholastic sailing with the R.L. sailing team (in existence from 1952 to 1959), theater, and Glee Club. He was a stalwart in sports, and captained the varsity soccer and lacrosse teams. Headmaster Weed described him as having excellent character, calling him “an excellent citizen…a force for the good, the proper, and the worthwhile.” In his 50th reunion note, Raoul named Mr. Whitney as his most influential teacher. He spent his high school summers as an instructor of sailing, soccer, and drama at the camp run by his family on Martha’s Vineyard, where he was also responsible for maintaining the camp boats and sailing gear. He earned his BA in 1965 from Boston College and his MD in 1969 from Boston University, and completed his residency in surgery in 1975 at University Hospital in Seattle, Washington.

He spent the next 33 years as a general and vascular surgeon at Group Health Cooperative (now part of Kaiser Permanente). His professional awards included the Upjohn Award for Clinical Excellence, the William Baker Award for Teaching, and the Seattle Medic One Award for best instructor. Raoul is remembered for his compassion and unprecedented ability to communicate with his colleagues and patients.

A lifelong friend and colleague described him as “a master technician, a wonderful doctor, and a beautiful human being.”

Throughout his adulthood he enjoyed traveling, kayaking, and camping; he was also a master gardener. He is survived by his wife, Nurith; four children; and three grandchildren.

requiescat in pace

Virginia Wing, the School’s First Female Trustee Virginia Wing, longtime director of Winsor School, died at her home in Cambridge on 5 February. Daughter of a Unitarian minister and his wife, she spent her early years in Denver, where her father ministered, graduating from Denver’s Kent School and later attending Smith College. Upon graduation, she returned to Kent to teach and then to Smith as associate director of admission.

She came to Winsor in 1952 and was chosen as its director in 1963, serving in that position for 25 years until her retirement in 1988.

Headmaster Emeritus Tony Jarvis delivered the following reflection at her memorial service at Winsor on 11 March.

Courage is costly, and I wonder how many at Winsor realize how profoundly costly her courage was to Ginny. I witnessed how deeply wounded she was in the battle. But she paid the price, and I submit that Winsor exists today because of the conviction and courage of Virginia Wing.

But while Ginny will be remembered with veneration for her conviction and courage, those who knew Ginny as their head of school will remember her because

her caring was transformative are legion.

For those of us outside the hallowed precincts of Winsor School like myself, friendship with Ginny came, as you might expect, rather cautiously. She had been burned. However, after we met in 1974, Ginny and I very soon discovered that we saw eye-to-eye on everything important, and we quickly developed a deep friendship in which we could share our innermost fears and joys.

she cared about them, cared about them in her own very New England way. She was not huggy-kissy or touchy-feely. She was rather private, played her cards close to her chest. I would not call her “reserved,” not with that irrepressible laugh of hers with her head back. But everything she said and did was characterized by a certain formal courtesy and discretion and dignity.

She may not have displayed the outward signs of intimacy that are more common today, but everyone who knew her can attest that her knowledge of her girls was encyclopedic, and that she cared about them deeply. Stories about her phenomenal memory abound—she remembered everything about her girls and their families—and testimonials by girls for whom

Unlike enlightened Winsor which had male trustees from its beginning, Roxbury Latin, stretching back to its founding in 1645, had never had a female trustee. In 1976, Virginia Wing became R.L.’s first female trustee—it only took us a mere 332 years!

Ginny was immediately adored by her fellow trustees, and it was amusing to watch their rapt attention whenever she spoke. I am sure she arranged for me later to be a Winsor trustee and to serve on the committee to select her wonderful successor. It was in Ginny’s time that Winsor deepened its relationship with Belmont Hill and Roxbury Latin in drama, music, and many other activities that continue to this day.

One night, Ginny and I were dining out, as we did from time to time, when

I

am honored to be present today as we bid “Godspeed”, as she would put it, to our revered mentor and friend. Ginny and I labored ­together for many years in the vineyard of Boston education, and she was a cherished companion from whose wisdom I frequently benefitted.

Ginny’s life was, to me, characterized by three great virtues: conviction, courage, and caring.

First, conviction. I don’t want to revisit the troubled and tumultuous late ’60s and early ’70s when Winsor—and many other schools—explored coeducation and coordinate education. But I want to express the hope that this school will always remember that it was Virginia Wing who marshaled the forces that preserved Winsor as a girls’ school in the city. At the time, coeducation was all the rage, and Ginny was sailing very much against gale-force winds.

And that’s where courage comes in.

Winston Churchill said courage is the greatest of all virtues because without courage none of the other virtues can exist.

When the hour came in 1972 to defend Winsor’s very essence, Ginny was the one who had the courage to lay down the gauntlet, to draw the line, and to rally its defenders. She dared to be unpopular, and she was very unpopular with some. It was her finest hour.

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a parent with a child at both our schools came up to our table and joked, “Well I bet you two are plotting to change all of American education.” We laughed, of course, and then, when the parent left, we realized that, for almost the entire evening, we had been discussing poetry. I wonder how many school heads in Boston today enjoy such a relationship and how many, when they meet, talk about poetry.

As we bid our final farewell to Ginny, as we commend her to Almighty God, I want to turn, in fact, to poetry, because I think poetry is the language best suited to convey Ginny’s spirituality.

Langston Hughes expressed the reality of our loss of Ginny in his shortest poem: I loved my friend.

She went away from me.

There’s nothing to say.

The poem ends, Soft as it began— I loved my friend.

But I think Langston Hughes was only half right. We did love our friend, but there is something more to say, and it is this: Because Virginia Wing was a woman of conviction and courage and caring, her impact on this school and on us will endure. In the end, therefore, our highest tribute to Ginny is not grief at our loss but gratitude for her legacy.

I want to leave the final word this afternoon to Stephen Spender whose poetry Ginny loved and often quoted. This is what Spender wrote about “the truly great” whom nothing, not even death, can destroy.

This is what—to me—Stephen Spender

wrote about Ginny: Near the snow, near the sun, in the highest fields, See how their names are feted by the waving grass, And by the streamers of white cloud, And whispers of wind in the listening sky, The names of those who in their lives fought for life, Who wore at their hearts the fire’s centre.

Born of the sun, they traveled a short while toward the sun And left the vivid air signed with their honour.

+Rest eternal grant unto her, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon her.

Make a lasting impact while accomplishing your charitable goals.

Consider naming Roxbury Latin in your long term plans. Bank investments, retirement accounts, insurance, stock, or mutual-funds can be transferred to Roxbury Latin without legal expense or any negative impact on your cash flow or lifestyle. Designating and donating any of these assets is easy. Just ask your bank for a POD (Pay on Death) form, or your retirement plan, investment account, or insurance company for a TOD (Transfer on Death) form to instruct the account custodian what to do with the account after your passing.

The benefits of naming Roxbury Latin in your long-term plans: • Make a gift that costs you nothing during your lifetime and leaves your cash flow and current financial planning unchanged.

• Save on taxes when you make a gift with appreciated assets.

• Experience the life-enhancing benefits of giving.

To learn more about making a planned gift to Roxbury Latin, contact Dave Cataruzolo, Director of Alumni Affairs and Planned Giving, at: david.cataruzolo@roxburylatin.org or 617.477.6314. If you have already named Roxbury Latin as a beneficiary, please be sure to let us know.

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Ramblings F R O M T H E A R CH I V ES

by Christopher Heaton

W

hile all R.L. boys might invoke the right to complain about their demanding course schedules and homework load, there is one student who never complained while he juggled geometry and dissected declensions, despite a challenging obstacle: he was totally blind.

This Ramblings article is about William Clement Plunkett, Class of 1914.

Plunkett—whose father was Rear Admiral Charles P. Plunkett, a commander of battleships and the Chief of Staff at the Navy War College in Newport, Rhode Island—was born totally blind and didn’t start his formal schooling until age 9. Prior to that, his only instruction was being read to by his mother. A scrapbook from the Perkins Institute noted that Plunkett was the first blind student to graduate from Boston elementary schools with high honors.

In 1909, Plunkett’s parents asked Roxbury Latin to give him the admission test. Plunkett the elder wanted his boy to “mix with normal boys and knock around a bit.” In his first year as headmaster, D.O.S. Lowell (1909–1921), who had taught English, Latin, and history at R.L. since 1884, noted that the Trustees were skeptical as they worried that Plunkett would hold the class back, but Lowell personally read the test to Plunkett, which in those years was always held on a Saturday in early June. Plunkett not only passed, he was ranked 3rd of the 45 accepted boys. But rather than entering the school with his peers, he completed a year’s worth of Latin over the summer in order to join Class V that September—a bellwether of his work ethic.

At Closing Exercises for the Class of 1910, Plunkett received the newly established O’Connor Prize, which is given “to the pupil who, all things considered, should have the 52

April 2018

best record for the year.” The Catalogue of 1910 noted that “[Plunkett] led his class throughout the year; on three occasions had perfect monthly reports; received the English Detur and the Fowler Prize for his class.”

The Fowler Prize, also newly established and for which members of any grade could compete, recognized the best original essay on some subject connected to the history of the United States. The recipient of the Fowler Prize, like the recipient of the O’Connor Prize, received $10 in gold.

So, Plunkett’s efforts in his first year earned him $20 in gold. This U.S. History teacher would like to stress that, somehow, Plunkett, who usually used a braille reader and a typewriter, wrote a prize-winning essay on the Battle of Gettysburg without consulting Wikipedia.

In his remaining years at R.L., Plunkett was top in his class. He received Latin Deturs in 1911 and 1912, and another English Detur in 1913. He graduated summa cum laude, the only boy in the Class of 1914 to receive that distinction. Classmate Ralph Parkhurst Bridgman was the only magna cum laude graduate. (I believe that’s Bridgman holding Plunkett’s arm in the all-school photo of 1911.) Bridgman’s classmates described him as “a conscientious student, an exhilarating companion, a loyal friend, and a thoroughly manly fellow.” Plunkett’s father could not attend the closing exercises as he was commanding the battleship USS North Dakota off of Vera Cruz, Mexico.

Plunkett went to Harvard with 11 of his 16 classmates, including Howard Hobson Tewksbury, future ambassador to Paraguay, and Bridgman, who took a break from Harvard to teach in Japan for six years and later became the seventh president of Hampton Institute (later University). Har-

Detail from the Roxbury Latin all-school photo of 1911, W.C. Plunkett’s sophomore year.

Polar Bears at Roxbury Latin Headmaster D.O.S. Lowell was the first of a long line of Bowdoin graduates who became R.L. masters; of the seven faculty members in the second decade of the 20th century, three were from Bowdoin: Lowell, Marshall Davis, and Islay McCormick. That generation was followed by Gerhard Rehder ’27 who was another long-time master (1947-1975).

Current Polar Bears at R.L. include Rary Delaney, Dave Cataruzolo, and R.L. alumni masters Tom Walsh ’79, Tony Teixeira ’93, Tom Guden ’96, and Darian Reid ’05. The polar bear was chosen as the Bowdoin mascot in 1913 when Plunkett was in Class II.

vard awarded Plunkett the Harvard Class of 1904 Decennial Scholarship. At the Harvard archives, I found letters to the Class of 1904 that noted Plunkett maintained his excellent standing and was most worthy of the scholarship. While at Harvard, Plunkett also won the Basset Prize, which was given to one student in each class. Plunkett was so conscientious that he asked Harvard for additional scholarship funds so that he could pay his classmates who read textbooks to him. During Plunkett’s senior year (1918), May, not April, was the cruelest month. In a surprisingly neat script, Plunkett hand-wrote a heartbreaking letter to the Harvard dean asking to be excused

from a final exam so he could attend to his mother, who was on her deathbed, and care for his little sister, who was also gravely ill.

Plunkett noted that his father and brother could not help as they were en route to France during the Great War. The Harvard administration granted his absence from the English course as it was superfluous for his degree requirements, and they also noted that he would graduate cum laude with an AB in Government.

Plunkett earned a degree in law from Harvard, passed the Massachusetts Bar in 1921, and dedicated his subsequent legal career to helping others. After four years with the Greater Boston Legal Aid Society (to which he commuted daily, unassisted, from his home in Lexington to downtown Boston), Plunkett joined the law firm of Ropes, Gray, Boyden, and Perkins, today’s Ropes and Gray. (This archivist believes that all things can be traced to R.L.; Andrew Gray I is a direct descendant of the firm’s founder, John Chipman Gray Jr.) Plunkett worked at Ropes and Gray from 1925 through 1938, serving as honorary legal counsel to the Charlestown district of

the Family Welfare Society of Boston and similar aid organizations. He died on 4 June 1940, at the age of 43, after a long illness.

For Harvard’s Class of 1918 25th Anniversary Report, Plunkett was remembered by Frederick B. Lund Jr. of Ropes and Gray: “He had the finest and most comprehensive mind I’ve ever known, alert to people and affairs. His was an amazing courage—greater than any of us can realize, I believe—and he had an untiring persistence in action and argument that was sometimes inconvenient, but invaluable to him. He was always courteous, always striving to save those about him from any bother or care, boyishly spontaneous in his sense of humor, impish in his pointed wit; sympathetic, and sometimes startling in his ability to get another’s point of view; a lover of music and fun—a loyal friend and jolly companion. He was a gallant Christian gentleman whose memory will be a source of inspiration to many of us for years to come.”

HLS Photo Credit: Courtesy of Historical & Special Collections, Harvard Law School Library.

Left: Clipping from an article about William C. Plunkett in the Boston Transcript, 19 September 1921, about his work with the Boston Legal Aid Society. Below: Harvard Class of 1921, with W.C. Plunkett (wearing dark glasses) in the back row, two-thirds of the way in from the left, next to the pillar.

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summer Academic, athletic, and artistic enrichment programs, for boys and girls, at The Roxbury Latin School

Summer at Roxbury Latin means growth and skill-building, fun and excitement, making new friends and doing what you love. With more than 25 athletic, academic, and artistic enrichment programs to choose from, boys and girls, ages 5 through 18, can create and investigate, learn new skills, or further develop their interests on R.L.’s 117-acre campus. RL Summer programs are conducted with the same expertise and dedication that the school offers its own students throughout the academic year.

Learn more, and join us, at

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April 2018

Varsit y A thle t i c S chedule | Spri ng 2 0 1 8 Varsity Baseball T, Apr 3

Varsity Lacrosse

Varsity Tennis

Varsity Track

@ BB&B 1:30

@ Thayer (relays) 3:00

@ St. Sebastian’s 4:30

W, Apr 4

@ Portsmouth Abbey 4:00

F, Apr 6

@ Dexter 4:00

@ Dexter 4:00

S, Apr 7

@ BB&N 1:30

BB&N 1:30

W, Apr 11

Belmont Hill 3:30

@ Belmont Hill 3:30

Belmont Hill 3:30

S, Apr 14

Tabor 3:00

@ Tabor 3:00

Tabor 3:00

@ St. George’s w/ BH / BB&N 2:30

W, Apr 18

Nobles 3:30

@ Nobles 3:30

Nobles 3:30

@ BB&N w/ LA / Middlesex 3:30

@ Groton 2:00

Groton 2:00

@ Groton 1:30

F, Apr 20 S, Apr 21

@ Exeter 4:15 St. Sebastian’s 4:15

M, Apr 23 W, Apr 25

St. George’s 4:00

@ St. George’s 4:00

St. George’s 4:00

S, Apr 28

Governor’s 1:00

Governor’s 1:00

Governor’s 1:00

W, May 2

@ Milton 3:30

@ Milton 3:30

@ Milton 3:30

@ Governor’s w/ St.George’s / LA 3:00

Andover 4:30

F, May 4 S, May 5

@ Brooks 3:30

@ Brooks 3:30

@ Brooks 3:30

W, May 9

Middlesex 4:00

@ Middlesex 5:00

Middlesex 4:00

S, May 12** Lawrence 1:00

Lawrence 1:00

Lawrence 1:00

M, May 14

@ Rivers 4:45

Rivers 4:45

@ Rivers 4:45

W, May 16

@ Thayer 3:30

Thayer 3:30

@ Thayer 3:00

F, May 18 S, May 19

@ Tabor w/ Thayer / BB&N 2:00

@ BH w/Rivers /Groton / MA 3:30 ISTA @ Governor’s 11:00

JV ISTA @ Weston High 3:30

@ St. Mark’s 4:30 @ St. Mark’s 2:30

St. Mark’s 2:30

NE Invitational (TBA)

Home games are boldface. **Spring Family Day & Reunion Weekend

NEPSTA Championships (Cheshire, CT) 11:00

NB: Schedule subject to change. For latest information, go to www.roxburylatin.org

Save the Date: Saturday, 5 May

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Parents’ Auxiliary

Giant Yard Sale

Start setting aside those treasures that need a new home.

Drop-off dates are Saturdays, 21 and 28 April, 9 am - 12 noon at R.L.

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

Nonprofit Org U.S. Postage

PAID Villanti Mailed from 05401

A Sure Sign of Spring Maru a Pula Day—the last day before spring break, when students and faculty pay for the privilege of dressing up (or down, or “out there”) to raise money for Maru a Pula School in Botswana—culminates in Hall over which the six class presidents preside, doling out awards for the best costumes. Rob Opdycke’s doppleganger, Jake Sheer III (above, at the lectern), led the boys in a driving rendition of “Piano Man,” accompanied by the real Mr. Opdycke on the piano and harmonica. Dinosaurs, rappers, pandas, zombies, sommeliers, beach bums—all found common ground in the Billy Joel tune. The school raised $4,575, which will be sent to Maru a Pula to support the school’s scholarship fund.