Roxbury Latin T h e N e w s l e tt e r T h e N e w s l e tt e r
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Homecoming Traditions
Fifthies revel in Tug-of-War victory
The Newsletter
The Roxbury Latin School
January 2017 | Volume 90 | Number 2
Left: Yoga class is a new part of the Sixie Wellness program. Cover: The fifthies proved their mettle in the annual tug-of-war against the sixies at Fall Family Day and Homecoming.
Editor Joyce Hempstead Photography Mike Pojman, Gretchen Ertl Design Joyce Hempstead Kerry P. Brennan Headmaster Michael T. Pojman Assistant Headmaster Thomas R. Guden ’96 Director of Development Robert L. Crawford Director of External Affairs Joyce E. Hempstead Director of Communication The Newsletter is published in October, January, April, and July for alumni, parents, and friends of the School. © 2017 The Trustees of The Roxbury Latin School 101 St. Theresa Avenue West Roxbury, MA 02132 t: 617.325.4920 Send change of address to julie.garvey@roxburylatin.org. Send alumni news and other correspondence to kyle. layne-allen@roxburylatin.org.
www.roxburylatin.org
INSIDE
3 English Convocation Josh Cervas Named Joseph R. Kerner, Jr. Chairholder
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Friends, Fools, and the Power of Poetry | Professor Ilan Stavans, Smith Scholar in Residence, on Don Quixote > Richard Blanco, Poet 9
10 Stress and the Over-
Programmed Child | “Dolphin”
author Dr. Shimi Kang addresses boys, parents
11 “The Mask You Live In” A Values Forum for Upper Classmen | by George Matthews ’08
12 Bitten by the Public Service Bug | Lisa O. Monaco delivers Jarvis Lecture
13 Give a Glass Filled to the Brim | Zack Ciccolo ’05 is
Veterans Day Hall Speaker
18 The Illusion | Senior Play by Andrew Kingsley ’12 > Musical Notes 20
22 High Holy Days > Rabbi Karen Landy Gives Hall Address for Rosh Hashanah > Diwali and the Self-Reflective Journey Toward Enlightenment
26 All Things Election | Founder’s Day Speakers address the Presidency, Electoral College, polling, running for office > 2016-2017 All-School Photo
28 The R.L. Way | by Xander Boyd I 44 Homecoming | A Celebration of Past and Current Fall Team Athletes, New Fields
48 Annual Fund Kick Off | Doing for Others
50 R.L.’s Extended Footprint
Departments
17 Service in the Community 23 Student News 24 Ramblings from the Archives by Christopher Heaton
30 Athletics > “Trust the Training” and Other Lessons from the Field
34 Class Notes 38 Obituaries 42 Alumni Gatherings 51 Winter Athletic Calendar
E ng l ish Co nvoca tion
Josh Cervas Named Joseph R. Kerner, Jr. Chairholder in English Winter term began with an English Convocation in Hall on 3 January and the installation of Josh Cervas as the inaugural Joseph R. Kerner, Jr. Chairholder in English. The newly endowed chair honors recently retired R.L. English master Joe Kerner, who shared his passion for literature with generations of R.L. boys over his 36-year tenure at the School. Headmaster Emeritus Tony Jarvis, who hired Joe Kerner in 1976, attended the convocation along with the families of Mr. Kerner and Mr. Cervas, benefactors, and other guests. Mr. Cervas’ text follows.
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’m especially appreciative for the opportunity to lend my portion of support and thanksgiving on behalf of Joe Kerner. It’s a great privilege to be a part of honoring a lifelong teacher—52 years dedicated to schools and teaching—and a transformational R.L. English teacher and head of that department. As generations of students, and likely plenty of their parents, can attest, without ever faintly seeking out
the post for himself, Mr. Kerner has served as an intellectually and vocationally catalytic figure in the minds and lives of those around him, his students and advisees first and foremost. He has been a consequential model, for me, too—and I know for many others, R.L. teachers here included: a model of intentional, keenly observant and responsive teaching; of a generous and ardent devotee of great literature and
all that language can do; of a deeply and widely informed reader, writer, thinker, teacher, and colleague. The great generosity of those who have endowed this position in Mr. Kerner’s name is a remarkable, and abiding, gesture of recognition. Students have also noted much of the same about Mr. Kerner, and to highlight as much, I’ve cobbled together a handful of student sentences written over the years, the first of which come from the Yearbooks of 1981 and 1993, respectively, both of which were dedicated to Mr. Kerner—text first cited in 1999, by Headmaster Jarvis, on the occasion of Mr. Kerner’s installment as the inaugural George Norton Northrop
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fortable) green chair—Franklin Li, offered a fitting tribute. Here’s a portion of it:
Joe Kerner accepts applause from his seat in the gallery, where he sat with his family, special guests (including former student Nate Davis ’10, right), and, of course, the sixies.
Professor of English. “Who is that man behind the moustache?” the Yearbook of 1981 writes:
invites students to ask for help. Eager or bewildered students benefit from his generous and sage advice.
There, the one juggling the coffee cup and last month’s papers? It is none other than Joe Kerner, to whom this yearbook is dedicated because of the invaluable personal and intellectual counsel he has given us in our years at Roxbury Latin. Mr. Kerner exemplifies the tone of the school—his devotion to teaching and his expertise as both a scholar and a critic earn the students’ respect and also reflect the excellence that all members of the community hope to achieve in their own intellectual endeavors.
And, in 2012, on the occasion of Mr. Kerner’s retirement, the Yearbook remembered him again, in part, as follows:
And, a dozen years later, the Yearbook editors added: Mr. Kerner’s success stems from the success of his students who have learned to write and analyze exceptionally well. Any great teacher can direct a student’s academic maturation, but Mr. Kerner also succeeds in directing the personal maturation of each of his students. He can turn a sarcastic eighth grader into an eager learner. The nonchalant wit he brings to the classroom provides R.L. students with a lively forum in which to learn. This wit 4
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You’d be hard pressed to find a man whose insights and understanding garner as much appreciation from students and colleagues. His broad and deep knowledge of every text he teaches allows for fluid, provocative discussions. His love for the beauty of language very often proves contagious as he sheds further light on passages which might speak for themselves but slip by exhausted pupils. And should you say something sufficiently brilliant, you can join the select few who have sat in [his] unbelievably comfortable green chair.
And, I’ll add one last set of student sentences to the mix—this time from that gem of a newspaper we produce here—The Tripod, which is, of course, the gold standard in prose style and painstaking accuracy. In a centerpiece article for the year-end issue from 2012, a longtime advisee of Mr. Kerner’s—one of a legion of fortunate boys who have sat at their advisor’s feet in that aforementioned mighty (and mighty com-
Perhaps more important than his impact on the curriculum is Mr. Kerner’s effect on the students he has taught, the advisees that he has mentored, the people he has touched. To every class, Mr. Kerner has brought an inspiring depth of knowledge and degree of understanding of texts and authors, ranging from Steinbeck to Shakespeare, Morrison to Conrad, Fitzgerald to Sophocles. His love of language shines through each time he praises a sentence with his patented phrase: “If you had written that, you could die happy.” It is a love for English, a love for the words themselves—the structuring of phrases and sentences—that can be so infectious that students too come to appreciate and treasure those rare sentences.
By the quality of these student sentences alone—and of course their affectionate content—you can see the kind of impact Mr. Kerner has had on R.L. boys and their relationship to serious literature and language. “If you can teach your students to write sentences like that,” you might say, “you can retire happy.” In preparation for these remarks, I went back and reread Mr. Kerner’s inaugural lecture as the first George Norton Northrop Professor of English, that occasion in 1999 mentioned earlier. I had read it a while ago, sometime during my first handful of years teaching here—sneaking up, I remember, to the Development Office archives to get my hands on an old, probably already yellowing, copy of The Newsletter. I had heard from colleagues that it was dazzling, in what it had to say and how it says it. It was, of course, and its case for why we ought to read, and care about, great literature—what it can do for us, to us, if we allow for it—is as eloquent and affirming a statement on that subject as I know. It should be required reading—perhaps a model for those senior “wisdom speeches” just completed. As a self-professed lover of great sentences, then, Joe, I hope you won’t mind
if I quote a few of your own from that text written years ago, even as I reduce the much-labored-over whole down to a handful of borderline Twitter-length excerpts. They might serve, I hope, as an appropriately-timed reminder of just why reading matters—of why reading deeply in inventive, timeless, challenging books— books like Of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies, The Odyssey, The Oedipus Cycle, The Great Gatsby, or Heart of Darkness (texts studied for those exams you’ll be getting back starting first period…)—why reading and wrestling with them is an essential— even spiritual—business. So, what is it that reading deeply in good books might do for us? (And bonus points to those who can recognize the R.L. texts alluded to as they come up—in Mr. Kerner’s, and then my later, remarks…) In the process of such vicarious living [in the process of reading great literature, and becoming a book’s characters], we can come to understand—from the inside out—despair and ambition, grief and guilt, what it might be like to be a king or a beggar, even—if the writer is gifted enough and we are open enough— something of what it must be like to be a runaway slave on a river raft, a Bohemian woman proudly doing a man’s work to eke out a subsistence on the Nebraska prairie, a fallen priest secretly administering the sacraments in revolutionary Mexico. In that respect, if literature allows us to stretch, or even shatter, the boundaries of our real lives, it does so, at its best, to confront us with the deepest truths of human existence—with the grinding details of human misery, with ambitions frustrated and hopes betrayed, with cowardice as well as courage, with loneliness and alienation as well as community and reconciliation, with the hunger for meaning and the gnawing fear that there is none, with the desire to live forever and the reality that we are all born to die.
And, later, in the same speech:
[W]ords, as Wordsworth and Coleridge knew [reading great books, or essays or poems] can give the strange and exotic a startling, crystalline clarity and familiarity, or the familiar and commonplace a thrilling freshness and strangeness. The language of literature can be so precise, so accurate and acute, in its observation of the world that it can re-train our own eyes to look more penetratingly, to see more intensely, the telling details of our own surroundings.
What else can reading deeply in great books do? It can lift us out of our ordinary, complacent lives to walk around in others’ shoes for a time, so that when we return to real life again we are changed—more seasoned and thoughtful, capable of deeper empathy and understanding, cleansed through pity and fear, put back in touch with our deepest values and highest aspirations. If literature cannot satiate our universal hunger for meaning—if it cannot tell us clearly what is the meaning of life and how we ought to live it—it gives expression and form to that longing and serves as a beacon, a pilot light, in the search for Beauty and Truth. Literature can renew our sense of what it means to be human, for better and worse—can remind us of our capacity for goodness and generosity and faith as well as selfishness and savagery and fear.
And, finally: [T]he writer, through the power of imagination and the magic of words, can make us see and feel the wonder of the world, can reverse the inevitable sagging toward the mundane—can “shake our gravity up” as Richard Wilbur says in his poem called “Juggler”—a poem not so much about an entertaining juggling act as about poetry itself—about the capacity of literature (and all artists, perhaps) to take us out of our constant decline into ordinariness.
So there you have it, in terribly con-
densed form but beautiful language, and no doubt leaving out lots of other arguments on literature’s behalf: the personally—or even spiritually, you might say—transformational power of great books, an opportunity, through reading, to remake ourselves via the practice of pulling ourselves away from the ordinary and imagining the lives of others. Given this New Year’s season of resolutions to renew and better ourselves, it’s hard to think of a more apt act than that. Losing ten pounds? Being better organized? Getting more sleep? Drinking less coffee? How about remaking yourself into a more clear-thinking and -seeing individual, into a more understanding and responsive citizen, into someone whose thoughts are more frequently pulled up, rather than down? And how again does that happen, exactly, you might be asking? How does reading deeply in good books work its ultimate New Year’s resolution magic? Well, to paraphrase, by, first giving us the chance to imagine—to “try on” and understand—“from the inside out,” as Mr. Kerner writes—the human lives of a near-infinite array of others, characters often vastly different from us but also, elementally, very much the same. Names like: Walter Mitty, Antonia Shimerda, Helen Keller, Helen Robinson, Esperanza Cordero, Pilate Dead, Brutus, Telemachus, Holden Caulfield, Kurtz, MacBeth. And in that same process of reading closely and perceiving from the vantage point of these many, complicated others, we are developing a deeper, more meaningful, and even politically consequential empathy. Book by book—or character by character—that’s what we’re given the chance to do. We’re given the opportunity to build up our capacities to imagine and understand—to see and “get” where others are coming from—good, bad, and everything in between. And that capacity, ideally, turns to action (a step perhaps especially vital these days, given the state of too many of our leaders and too much of our politics)—turns to real-world care and work on behalf of a portion of the messy spectrum of human life all around us, a humanity first
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glimpsed by us in the pages of Shakespeare or Cisneros, Sophocles, or O’Brien. And the reading process involves, as well, learning to see with greater and greater precision (not just to feel and understand). With each and every page of a great text read, we’re in fact practicing exactly what it is we do every second of every day, starting as soon as we open our eyes in the morning (and perhaps fumble for that bedside-table pair of glasses, or maybe curse that firstperiod Econ or Bio test, or English essay— or maybe all three), and spilling into every single activity we take up. Whenever our eyes are open, we are perpetually “reading” all that’s around us (the way, say, a quarterback might learn to “read” a defense)—that essential skill of bringing our complicated and often contradictory, or outright deceptive, surroundings into better view, ready for our assessment and reaction. Evaluating a tempting business deal, responding to political ads or promises, interpreting your child’s body language, assessing a relationship as it builds, sizing up Nobles’ zone defense—your success at any or all of these is powerfully tied to your capacity to read good books well. “The very act of perception itself,” a professor and critic named Benjamin DeMott once wrote, “—the taking in of the reality around us—depends on our power to animate, to bring the world fully to life.” Reading is training in the great act of animation. And reading is a vital act of elevation, too, pulling us away, as Mr. Kerner mentioned, however momentarily, from our lesser selves, our “everyday” selves—that version of us all that spends too much time on the couch in front of the TV, or shopping online, or sending Snapchat photos, or gossiping or arguing or complaining or worrying or putting others down. Reading yanks us out of that and toward a better, more engaged version of ourselves. And all of this is not to mention some of the other perks of reading great books—the joys of escaping into an alternate universe for a while (and losing contact with all of our nagging to-do lists)—ducking into universes populated, say, with ghosts, 6
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Headmaster Emeritus Tony Jarvis, Headmaster Kerry Brennan, Josh Cervas, and Joe Kerner at the reception following the convocation.
pirates, and secret poisonings (that’s Hamlet for you); or shipwrecks and threatening monsters, and a final bloodbath that would make Genghis Khan blush (The Odyssey); or an unlikely but powerful friendship (think Of Mice and Men, or The Miracle Worker, or My Antonia, or Huck Finn; or, this year in particular, Don Quixote). And, finally, that’s not to mention, the simple exhilaration of running into a passage while reading that—whether you understand it or not—dazzles with its rhythms and patterns of words. And the fortunate thing is that the vast majority of you already know this—you get it, or you come to, on some significant level, by the time you’re seniors and ready to move on from this place. The senior classes’ midyear exam wisdom speeches over the past handful of years have marked as much. One speech I recall, for example, highlighted the perils of disillusionment, cynicism, and protective distance and the vital practice, instead, of full immersion in the life around us—drawing from Gulliver’s Travels and excerpts from Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” Another senior speech urged classmates toward honest, humble, full-fledged empathy, using James Baldwin’s remarkable short story “Sonny’s Blues.” There was a speech that touted the supreme value of self-trust, over what others might pull us to value or do—using The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and an Emily Dickinson poem. And on—a speech on the importance
of living honestly and deeply, balancing freedom and obligations, unlike Neddy Merrill’s surface swimming in John Cheever’s story “The Swimmer”; another calling on Atticus Finch to discuss the importance of having the courage to take the best kinds of risks available to us—say, getting up on stage on Exelauno Day; or one student speech using the unsung but nothing-less-than-heroic fisherman and father in Alistair MacLeod’s short story “The Boat”—as a model of the essential place of the sacrifice of others in our lives; and, to wrap up, a speech on the importance of getting away from the status quo—and instead surrounding yourself with challenging differences—as articulated by Huck’s downriver trip with Jim. Just about all of these texts—maybe all of them, in fact—the sources of students’ deep reading and, in some cases, their arrival at essential wisdoms about their, and our, own lives—about who we are, or can be (at our best, or worst); about what we do with ourselves most days, and what we might do instead—are at the fingertips of Roxbury Latin boys because of the careful selection and compilation (and, for 36 years, devoted teaching) of Joe Kerner. It’s an honor to be a part of a department he shaped in such formative ways, and that continues very much in that affirming direction, and to help celebrate reading and the humanities in his name. “The good humanists’ work,” you might say, “is growing ever bravely on.”
Kerry Brennan read the citation naming Josh Cervas as the inaugural Joseph R. Kerner, Jr. Chairholder in English.
Excellence Finds its Greatest Expression in the Classroom The Headmaster opened the English Convocation with the following remarks.
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fter the Glee Club sings an especially tuneful, expressive, satisfying piece, Mr. Opdycke steps forward and along with his singers, he receives a round of applause. At the conclusion of a play in the Smith Theater, the cast comes to the curtain line and takes its bows for their performances; implicit in the applause is the appreciation for Mr. Nelson and the effective way in which he has brought to life the script and trained his actors. During and at the end of an especially well-fought athletic contest our players and our coaches receive shouts and claps from their appreciative fans. To fix the mind’s eye on one particular contest, let’s just say it is the varsity soccer team that has just spanked, oh, let’s just say Nobles, and Mr. Sugg is receiving that applause for his training of his athletes and the wiliness with which he has coached them in this particular contest. Mr. Opdycke, Mr. Nelson, and Mr. Sugg are all worthy of their applause, for their leadership is not only excellent but vividly evident to the people who have gathered to be delighted by the work of their singers, actors, and players. Not all of the good they have done in their work with their boys is apparent, but the
essence of the effort and the skill is. Such is not the case for the classroom teacher. Rarely, if ever, is there a burst of applause for the teacher who makes the insightful connection between a work of literature being considered and one read earlier in the year, let alone a few years back. Rarely, if ever, is there a burst of applause for the teacher who dwells on the author’s choice of diction and deftly reminds his students of the word’s origins and the multifaceted way in which the word’s ambiguity makes the read even richer. Rarely, if ever, is there a burst of applause when a reticent scholar is coaxed by his teacher to do the hard work of analysis and offer the clarifying, provocative comment to the class’s discussion. Even at the end of a masterful class there is rarely applause. And, I daresay, it is even rare at the end of a remarkable year in which there has not only been a shared journey through the works read, the language appreciated, and, most important, the ideas about life and living that have been considered. Such approval, the implication of “bravos,” is not usually our pattern. The absence of these suggests that we expect such competence, such brilliance, and, as students, we expect to be the beneficiaries of teaching that is conscientious, imaginative, empowering, entertaining, challenging.
Our gathering today provides an opportunity, therefore, to offer a burst of applause not just for the teaching life, for the art and craft of teaching, for the gifts we have received as aspiring scholars, but, especially, for the men and women who are teachers, and, in particular, for the talented, committed men and women who have heeded the siren call of Roxbury Latin and have given themselves to this calling, here in this place, for these students now and for their predecessors generations ago and for their successors generations to come. Teaching always has been and continues to be at the center of a faculty member’s professional commitment to Roxbury Latin. While other aspects of our program and our mission also make us distinctive, were there no teachers, were there no curriculum devised and given life by them, there would be no Roxbury Latin. We are, first and foremost, a school, and though our excellences extend beyond the classroom and academic striving, excellence begins and finds its greatest expression in the classroom, with our teachers. As with anything that is excellent, it is always useful to celebrate its paragons, those whose work is especially noteworthy, especially inspiring, and we shall do that today in our celebration of Mr. Kerner and Mr. Cervas.
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Don Quixote, by Tomas Gustafsson III
Friends, Fools, and the Power of Poetry Professor Ilan Stavans on Don Quixote
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ommemorating the 400th anniversary of Miguel de Cervantes’ death, and by extension his masterpiece Don Quixote, the School welcomed Professor Ilan Stavans as this year’s Smith Scholar in Residence. The Lewis-Sebring Professor in Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College, Professor Stavans is an internationally known, award-winning cultural critic, linguist, and translator whose bestselling work focuses on language, identity, politics, and history. His 2015 book Quixote: The Novel and the World received widespread acclaim. Author Laila Lalami calls it “a masterly history of Don Quixote that approaches the book from multiple angles: literary, historical, cultural, linguistic, and personal.” Professor Stavans’ book caught the eye of our own Señor Ryan, who teaches Don Quixote in Spanish 5. In his first presentation on 27 October, Professor Stavans said that books that are designated “classics” offer a constant voyage of discovery. They are “always changing—and their readers are changing 8
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every time they open them”—precisely because classics endure over generations and every generation reads classics from a new perspective. In the classics, readers from different eras converge. In his second lecture, the professor discussed the meaning of “friendship” as we encounter Cervantes’ characters in his classic, Don Quixote. (“In this age of Facebook, has the meaning of ‘friend’ changed its value? Do we need a new word?”) When Professor Stavans has questions, he turns to literature, and he offered two rich examples of friendship: Frodo and Sam in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Huck and Jim in Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. In this presentation, we were introduced to the complexity of the relationship between Don Quixote and Sancho and how it calls us to our deepest understanding of friendship. “We don’t choose family; we do choose friends. In friendship we navigate life’s odyssey, and our friend is our anchor.” Professor Stavans made reference to the “broken language and broken thoughts” of Sancho, which are in stark contrast to Don
Quixote’s own intellect and expression. “At first we are impatient with Sancho—and people we know like him—but beyond the broken thought and broken language, we can understand more.” Ultimately a metamorphosis begins to take place between Don Quixote and Sancho—each starts to exhibit some of the other’s qualities. “I think that is what friendship is about: your friend ends up shaping you in ways you never imagined when you started that relationship. As Plato once suggested, we are always looking for the other half—and it’s the other half that ultimately sustains us.” Professor Stavans continued his exploration of Don Quixote in his final visit to campus on 29 November, discussing the subject of foolishness—not as an antonym to intelligence, but as a companion. Afterward, he led 30 boys and faculty in a close examination of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s moving poem “I Explain a Few Things.” In this meditation on the destructive power of war and the role of poetry in times of upheaval, Neruda paints a lush portrait of abundant markets and pulsing streets near his home, only to describe its annihilation at the hands of soldiers, or as Neruda terms them, “Jackals the jackals would despise.” The professor asked the boys to consider both the capacities of poetry in the face of turmoil, and if a poem can be more powerful or lasting than a rifle. The conversation soon moved into a larger reflection on the qualities of good poetry, who has the right to write poetry, and whether or not poetry itself is an act of courage or of cowardice. Ultimately, the boys were left to ponder the importance of “home” and its vulnerability to unwanted change, and how literature can
Professor Ilan Stavans with Robert Smith ’58 and Señor Jim Ryan.
become an outlet for empathy and comfort. Professor Stavans is best known for his research on English, Spanish, Yiddish, Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), and, in particular, Spanglish. In 2003, he published Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language, which includes a lexicon of approximately 6,000 terms and a Spanglish translation of the first chapter of Don Quixote. Subsequently, he completed a translation into Spanglish of Cervantes’s entire novel. Echoing last year’s cross-curricular focus on the First World War, concurrent with Smith Scholar Dr. Michael Neiberg’s lectures, faculty across disciplines incorporated Don Quixote into their courses. In addition to his work with Señor Ryan’s Spanish V class, Professor Stavans held discussions in Messrs. Kelly, Heaton, and Thomsen’s history and political science classes; with Señor Guerra’s Spanish IV boys; and with Mr. Snyder’s English 10 class. Mr. Buckley’s art students also studied the characters and iconic images from the Cervantes classic in different media.
Study of Greuze, reimaged as Dulcinea, by Chris Zhu IV.
The Robert P. Smith ’58 International Fellowship, established at Roxbury Latin by Robert Smith ’58 and his wife Salua to promote greater understanding of global issues, enables the School to bring visiting scholars to campus each year for the purpose of informing students and teachers of specific cultural, economic, military, and political forces shaping the world.
Richard Blanco, Inaugural Poet
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mong our guest speakers and classroom visitors are writers, journalists, and poets of note—artists who offer our students models for finding their own voices and honing their writing craft. On 15 September, we welcomed poet Richard Blanco in Hall and in the classroom. Addressing the School in Hall, Mr. Blanco spoke about the meaning of “home,” his artistic obsession with it, and all that word calls to mind with respect to family, community, place, culture and national loyalties. He characterized his growing up in a very un-diverse, close-knit Cuban community in Miami as a “reverse xenophobia… I loved living there because it was so close to the U.S.!” (For years he thought the National Anthem started with oh José, can you see...) The fifth inaugural poet in U.S. history, Richard Blanco was born in Madrid to Cuban exiles and arrived in New York City as an infant with his family. Finally settling in Miami among other Cuban exiles, Mr. Blanco grew up with roots in three countries, foreshadowing the concerns of place and belonging that would shape his life and work. He says, “Before I even learned to say my first word, I was subconsciously asking those questions that would obsess me all my life and work: Where am I from? Where is home? Where do I belong?” Mr. Blanco was amazed when he was tapped to write the inaugural poem for the ceremony for President Obama’s second term. Joining the ranks of such luminary poets as Robert Frost and Maya Angelou, he was the youngest, the first Latino, the immigrant, and the first gay person to serve in this role. A builder of cities as well as poems, Mr. Blanco holds a BS in civil engineering and an MFA in creative writing. In addition to holding many fellowships and honorary doctorates and university teaching posts, in 2015 Mr. Blanco was named the inaugural Education Ambassador of The Academy of American Poets.
After Hall, Mr. Blanco met with Dr. Stearns’ students in the Farnham Room, where he discussed writing techniques, poems, and the ways his careers in engineering and poetry overlap. Mr. Blanco is the author of two memoirs; poetry collections Looking for the Gulf Motel, Directions to the Beach of the Dead, and City of a Hundred Fires; and a children’s book of his inaugural poem, illustrated by Dav Pilkey. To help heal the emotional wounds of the Boston Marathon bombings, he wrote “Boston Strong,” a poem he performed at the TD Boston Garden Benefit Concert and at a Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park. Richard Blanco joins a host of poets, authors, and journalists who have shared their stories and craft with the School in the recent past: Tom Sleigh (2016), Howard Axelrod (2016), Benoit Denizet-Lewis (2015), Paula McLain (2014), Ben Bradlee (2014), Junot Diaz (2014), William Landay ’81 (2013), Scott Sayare ’04 (2012), Jurate Kazickas (2010), Billy Collins (2009), and Ala Khaki (2009).
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Stress and the Over-Programmed Child “Dolphin” author Dr. Shimi Kang addresses boys, parents
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e are living a paradox. Never have we had so much technology to assist us, never have children had such attentive parents—yet stress (and its attendant woes of anxiety, anger, and addiction) has become the number-one health epidemic for the 21st century. This is the problem that clinical psychiatrist and professor Dr. Shimi Kang addressed in her talks to the R.L. community on 7 and 8 November. “Stress takes us away from cortical thinking—processing sensory information—and moves us to freeze, fight, or flight,” said Dr. Kang. Flight, for example, a form of escape, manifests itself in the overprogrammed child. “Over-programmed children lack independence, social skills, and the ability to problem solve, adapt, and create.” Ironically, high-functioning kids are most at risk—the children we are pushing to succeed end up with fewer emotional and mental resources at their disposal. What is causing this stress? Dr. Kang believes we have forgotten how we’re supposed to live as humans. In her book, The Dolphin Parent: A Guide to Raising Healthy, Happy, and Self-Motivated Kids, Dr. Kang offers a solution that is “simple, but not easy,” one that boils down to common sense and trusting our intuition. The key to a successful life, she proposes, is adaptability, and the key skills needed in the “Conceptual Era” of today’s world are cognitive ones: creativity, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and the ability to contribute.
Ironically, high-functioning kids are most at risk—the children we are pushing to succeed end up with fewer emotional and mental resources at their disposal. Proposing the dolphin as a model for how we should conduct our lives, Dr. Kang uses the concept of the dolphin “pod” to create a mnemonic acronym: P (“play”), O (“others”), and D (“downtime”)—based on her observations of the highly social, intelligent, and seemingly altruistic aquatic mammal. She pointed out that play is not organized sports with drills and evaluations, but unstructured activity that allows us to take risks and innovate; that others does not refer to “connecting” on social media, but spending time with others in a collaborative mindset; and that downtime is not sleep or mindless TV or video games, but a state of relaxed wakefulness, deep breathing, and reflection. To lower stress, she prescribes “a 10
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daily dose” of P.O.D. A specialist in the field of addiction, Dr. Kang completed medical school at the University of Alberta; did her psychiatry training at the University of British Columbia; and completed a clinical research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University. Today, she is the medical director for Child and Youth Mental Health for Vancouver Community and a clinical associate professor at the University of British Columbia. She is the recipient of numerous awards worldwide for her outstanding community service and her leadership in the fields of addictions and mental health. In addition to Dolphin, which was a #1 National Bestseller and won the 2015 US News International Book Award in the Parenting and Family Category, she is the author of a new book, The Self-Motivated Kid. Dr. Kang’s two-day visit included a presentation to the Headmaster’s Council Monday afternoon, followed by an address to R.L. parents and faculty at the Parents’ Auxiliary meeting that evening— both very well attended and followed by vibrant Q&A sessions. On Tuesday she delivered a presentation to the entire student body in the Smith Theater. In his introduction, Kerry Brennan urged the boys to listen closely… “for embedded in her talk will be critical insights and tips that you’ll be able to use right away to improve the quality of your own life and your friends’ lives, as you navigate these challenging and wonderful adolescent years.”
“The Mask You Live In” A Values Forum for Upper Classmen by George Matthews ’08
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t Roxbury Latin we have long taken pride in our character-based educational model, and particularly the way in which we aim to strike the delicate balance of allowing a boy to discover his true self, while simultaneously helping to shape his values in accordance with principles of selflessness, generosity, and honesty. Of course, educating a boy in such a way requires us to constantly look outward at the world around us and to consider in what ways modern culture (in particular attitudes toward sex, drugs,
in which our culture shapes young men, both for better and worse. Each small group was headed by a member of the faculty or staff, who facilitated discussion on a number of topics including stereotypes of masculinity and the ways in which those stereotypes perpetuate negative stereotypes of women. Discussion leaders and students, assembled in separate classrooms, reported widely differing conversation topics. While the documentary provided plenty of discussion fodder, the boys themselves tended to steer the conversation. Boys in one room spent a
Boys in one room spent a significant amount of time discussing the extent of our cultural acceptance of “locker room talk,” and the unwanted and unhealthy manifestations of that acceptance. alcohol, the internet, bullying, etc.) is also shaping our boys. Roxbury Latin has always tackled such issues in the Class V Personal Development course and through our one-on-one advising system, but now more than ever we feel it is appropriate for us to revisit these topics in an intentional way with our older boys, and to give them a forum to discuss these subjects in a frank and meaningful manner. In late October boys in Classes II and III had their first in a sequence of gatherings this year to explore some of these topics. After a stirring introduction from R.L. alumnus and assistant football coach John Collins ’09, boys split into small groups to view and discuss the documentary “The Mask You Live In,” a film that comprehensively examines male identity and the ways
significant amount of time discussing the extent of our cultural acceptance of “locker room talk,” and the unwanted and unhealthy manifestations of that acceptance. Another group explored how female sexuality is often exploited in television advertisements. The gendered nature of children’s toys, the “unacceptability” of crying in public, and the power of the “language of masculinity” also provoked interesting dialogue. The manner of discussion was equally encouraging. Boys not only contributed regularly to a host of topics, but challenged one another’s views and engaged honestly by sharing their own personal opinions. The result was largely what we had hoped for: a different and “more real” discussion. As one boy noted a week later, the novelty of our approach and the level of comfort that he felt in his discussion group made for a really “new and helpful” experience. At this stage, a meaningful dialogue has been started. We anticipate revisiting these topics in a different format later this year.
Starting Young: The Sixie Seminar
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he Sixie Seminar, now in its fourth year, was designed to develop in the School’s newest members an understanding of how decisions are made; how people deserve to be treated; and how others might influence them to do what they normally wouldn’t in certain situations. Developed by Class VI master Kate Chappell, the yearlong course consists of seven seminars—each with a different theme. Seminars consist of small-group discussions; faculty-led discussions; and active, teambuilding challenges. Mrs. Chappell envisioned a corresponding leadership program for older boys, and now nine seniors are serving as leaders and mentors in the Sixie Seminar. In addition to helping lead the small-group discussions, the seniors contribute ideas for topics, related questions, and scenarios to discuss. “Offering seniors this role has been rewarding for everyone involved,” says Mrs. Chappell. “They remember what it was like to be a seventh grader far better than the adults, and the sixies would much rather listen to and learn from their schoolmates.”
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Ja r vis I n te r na tiona l Fund Le c ture
Bitten by the Public Service Bug Lisa O. Monaco delivers Jarvis Lecture
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isa O. Monaco, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism since 2012, delivered the Jarvis Lecture in Rousmaniere Hall on 17 October. Ms. Monaco, whose office in the White House is down the hall from the Oval Office, where she briefs the President every morning (“except this morning, so I could be with you”), is a graduate of The Winsor School, Harvard College, and the University of Chicago Law School.
are long; the pace is grueling. It’s a little like having finals every week. But here’s the thing: I have one of the best jobs in the world. I get to work with the President and the rest of the National Security Team to help keep the country safe. That’s my job description. And from my perspective, it has two critical ingredients to what makes a fulfilling job and a career in public service: challenge and mission.” Ms. Monaco described her own public
“The hours are long; the pace is grueling. It’s a little like having finals every week. But here’s the thing: I have one of the best jobs in the world.” Ms. Monaco began her talk by taking the audience through one of her most memorable weeks on the job, which started on Monday, 15 April 2013 (Patriots’ Day in Boston). She started that week coordinating the country’s response to an emerging outbreak of a deadly Avian Flu in China; later that Monday, she learned about the Boston Marathon bombing and grappled with many questions surrounding that terrorist attack, including how to advise the President about his message to the American people. The next day, she confronted a bioterrorism threat in the Congressional mailroom, on top of severe storms and tornadoes moving through the Midwest, and a mysterious, deadly explosion at a chemical plant in West Texas. Her busy week culminated in a 3 a.m. wake-up call to President Obama, telling him that one of the suspects in the Marathon bombing was dead, the other was on the run, and a manhunt was underway in Boston. “Now, not all weeks are like that,” said Ms. Monaco. “But some are. The hours 12
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service journey, which began soon after college when she worked in the Senate on the Judiciary Committee under then-chairman, Joseph Biden. “I got bitten by the public service bug,” she explained. She attended law
school; worked for Attorney General Janet Reno (who taught her that “you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t, you might as well do the right thing”); and became a federal prosecutor. “Experiences that set you on your ultimate path may not be what you expect,” she said. “It’s only by being open to opportunities that you will find a path that really inspires you.” Ms. Monaco concluded her address by urging the 301 Roxbury Latin boys sitting before her to pursue a career in public service. “Public service needs you—and you, in particular,” she said. “Yes, R.L. was founded during the reign of King Charles the First and is the oldest school in the United States, and it is steeped in wonderful traditions, but it’s also preparing you for 21st-century challenges. In the coming years, our government, our nation, and our world will need people who can understand and operate in a fast-paced and wired world while remaining grounded in our enduring values.” “What John Eliot called ‘godly citizenship’ three and one-half centuries ago is needed now, more than ever. And when I look around this room, when I think about the skills and smarts in this hall, I am confident that whatever challenges come in the decades ahead, your generation will rise to meet them.”
Tony Jarvis, Lisa Monaco, Kerry Brennan, Jack Hennessy ’54, and Margarita Hennessy.
Since the establishment of the F. Washington Jarvis International Fund in 2004 by Jack Hennessy ’54 and his wife Margarita, the School has been privileged to welcome annually a distinguished public servant or thinker on foreign affairs to deliver the Jarvis Fund Lecture. The fund, named for the man who for thirty years led Roxbury Latin as its Headmaster, also enables boys and faculty to travel abroad to experience unfamiliar cultures firsthand. The Hennessys and Tony Jarvis, along with many other special guests (including a strong Winsor School contingent), were present for Ms. Monaco’s lecture and enjoyed a reception afterward in the Jarvis Refectory.
F. Washington Jarvis International Fund speakers (2004–2016) Paul A. Volcker, past Chairman, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System, 2004 (inaugural speaker) Ambassador Richard W. Murphy ’47, 2005 Ambassador Richard N. Haass, 2006 Linda Fasulo, Special Correspondent to the U.N. for NBC News and MSNBC, 2007 Peter D. Bell, Senior Research Fellow, Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University, 2008 General Anthony Zinni, 2009 Sir Eric Anderson, former Provost of Eton College, 2010 Andrew Bacevich, Professor of International Relations at Boston University; retired U.S. Army colonel, 2011 R. Nicholas Burns, Professor of Diplomacy and International Politics at the Kennedy School of Government, 2012 Robert Gates, former Secretary of Defense; former Director of the CIA, 2013 Bill Richardson, former Governor of New Mexico, 2014 Dr. Stanley Fischer, Vice Chairman, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System, 2015 Lisa O. Monaco, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, 2016
Give a Glass Filled to the Brim Zack Ciccolo ’05 is Veterans Day Hall speaker As long as generations of alumni can remember, Roxbury Latin was decidedly in session on Veterans Day. It still is; where better than in Hall can we consider two vital things? One: history, that we might be less inclined to repeat its darker moments; and two: those who have answered the call to serve their country. It has also long been the custom at R.L. to invite a veteran to speak to the boys in Hall to mark “Remembrance Day.” On Veterans Day this fall Zack Ciccolo ’05 offered an engaging account of his military service, including his West Point years, that was at once anecdotal and reflective. Excerpts of his text follows.
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n Mr. Buckley’s ninth grade art class, I saw the Twin Towers fall. I knew we were going to war. I thought I understood those implications, and I was ready to fight. I was certain that because of my service, we would win the war and save the world. I was going to be a Team Leader in Special Forces, save my brothers in combat, and come home with glory and honor. Fifteen years later, it appears we need a little more time to save the world. A lot of other things turned out differently, too: While I have been to war, I have not fired a bullet in self-defense; I never went Special Forces; and we still are in Iraq and Afghanistan. This presents a bit of a problem for some soldiers. And it becomes a full-on existential crisis after attending schools like R.L. and West Point, where you are trained to look at your record, evaluate it often, ask if you made a difference, and question if you ever truly served. It’s a useful question, though, because it focuses on self-sacrifice—something that made this country great. And that is what I’d
like to share with you: lessons about sacrifice I’ve learned in the military. Jose Williams. Basic training. Fivefoot-eight, fat, poor command of English, and an incredibly annoying laugh. He was timid and rarely finished in any place other than last. Not the image of an Army officer. Almost everyone disliked him for his incompetence. Aren’t we supposed to be the best of the best? We justified our disdain by telling ourselves it would be a service to our country if he didn’t become an Army officer. He struggled through basic training and his first academic year. All freshmen, or “plebes,” are required to take boxing so that we can learn to continue fighting after we’ve taken a punch to the face. I found I was surprisingly skilled at this. One day our boxing coach (a former coach of the U.S. Olympic team) let one of the other boxers whale on Jose in the corner of the ring. The rounds were 90 seconds, but Colonel Smith refused to stop the fight until Jose threw a punch. It lasted for five minutes.
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The Army Physical Fitness Test (the PT) is not hard to pass (some push-ups, sit-ups, and a two-mile run). Most cadets ace it; almost all score highly; a few perform just OK. Almost no one fails. It brings dishonor to oneself, one’s company, and the Army. Jose failed. It was actually good news for many of us: fail the PT twice, you get separated from the Army. No West Point, no becoming an officer, no leading soldiers. We were secretly hoping this for Cadet Williams. Each plebe at West Point is assigned a team leader whose job is to help him succeed. Everything (and I mean everything) is designed to train leaders—from how we talk to how we walk to how we sleep. But some lessons in leadership are more important and noticeable than others. Speaking in front of a class, composure with visiting generals, beating Navy in football—these are the elite leadership tests. Babysitting a younger cadet who is already a joke is not considered a test of excellence at a school where Eisenhower, Patton, and Grant learned leadership skills they would use to save America. Cadet Dave Lesalle was given the task of Jose Williams. Lesser team leaders would have put in the absolute minimum effort to make it to the end of the year and be done with him. Not Lesalle. Dave would train with Jose three times a day. He’d run with him in the morning, do Williams’s mandatory PT with him in the afternoon, and run again with him at night. He would review his chemistry homework with him and tutor him in military matters, as well. He gave Jose Saturday off, but would start off the week with a long Sunday night run. We thought Lesalle was drunk on his first taste of authority and was taking it out on Jose Williams. It wasn’t until I had my first leadership assignment that I understood Dave’s selflessness and how devoted he was to this service. Besides his own workload (his major was nuclear engineering), he would spend almost four extra hours a day helping Williams. He never asked for praise or special treatment. He devoted that year to a boy whose own classmates didn’t like him. Jose lost 30 pounds. He passed all of his 14
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classes, and he passed the PT. That was it. He made it. And Dave got nothing. Not even any recognition. And yet I am certain that Dave looks back on that experience as immensely satisfying. The reason is simple: in a huge, slow-moving institution like the Army, where progress is difficult to measure and saving the world never really happens, making someone else’s life concretely better turns out to be the most rewarding thing there is. The Jose Williams experience taught me
of us qualified for NCAA Nationals. But I avoided running like the plague. When other cadets I knew would run a marathon, I’d say, “You could not pay me enough to do something that stupid.” This continued after I became an officer. I could run well enough to lead my soldiers, but I was average at best. I justified it by saying to myself, I’m a national caliber weightlifter, but in reality, it really started to get to me. I gravitated toward jobs in which the running requirement was lower because
In a huge, slow-moving institution like the Army, where progress is difficult to measure and saving the world never really happens, making someone else’s life concretely better turns out to be the most rewarding thing there is. a couple of things. First, it was the beginning of witnessing people in the Army accomplish (and far surpass) what they thought they could not do. Second, and though I didn’t recognize it at the time, it showed me the nature of effective service. I had my own Jose Williams experience. I was a decent athlete at R.L. I wasn’t a three-sport athlete, but I was a pretty good [hockey] goalie. I began seriously lifting weights when I was 16, and it helped. What I didn’t realize was that my athletic skills didn’t translate well to the Army. The Army favors endurance athletes. Specifically, the Army loves runners. Running is the pastime of the Army, and frankly, you can get away with a lot if you are a good runner. And a runner I was not. Years later in Kuwait, Dan, another captain and one of my closest friends to this day, saw me running laps on a track, a scene which he described as “someone in the middle of a horrible fight with the ground, and losing badly.” I love fitness. I studied strength and conditioning in my off time, and by the time I was a senior at West Point I had started an Olympic weightlifting team where a couple
I thought I couldn’t do it. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I started to doubt myself as an officer, and thus as a human being, because of it. And the more I threw myself into lifting, the worse my running became. So here I was, the strongest of 500 guys, but I was held back because I simply refused to train myself to do something simple. One day I was talking to my friend Justin. Picture a lanky, 6'7" Army officer who couldn’t be kinder and excelled at just about everything he touched. I have this stupid habit of bluffing people for fun. So I boasted: “Justin, if you do it with me, I’ll run an ultramarathon.” I was a bit shocked when he said: “Zack, I’ll run an ultra with you.” Now I was committed. I had zero confidence that I could finish the race. But if I did, perhaps I would have finally whipped the running complex. An ultramarathon is any race over 26.2 miles. I chose the Stone Cat, a 50-mile race in a state park in Ipswich. This was stupid for two reasons. 1) It was 50 miles and I was 225 pounds of weightlifting. 2) It was in northern Massachusetts in late November. And I made this decision to run mid-deployment,
Zach Ciccolo ’05 with Class of 2005 mothers: Nancy Reid, Lori Rosenberg, Diane Young-Spitzer, Mary Ryan, Vicki Bourneuf.
so I would have to do all of my training where I was deployed, in Kuwait and Iraq. In the summer. The preparation was less than adequate. I was working around a pretty demanding deployment schedule, brutal heat (a few 120+ degree days), and I think the longest run I managed before the race was a whopping 14 miles. About a month before the race I called Justin. I had just finished a nine-mile run in sweltering heat. I asked him how his training was going. “Oh, you were serious about that?” We arrived in Ipswich at 5 a.m. We were completely underprepared. (I thought running in basketball shorts and a T-shirt was a good plan). Justin had started training a mere three weeks prior. The race was four 12.5-mile loops in the forest. After the first loop, we felt pretty good. We were far ahead of our goal pace, and we showed no sign of
The Headmaster acknowledged those veterans from our own School community that were present in Hall: Fred Reis ’52; Michael Hager ’56, Bob Powers ’66, Bill Chauncey, Assistant Headmaster Emeritus, John Farrell ’97, and former trustee Jack Regan. Currently in active duty or in training for future service are the following alumni: Vice Admiral Frederick Kenney ’76, William Kennedy ’77, Joseph Hanrahan ’87, John C. Gillon ’93, Jeff Adams ’97, Lawrence Sullivan ’04, James Astrue ’05, Zack Ciccolo ’05, Colin Murphy ’05, Matthew Neelon ’09, Thomas Buckley ’11, Dante Gaziano ’11, Josh Rivers ’11, Paul Bodet ’12, Mikey Trainin ’12, and Tom Warner ’13.
slowing. When we stopped at aid stations, they would frantically ask, “What do you need?” as if we had some precise race nutrition strategy. I replied, “What do you have?” like we were at a TGI Fridays. We were starting to hurt by the end of the second loop, and I began to have doubts that we would finish. Justin and I were trying not to talk about it. I was already eleven miles farther than I had ever run before. We started to slow. Walk some. Our walking became more frequent. Our normally chatty exchanges became more infrequent. A few people we had passed two laps earlier at the start of the race caught up and passed us. But we knew we couldn’t stop or sit. As soon as we stopped moving, we’d be done for. It was after noon when we began the fourth lap. Not only were we unsure whether we could finish, but we weren’t sure they were going to let us start our final lap. We had no headlamps or light source, and the race directors wouldn’t let runners into the woods without one. Two people whom we had never met ran to their cars, gave us headlamps with no instructions on how to return them, and gave a simple command: go, go, go. A mile in, we began to regret starting that fourth lap. Our run/walk intervals had changed from run two miles and walk the up-hills, to shuffle 200 meters, then walk. At one point we came to a fallen tree along the trail. On the first lap I had effortlessly hurdled the tree. This time I had to lie on my stomach and roll myself over. Justin and I had stopped talking. We were passed by a
one-legged, 65-year-old man on crutches. I can’t say how long the last six miles took us, but I know it was a long time. The forest at night is a different level of dark. Despite our headlamps, we were tripping in the near blackness. We finished in around eleven hours. Amazing. Like Jose, I passed. You are stronger than you know. We do a great job of pigeonholing ourselves as certain “types,” while conveniently forgetting the fact that we are humans with depth, the capacity to change, and strength to completely astound ourselves. The Army has a horrible PR campaign. The Marine Corps has an awesome PR campaign (for anyone that remembers the commercial where the guy slayed the fire monster with a sword). The Navy and Air Force aren’t far behind with their recent ads, but the Army has lagged for years. We often sell it as “We’ll pay for college!” or “We’ll give you a good life experience!” or some other lackluster piece of motivation. No one has ever created the easiest and most obvious marketing campaign: the Army is a whole lot of fun. Yeah, it’s a bureaucracy and there are some boring, painful times. But even the “worst” times—when you’re deployed, or in a miserable training exercise, or on a long run—turn out to be the most fun. You’re suffering together with friends who would give their lives for you, and you all serve each other. And the same can be said for service in general. I, like most R.L. boys, have read and thought about those words, “from those to whom much has been given, much is expected,” somberly and with gravity. I have contemplated the meaning of service: giving back, our duty, etc. But to be honest, the most compelling reason for service I’ve found is the selfish one: it’s a whole lot of fun. Finding something or someone to serve other than yourself gives you a purpose, a great feeling of fulfillment, and a ton of fun. Even hospice workers I’ve met generally love their service. People tend to envision military service as a grand gesture. And while we all understand and honor those who have given what Lincoln called “the last full measure of devo-
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tion” to their country and laid down their lives, thankfully that represents an extremely small number of us in the military. So that brought me to the crisis. Am I serving? When I took over my company, I was pretty nervous. We are large, and I was for the first time in charge of 170 soldiers. Fort Campbell attracts some of the best talent in the Army. The most aggressive and devoted soldiers try to get there, home to the 101st Airborne Division, which you all know as the Band of Brothers. I knew I’d have to be at my best, and I worked hard to be the most Army-version of myself. But after a few months, I noticed something odd. I realized that all of the great “leader” things I did (motivational speeches, unit runs, writing vision statements) pretty much had no effect on the soldiers. Almost no one remembered them.
Captain Zack Ciccolo ’05 is company commander of the 194th Military Police Company at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. His previous assignments include platoon leader at Camp Darby, Italy; executive officer in Stuttgart, Germany; and anti-terrorism/force protection officer in Kuwait and in Iraq. An engaged and engaging student while at R.L., Zack excelled in Latin and took advantage of an array of activities, including Glee Club and theater, Varsity Hockey and Model U.N. He earned his BS in computer science from West Point and was commissioned in 2009. Zack also holds an MA in business organizational security management from Webster University.
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But there were times when a soldier of mine would stop me and say, “Sir, I want to thank you. What you did really meant a lot to me and helped me out.” This would surprise me because the things the soldiers cited were never the “leadership” things I did. They were small. Very small. Incredibly small. But they were things that made people’s lives concretely better. I noticed that the biggest impact I had on soldiers was simply asking them how they were. A few times, I saw a soldier that was down, and I’d ask if he was OK. Or I’d ask a soldier about how his sick wife was doing. Or one of my lieutenants would bring me a problem, and I would just listen to him. And honestly, as un-Army as it sounds, those things proved the most effective ways to lead and to communicate with my soldiers. I noticed this in Iraq, too. It’s difficult for me to share with you just how confusing expeditionary operations are. Everyone has an idea that the military shows up in a country and knows exactly what to do. We do not. Expeditionary operations are just as much about trying to figure out what it is you’re supposed to do, as they are about doing what you’re supposed to do. So when a small contingent of us were sent north to Irbil to work with a Kurdish intelligence agency, most of our job was figuring out how we could help. We found out quickly that the Kurds were distrustful of us. Even though we were the big bad U.S. military with seemingly bottomless pockets, the Kurds were reluctant to open up to us or let us help them. My friend Dan, the best Army officer I’ve known, said to me, “Take up smoking.” So, against my own best judgment, I took up smoking. I always kept a pack and a lighter on me. Whenever Midya or any of his team stepped out for a smoke, I’d join them. On the lucky days when they were out of cigarettes, I would gladly offer them one. And I would smoke with them. We never talked about work. I’d ask them about their lives and their families, about their experience with Americans and their experience with war. They’d ask me about American women and cowboys. And after awhile, they trusted
us. Trust turned into collaboration. Collaboration turned into fighting ISIS. Service in any capacity, whether it’s in the U.S. Military, R.L., or your church or synagogue, always takes the same form: listening to others, caring about others, working for others, helping others. Looking back at it, every story I have told or have heard has a supporting character, a Samwise [from The Lord of the Rings], quietly serving so the protagonist could succeed. It was Dave Lesalle sacrificing his time so Jose would pass. It was Justin Smith running 50 miles just so I wouldn’t have to do it alone. It’s a leader just taking time out of his day to listen. Tomorrow we celebrate Veterans Day, which honors all who have served this country in the military. Oftentimes people thank those of us in uniform for our service. While we deeply appreciate this, we often feel pretty awkward and at a loss for an appropriate response. So I’d like to offer something maybe a bit more tangible. I’d encourage you all to serve. It doesn’t have to be military service or some other life-overhauling gesture, but something small. Listen, be kind when you want to be angry, offer to help someone when you see they need it. Or, to quote St. John Maximovitch (I’m hoping being a Jew quoting a Russian Orthodox priest will give me some credibility): Lay aside all theoretical considerations that it is forbidden to slaughter millions, women, children, and elderly; be content to manifest your moral sense by in no way killing the human dignity of your neighbor, neither by word, nor by innuendo, nor by gesture. Do not be angry over trifles or in the daily contacts of life speak untruth to your neighbor. These are trifles, small change, of no account; but just try to do this and you will see what comes of it. And give, give a glass of cold water to everyone who has need of it; give a glass filled to the brim with simple human companionship to everyone that lacks it, the very simplest companionship. I was blessed with simple human companionship as a student at R.L. and I hope throughout your years here you are blessed with the same.
S e r vi ce i n th e Community
Service Day for Classes V & VI Boys in Classes V and VI spent the bright, sunny Monday of 24 October at Hale Reservation and the Roxbury Burial Ground, respectively, armed with rakes, clippers, and huge leaf bags to clean and beautify the grounds. Roxbury Latin’s connection to both locations runs deep: Hale Reservation was established one century ago by the land’s owner, Robert Sever Hale (R.L. 1887), as a Boy Scout camping area; and the Roxbury Burial Ground is the gravesite of our founder, John Eliot, as well as a number of subsequent colonial leaders. This year’s crop of fifthies and sixies have joined the ranks of previous generations of R.L. boys who became acquainted with these two sites on similar service days in their own era.
Sixies Teddy Glaeser, Drew Streckenbach, Ale Philippides, and Vishnu Emani at the tomb of John Eliot.
Andrew Sparks VI at the Roxbury Burial Ground.
R.L. Habitat Chapter at Work in Dorchester
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n a clear November morning, seven members of R.L.’s Chapter of Habitat for Humanity, along with faculty members Mike Pojman and Andrew Kingsley ’12, traveled to Dorchester to participate in a Habitat build. Seniors Aidan Burke, Simon Fisher, Mitchell Garvey, Jack Ricciuti, and Franny Rose, and sophomores Lo Monteiro-Clewell and Milan Rosen, rolled up their sleeves to begin construction of a duplex on a small, grassy plot near Codman Square. For six hours, the boys hammered away at two-by-fours (and one unfortunate thumb) to complete the entryway. In a scene reminiscent of 19th-century barn
raisings, the boys pooled their strength to lift a framed-in wall into place, and even signed their finished work. Surveying the result at the end of the day was gratifying for the boys, but even better was knowing they were donating their time and effort to a such a worthwhile cause—providing subsidized housing for the less fortunate. When the structure is finished, it will provide a home for two families. R.L. has been actively supporting Habitat for Humanity since 2006, when Jason Sandler ’08 organized the chapter in the spring of his sophomore year. Ms. Morris-Kliment currently serves as the faculty advisor to the group.
Miguel Rincon V at Hale Reservation. (Photo by Melora Balson)
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S e n i o r P lay
The Illusion
by Andrew Kingsley ’12
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e have officially entered a “post-truth” era, in which the line between truth and fiction blurs and conmen fool audiences with appealing tales and promises. Thus, this year’s Senior Play, Tony Kushner’s The Illusion, performed 18-19 November, seemed timely and apt. “Freely adapted” from Pierre Corneille’s 1636 meta-theatrical comedy L’illusion comique, The Illusion follows Pridamant, an elderly lawyer, as he searches for the son he banished from home fifteen years earlier. Over the course of the play, a powerful
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magician shows Pridamant three different visions from his son’s life, all filled with rivals, lovers, and intrigue, yet none truly tenable. The play grows increasingly complex, the yarns increasingly extravagant, until Pridamant finally comes to understand his son’s fate. The Illusion’s play-withina-play structure, first popularized by The Spanish Tragedy and Hamlet, in Kushner’s hand becomes a meditation on the power of illusion in storytelling and perhaps a commentary on the dangers of blind belief. Drama director Derek Nelson selected the play for its parallels to
Don Quixote, the central text of Professor Ilan Stavans’ lectures this year as the Smith Scholar in Residence. (Last year, Roxbury Latin staged The Christmas Truce in conjunction with Professor Neiberg’s lectures on World War I.) Mr. Nelson also chose Kushner’s text specifically for its “monologues whose long sentences, broken into nearly poetic lines, make it challenging for actors to carry the vocal momentum to the end of the thought. Helping them find the key image or idea in some of the sentences taught me a lot about the language.” Commenting on his experience in
the play, Reis White II enjoyed “watching it all come together; the script itself was very complicated, and Mr. Nelson split up rehearsals so everyone didn’t have to come to each one. So when tech week came around, seeing how each scene wove together with the others to create the greater story was extremely satisfying and fulfilling.” Brendan Gibbons III added that he appreciated the opportunity “to get to know and spend time with all the different boys from R.L. as well as the girls from outside of school.” The production itself featured ten Roxbury Latin actors, including
four seniors (Henry Lin-David, Erik March, Jim McCoy, and Jacob Morris), two juniors (Andrew and Reis White) and four sophomores (Matt Fumarola, Brendan Gibbons, Coleman Smith, and Johnny Ryan). These were accompanied by female cohorts from Winsor (Lydia Forti, Maddie Lattimore, and Katie Tsai), Dana Hall (Lilly Craven), and Dover-Sherborn High School (Ainsleigh Caldicott), who generously made the trek to West Roxbury each day. Yet none of these actors’ efforts would have come to fruition without the dedication of the tech crew, made
up of R.L. faculty and students alike, who helped design the set, sound, and lighting, while ensuring the play’s smooth operation come show time. Special thanks to local artist Anne Lilly for lending to the play her spellbinding kinetic sculpture, “Disparate de tontos,” currently part of a larger exhibit of her work in the Great Hall throughout January. Ultimately, the play brought these students, faculty, artists, and guests together to enjoy the camaraderie and challenge of staging a show in a few short weeks. We all look forward to Roxbury Latin’s Junior Play, Arabian Nights, coming up this winter.
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Musical Notes Fall Term Recital Hall
When the school day begins with chamber music exquisitely performed by our own student musicians in Hall, some of us marvel “where else but at R.L.?” On 1 December the whole school enjoyed the strains of Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Sarasate, and Tchaikovsky by students from Classes II, III, IV, and VI. There are three Recital Halls each year, giving any student who wishes an opportunity to perform.
Alex Yin VI
Fall Term Recital Hall performers: Charlie Mazof III, Dylan Zhou II, Eric Zaks III, Alex Yin VI, Chris Zhu IV, Jonathan Weiss IV, Andrew Zhang IV.
Dylan Zhou II (piano) and Eric Zaks II (cello) performed Tchaikovsky’s “Pezzo Capriccioso.”
Arts Calendar Tues, 10 Jan 6 pm, Great Hall: Exhibit opening reception for “Mortui Vivos Docent,” Anne Lilly, kinetic sculptor Fri & Sat, 24 & 25 Feb 7:30 pm: Junior Play, The Arabian Nights Sun, 5 Mar 3 pm: Joint Concert with The Winsor Chorale and Small Chorus @ R.L. The Latonics (left) perform at the Festival of Men’s Choruses; Whiffenpoof baritone Seth McNay ’13 (right) performs a moving solo of Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love.”
Fri, 7 Apr 7:30 pm: A Cappella Fest 2017
Festival of Men’s Choruses Features Yale Whiffenpoofs
Fri, 21 Apr 7:30 pm: Senior Concert
This year’s Festival of Men’s Choruses on 16 November featured performances by the Glee Club, Latonics, Belmont Hill B-Flats, and special guests, The Yale Whiffenpoofs. A testament to the vitality of R.L.’s choral program, Seth McNay ’13 continues the tradition of R.L. singers recently returning to the School with their college a cappella groups, along with Nate Davis ’10 with the Dartmouth Aires, Steve Burke ’10 with the Harvard-Radcliffe Overtones, Michael Rosengard ’11 with the Princeton Footnotes, Ryan Chipman ’12 with the MIT Logarhythms, Paul Matthews ’13 with the Tufts Amalgamates, and Jake Tango ’16 with the Brown Jabberwocks.
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Fri & Sat, 28 & 29 Apr 8 pm: Spring Musical @ Winsor Wed, 10 May 7:30 pm: The Sly Voxes’ Spring Concert Fri, 12 May 7:30 pm: Spring Instrumental Concert
Holiday Concerts and Community Messiah Sing
Fall Term officially ended with the Holiday Concert in two performances on 20 December. All three of R.L.’s singing groups (Glee Club, Junior Chorus, and Latonics) offered holiday repertoire to a Hall packed with families and alumni. There was a nearrecord alumni turnout at the evening performance: per tradition, they crowded the stage at the end of the concert to join the Glee Club in singing the Founder’s Song. Another musical staple of the season is the Messiah Sing, an R.L. tradition since 2009. On 4 December, guests from the community filled Rousmaniere Hall to sing the choruses of the Handel masterpiece to organ accompaniment, while professional soloists sang the arias and recitatives. The evening began with a concert by The Sly Voxes, an all-male a cappella group under the direction of Kerry Brennan.
Clockwise from top left: Will Callewaert VI sings a solo in the Junior Chorus performance at the Holiday Concert. Director of Music Rob Opdycke conducts the Glee Club during the Holiday Concert. Kerry Brennan rehearses The Sly Voxes prior to the Messiah Sing. Community members join in on the Handel choruses at the Messiah Sing.
Anne Lilly Kinetic Sculptor “Mortui Vivos Docent” By your perceived absence, recall that you have, at this very moment, the privilege of living.
10 January – 7 February 2017 The Great Hall, The Roxbury Latin School Opening reception: Tues., 10 Jan., 6 – 7:30 p.m. Closing reception: Tues., 7 Feb., 6 – 7:30 p.m. Gallery hours: 8 – 4 p.m., Monday – Friday For more information contact brian.buckley@roxburylatin.org
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High Holy Days “The School pays attention to signal events in the liturgical calendar Rabbi Karen Landy Gives Hall Address for Rosh Hashanah
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abbi Karen Landy spoke in Hall on 6 October on the meaning and traditions of the Jewish High Holy Days—Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the ten days of yamim noraim (the Days of Awe) in between. Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of a new year: it is both a celebration of creation and a time of introspection and beginning anew. Rabbi Landy arrived with a shofar and told a moving story of how more than 70 years ago in the BergenBelsen concentration camp, in northern Germany, the sound of the ram’s horn gave courage and hope to the Jews incarcerated there. At Rabbi Landy’s side while she spoke was Tamari, a trained service dog that she uses as a therapy dog in her work. Rabbi Landy is reflective of the range of traditions that inform modern Judaism. Currently serving as Rabbi and Staff Chaplain for Hebrew Senior Life’s “NewBridge on the Charles” in Dedham, and as Rabbi of Havurat Shalom in Andover, Rabbi Landy for the past ten years has been a rabbinic presence for Chaverim Shel Shalom, a social program for Jewish adults with psychiatric challenges. She has also served as psychiatrist at Jewish Family and Children’s Service in Boston. A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, Rabbi Landy is a board certified chaplain, and she has taught at Hebrew College in Newton and at Northeastern University. 22
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of major religions in part because we are committed to understanding and celebrating differences, including differences of faith, that contribute to our heterogeneity. While both the instincts to know about religions and to affirm the distinctive faith lives of our boys are worthy pursuits, it is in hearing from witnesses to these different faith traditions that our own journey toward meaning and fulfillment can be best informed and affirmed.” —Kerry Brennan
Diwali and the Self-Reflective Journey Toward Enlightenment
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n Hall on 25 October, Siva Emani I told the story behind Diwali (or Deepavali), the South Asian “festival of lights” celebrated by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs all over the world. “From the brilliance of the sun to the glow of a matchstick, light has served as a symbol of life, hope, and enlightenment since the origin of religious and spiritual thought,” said Siva. “Christians believe that light sparked the genesis of the universe. The lighting of the Menorah candelabra during Hanukkah symbolizes chasing away the forces of darkness. Diwali, too, celebrates this universal symbol of divinity.” With each annual celebration of Diwali, Siva explained, adherents are reminded to continue the selfreflective journey toward the truth. Siva also described some of the tenets of Hinduism. For example, traditional legends of morality, righteousness, and the transcendental elements of Hinduism show how through the contemplation of one’s death, one can understand the purpose of human life. And Hinduism centers around two guiding principles: Satyam vada (“Speak the truth”) and Dharmam chara (“Do your dharma”). “Translated loosely as duty or justice, dharma represents an individual’s personal definition of righteousness, the values which he considers to be integral to his path to enlightenment. In other words, do what you think is right, and you will be happy.”
S tu d e n t n e ws Debate, Public Speaking, Model U.N., and Science Competitions Juniors Marc de Fontnouvelle, Joe Nero, Elson Ortiz, and Andrew Steinberg competed in Stoneleigh Burnham School’s public speaking competition on 2 October. The team returned with the second-place trophy, falling only 63/100 of a point short of winning the competition. Joe won second place in the Persuasive Speaking category, and Andrew won first place in all three of his events with an impromptu speech about “Self-Examination”; an interpretive reading from Bridget Park’s memoir, Growing Young; and a persuasive speech about the rising threat of Alzheimer’s Disease. As a result, Andrew was named the competition’s first-place speaker overall. Later in October, Harry Callewaert I, Marc deFontnouvelle II, and Joe Nero II traveled to British Columbia with Debate advisor Stewart Thomsen to compete in the International Independent School Public Speaking Competition. The four-day event drew 158 students from five continents. Harry advanced to the finals in Extemporaneous Speaking, and the pair of Harry and Joe advanced to the finals for Cross-Exam-
Stewart Thomsen with Joe Nero II, Harry Callewaert I, and Marc deFontnouvelle II in Vancouver.
ination Debate. A week later, Siva Emani I and Andrew Steinberg II joined Harry and Joe at the Exeter Parliamentary Debate at Phillips-Exeter Academy. Competing with 160 debaters from twelve schools, the team of four took second place in the Advanced Team division, while Siva and Andrew took third place in the Advanced Pair division. Roxbury Latin hosted the R.L.-Winsor Beginner Debate on 20 November, and is proud of Ian Balaguera IV and Matt Callewaert IV, who took first-place R.L. team, and Rijs JohansonGordet IV and Andrew Zhang IV, who took second place R.L. team. Ian also took first place R.L. Speaker, and Avi Attar IV took second place R.L. Speaker. In mid-November, 28 boys in Classes V and VI participated in the Middle School Model U.N. Conference at Northeastern
University, accompanied by Model U.N. advisors Daniel Bettendorf and Rary Delaney. Best Delegate Awards went to the teams of Ben Crawford and John Wilkinson in Class V, and Vishnu Emani and Parker Collins in Class VI.
Hari Kothapalli I was a Regional Finalist for the Siemens Competition, the nation’s premier science research competition for high school students. Hari and his partner comprised one of the 60 teams (out of 1,600) to reach this status, which comes with a $1,000 award for college tuition. The team discovered a potential new use for certain plastics that could significantly improve the efficiency of organic solar cells, which are cheaper and more widely accessible than silicon solar cells.
Erik Zou’s Marine Illustrations Grace Publicity Brochure Erik Zou III provided the illustrations for a whale-watching flyer for the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, a non-profit, conservation organization for the marine environment at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay. Named “Best Place to See Aquatic Life” by USA TODAY this year, the sanctuary’s highly productive waters draw humpback whales, right whales, and dolphins each summer to feed and nurse their young, and also serve as an important stopover location for migrating birds. The Sanctuary sought out Erik for the project, having recognized his talent through winning artwork he has submitted to their annual art contest over the years. In all, he provided 16 illustrations of a whale in motion.
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Ramblings F rom the A rchives
by Christopher Heaton
I’m all
sixes and sevens, as the British say, with this election year and the upcoming inauguration year. Rather than bury my head in the sand, though, I buried it in the archives vault and came out with these tidbits on 6s and 7s in Roxbury Latin history, and, along the way, some fall and Hall traditions. One mark of fall at R.L. is the celebration of Founder’s Day and the taking of the all-school photo. Founder’s Day commemorates the arrival of John Eliot to these shores 385 years ago. It is the first state occasion of the school year, and boys are asked to wear the School tie, which was designed by Collins Graham from the Class of 1907. (Headmaster Kerry Brennan designed the senior tie.) On Founder’s Day boys belt out “Jerusalem,” England’s unofficial national anthem and a favorite English Public School song. Forgotten for many years at R.L., the song was reintroduced at a Founder’s Day Hall held in Old North Church in 1984 at the suggestion of then Music Director Kerry Brennan. The text, by British poet William Blake (1757-1827), was set to music by his fellow countryman C. Hubert H. Parry in 1916. Parry went to Oxford, which has quadrangles upon which only “senior fellows” may walk. Sounds like our own Senior Grass. Though the archives contains many specimens of all-school photos from R.L.’s 19th-
This photo of the R.L. courtyard with its “Great Elm” appeared with an article in The Boston Sunday Herald on 12 May 1946 on the occasion of the celebration that week of the School’s 300th anniversary.
and early 20th-century Kearsarge Avenue days, the taking of the all-school photo on Founder’s Day is a relatively new tradition, one begun in 2004 by Kerry Brennan in his first fall as Headmaster. Nor was Founder’s Day always a fall tradition. It used to be
The School Tie (far left) was designed by Collins Graham, R.L. 1907. An active and devoted alumnus, Mr. Graham also helped establish the Class Agents program in 1937 and organized the School’s 300th anniversary in 1946. The Senior Tie (left) was designed by Kerry Brennan and is presented by the Headmaster ceremoniously each fall to the rising senior class.
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celebrated in May, and a 1926 Tripod noted how that year’s annual spring Founder’s Day would coincide with the annual trip to the Boston Pops. The first Founder’s Day on our West Roxbury campus was celebrated on 25 May 1928. In 1943, Founder’s Day was moved to Exelauno Day (4 March) as a special tribute to classics master Clarence Gleason (1866-1942), who had died earlier that year. National elections have been a regular feature in fall term Halls—indeed, this year’s was the focus of Founder’s Day. The January 1977 Newsletter noted how the 1976 election was center stage in Hall. The late Judge Gordon Martin ’53 and trustee (see obituary, page 41), and George Sprague, state representative from Sherborn, debated the relative merits of Carter and Ford. Philip
To replace the American Elm, the 41 boys of the Class of 1978 presented the School with $1,500, their class gift, toward the purchase of a red oak, planted in the spring of 1978. That red oak held its ground until 1986.
The American Elm, having succumbed finally to disease, was removed in 1977.
Hansen, then History Department chair, offered an elective that year titled “The Making of a President, 1976.” This year’s elective could be “From Reality TV to Reality.” The courtyard where the classes gather for the all-school photo on Founder’s Day used to feature a great American Elm, already a landmark when the Perry Building was constructed in 1927. Philip Tyler ’31 published a poem in the April 1930 Tripod titled “The Brave Old Elm.” When the 1938 hurricane, which killed 682 people in New England and affected 35 percent of New England’s forests (winds at Great Blue Hill that day were recorded at 186 mph!), took a toll on the tree, the Trustees authorized $300 of tree work, which saved our Brave Old Elm for another 40 years. Long after Dutch elm disease had decimated elm species across the country, a tree specialist observed that our tree was “considered by many arborists and horticulturalists as one of the finest specimens of American Elms growing in a city environment in the east-
ern part of the United States… If there is any single tree, regardless of its species, that has the opportunity for a long and healthy life into the indefinite future, this tree certainly should be chosen as one far above any others… To friends of the Great Elm, it is reassuring to know that it will be here for generations of boys to come.” In the fall of 1969, the Roxbury Latin Bulletin noted that the tree’s “grace and strength, combined with great age, make it an appropriate symbol of the school.” Unfortunately, the fine specimen ultimately did succumb to disease, despite a two-year treatment of the antibiotic ceratocide, and was removed in 1977. In the January 1978 Newsletter, Assistant Headmaster Bill Chauncey wrote, “One note of sadness was the removal of ‘the great elm’ around which the School was built. A tree of monumental proportions, majestic presence, and great beauty, its loss is proportionate
The Senior Grass had no tree from 1986 to 2008, when the current American Beech was planted (above), thanks to a gift by the Class of 2005.
to the large empty space left behind.” Today, in its place, an American Beech, planted in April 2008 as a gift from the class of 2005, grows and thrives. I write this from the serenity of the library, which is graced by a grandfather clock. The October 1975 Newsletter noted that the clock was given by Mrs. Beatrice B. Berry in memory of her husband, Harold B. Berry, R.L. 1900. It was made by a Dutch clockmaker, Molenaer, and reputed to be one of seven such clocks transported to the U.S. in the early 1700s. Even though the clock has stopped, time, fortunately, marches on.
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All Things Election Founder’s Day speakers address Presidency, Electoral College, polling, running for office
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he Roxbury Latin community commemorated Founder’s Day, which celebrates the School’s founder, John Eliot, on 3 November. Founder’s Day is an annual tradition at R.L. But in Presidential election years, the School devotes an entire day to presentations and seminars focused on the Presidential election process—and that was the case this fall. The day began in Rousmaniere Hall with keynote speaker Roger Porter, the IBM Professor of Business and Government at Harvard. Professor Porter, a legendary teacher, gave a fascinating talk about the history of the American Presidency, filled with anecdotes from his eleven years as an economic adviser in the Ford, Reagan, and Bush White Houses. After a break for the annual all-school photo, the day continued in the Smith Theater, where R.L. alumnus and trustee Dennis Kanin ’64 delivered a highly engaging presentation entitled, “The Electoral College: What to Look For on Election Night.” As students and faculty entered the theater, they were handed a copy of Mr. Kanin’s “Electoral
Professor Roger Porter
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College Scorecard”—a listing of all 50 states organized in clusters by poll-closing times, including the number of electoral votes available in each state. Mr. Kanin then gave the audience a lively preview of possible election night scenarios, hour to hour, highlighting key “battleground states” and referencing historical results. Next, students heard from Corey Teter, an analyst from Lake Research Partners, a Washington, D.C., polling firm. Mr. Teter, an energetic speaker, taught students the basics of qualitative and quantitative research, and helped students understand the ways that polling firms serve as indispensable advisers to campaign strategists. After lunch, students and faculty were treated to an inspiring, informative panel discussion entitled, “Leading and Serving: How Do I Run for Office or Work to Elect Someone Else?” The panel, which was moderated by History Department Chair Stewart Thomsen, featured four prominent voices with extensive, meaningful experience in political campaigns: John Walsh (Chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party from 2006 to 2013, and the father of Coleman Walsh ’12); Dan Conley (District Attorney for Suffolk County, and father of Jim Conley ’14); John Barros (Chief of Economic Development for the City of Boston), and Ryan Whalen ’98 (Director of Initiatives and Strategy at The Rockefeller Foundation in New York). Following the panel, the day wrapped up with a reporting of the results of R.L.’s own student and faculty poll on the Presidential candidates and the four Massachusetts ballot questions. Director of Technology Nate Piper and mathematics and English teacher Daniel Bettendorf analyzed the R.L. poll results in great detail, and even broke down the results by “electoral votes,” using an ingenious, invented model that represented towns and Boston neighborhoods where our students, faculty, and staff live.
Dennis Kanin ’64
Chris Jimenez I
John Walsh P ’12, John Barros, Dan Conley P ’14, Ryan Whalen ’98
Peter Hyde on trumpet
Peter Hyde on trumpet
Nate Piper
Joe Pollard I
Ryan Whalen ’98
Corey Teter
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The R.L. Way Xander BOYD I
As part of the School’s focus on public speaking skills, R.L. seniors, over the course of the year, each compose and deliver a speech on a subject of interest or import to them. The Newsletter is pleased to reprint Xander Boyd’s speech, which he delivered in Rousmaniere Hall on 8 September:
R.L.
athletes have become very used to ISL rivals saying, “Yo, man, this place is like my grandmother’s back yard!” Or, “Last time I played on a field this bad, I was in second grade!” Many of our opponents possess up-to-date facilities, equipped with vast turf fields and slick hockey rinks. For these individuals, this is the norm, and a product of their unfamiliarity with Roxbury Latin’s subpar facilities tends to be arrogance. Fortunately, or unfortunately, for everyone here, the tides have changed. And R.L., our school that has so long been known for water-drenched fields and cracked tennis courts, has opened up the checkbook. Our new tennis courts and turf fields are great, right?! Not so fast. What if I told you that the arrogant quotes I recited at the beginning could end up being commonplace for R.L. athletes in a few years time? And that the new athletic facilities could change the attitudes of the R.L. athlete to more closely resemble some of our ISL rivals? As we move forward into completely new territory, having arguably the best athletic facilities in the ISL, we must all maintain the same sportsmanship and humility that has been a mainstay at this “school on a hill” for years. And so, today I am going to make you all aware of the possible negative effects
Xander Boyd I
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of the new athletic facilities, and encourage you all to do your best to stop yourselves, and others around you, from losing respect for the old R.L. way. Back in 2014 the School invited three consultants to examine and assess our athletic facilities, to determine whether changes needed to be made. One of these consultants knew us well. He was the Athletic Director for our great rival, Belmont Hill. He summarized the consultants’ findings by writing, “Current athletic facilities at Roxbury Latin limit the athletic program’s ability to provide its teacher-coaches and athletes with quality playing and practice venues as well as appropriate amounts of practice time.” At the time of the consultation, our six fields were grass, the tennis courts were deteriorating in places, and we lacked both a track and a hockey rink. Different programs, such as tennis, needed to stagger start times and shuffle teams in order to get every athlete practice time. I know firsthand that the lacrosse team constantly needed to change practice arrangements in order to make sure that the fields were in “game-day” condition. Similarly, all levels of the hockey program were forced to commute to rinks across the city just to practice. Based on these facts and the inadequate spaces across campus, renovations and expansion proved to be necessary to accommodate R.L. athletes. Now let’s look at the cost of this whole project: $30 million. Much of the reason for the hefty price tag has to do with the importance that R.L. places on the aesthetics and architecture of the buildings and the landscape. So why does R.L. care so much about the detail of every brick, the location of every tree, and the shape of every arch? Reverence. The R.L. campus sprawls elegantly in order to honor and live up to the tradition and prestige of the School’s illustrious history. Paying $30 million to improve the athletic facilities also shows the profound commitment and respect that the School has for R.L. boys. The students at R.L., all of us here, are what make this place special. For so long, the quality and diversity of the boys, along with the academics, have been the gold standard and made R.L. a well-known institution. Over the course of our 371-year history, the athletic facilities have failed to meet this gold standard. For a long time the academic and music buildings and grounds have been beautiful and extensive, while the athletic facilities have been plain and simple. Now things have changed. The new commitment
Having arguably the best athletic facilities in the ISL, we must all maintain the same sportsmanship and humility that has been a mainstay at this “school on a hill” for years.
The renovated Schoolhouse Field with the new Indoor Athletic Facility in the background, at Homecoming in October.
and reinvigorated appreciation for athletics is quite a statement by R.L. and marks a dramatic change of focus. Now let’s talk about the possible negative effects of the new athletic facilities. Why is it our duty to uphold the R.L. tradition? First, it’s about showing respect for the School. With the knowledge of the resources and thought R.L. has put into the new athletic facilities, along with the great history of the School, we must stay concentrated on maintaining good habits in every way of life. Our founder, John Eliot, said, “You will not do incredible things without an incredible dream.” As “apostle to the Indians” and the founder of Roxbury Latin, John Eliot stayed true to this form and devoted his life to the service of others. His incredible dream still exists today in the form of all of us here. Every time we compete in a Roxbury Latin uniform, we represent the School’s founder and the tradition of our 371-year history. Second, it’s about honor. For the same reason that Roxbury Latin spent a considerable amount of money on developing the new facilities, we must all embody sportsmanship and humility in every phase of life. The reputation of Roxbury Latin as a school is based on the actions of R.L. boys on a day-to-day basis. The misbehavior of a few kids in a contest is all that it takes to skew the image of R.L. in the eyes of rival athletes, coaches, and parents. For some visitors this is the first and perhaps only experience they will have with R.L., and one bad day from an R.L. athlete can quickly damage our reputation as a whole. Honor is the fundamental reason that
we always keep up our appearance, because we realize that as a community of parents, coaches, and students, our appearance and our reputation as a school transcend who we are as an athletic team. If we all do our part and take care of our own behavior and are models every day of the R.L. way, the community as a whole will honor our past. Despite the brand new facilities around us, we must always stay true to our roots, realizing that the campus around us can change, but that the ideals of this institution will not. I personally don’t believe we will lose the respect and grit we have possessed for so long as soon as we start competing on the new fields. But I am worried that, over time, things around here will start to change. We must recognize that throughout our past we have had less-than-ideal facilities, and that perhaps because of these less-than-ideal facilities we have possessed particularly impressive grit. So now with the new athletic facilities, will we keep this same grit? I am standing here in front of you all to insist that we stay unique, and stay humble. As ambassadors of the School, we represent all those who have come before us, and all those to follow. So, as you walk the halls thinking about a math test, or as you work out in the new IAF, remember your obligation to embody the R.L. way. Remember grit. Remember the history and tradition. And remember that amid this new campus, we must stay close to our roots, and preserve the honor and reputation that make this place great.
Despite the brandnew facilities around us, we must always stay true to our roots, realizing that the campus around us can change, but that the ideals of this institution will not.
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Athletics Varsity Cross Country. Sitting: E. Lim, D. Gillis, D. Penella, B. Lawlor, X. Boyd (captain), I. Kelly, W. Connaughton. Kneeling: G. Grajeda, D. McElroy, L. Zheng, A. Bowen, J. McCoy, A. Banks, E. Zou. Standing: Coach Heaton, J. Wexelblatt, A. Siddiqui, R. Tribush, C. Jimenez, C. Mazof, Coach Poles. Missing: R. Crawford, R. Cunningham.
“Trust the Training” and Other Lessons from the Field “Trust the Training”
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rowing up, senior Ian Kelly tried numerous sports. As a child he played soccer, basketball, and baseball “but I wasn’t really a stud in any of them.” He tried lacrosse one spring, but that didn’t click. In each of his three years at St. Sebastian’s School (grades 7-9), Ian played soccer in the fall, swam in the winter, and sailed in the spring. When he joined Class IV at R.L., he added wrestling to his resume, as well as track and field—as a pole vaulter. And then there’s skiing, a sport Ian has loved his whole life. So when Ian decided to try another new sport—cross-country—at the start of his junior year (after successful recruitment by his close friend and fellow Latonics crooner Xander Boyd I), it shouldn’t have come as much of a shock to those who know Ian. Yet he was reluctant at first. “I wasn’t really looking forward to grueling pain every day,” he says, “but I wanted to make an impact on a varsity team, and I didn’t see myself being a key part of the soccer program, so I took the leap.” That leap ended up being a fortuitous 30
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one for Ian and R.L.’s cross-country program. By the end of his junior season, Ian had established himself as the team’s fourth fastest runner, and after placing 52nd at the ISL Championship, he surprised everyone (including himself) by placing 35th at the New England Championship. “That was a turning point for me, I think,” says Ian. “I saw that I could be a contributor to the team, and, knowing that we were losing key seniors, I felt a responsibility to step up and fill the void they were leaving behind.” Coming into his senior season, Ian set goals for himself. “I thought, if I could finish in the top 25 at the ISL and the New England championships, it would be huge for the team.” So, following a demanding running plan prescribed by new Head Varsity Coach Nick Poles ’09, Ian logged over 300 miles this past summer. “Coach Poles kept repeating that if we put in the miles, we would be successful,” says Ian. “‘Trust the training,” he told us. ‘Trust the training.’” Ian started his training in the scorching heat of Botswana, where he and classmates Rylan Tribush and Sam Gardner spent the month of June on a student exchange trip to
the Maru a Pula School. “The only time I had available was midday, when it was hottest,” he says. “I ran alone every day, and the funniest thing was, the kids at the school would point at me in my running shorts, and say, ‘Who is that guy? What is he wearing? Why does the American run so much?’” The extensive, consistent training paid
Ian Kelly I
off. Ian far surpassed his goals, placing third at the ISL Championship and 12th at the New England Championship. “I’ll always remember running side by side with Ben Lawlor II in the last mile at the ISLs. We were in about 9th or 10th place, running up a hill, with several runners just ahead of us. Without saying a word, we both knew we needed to push it. And as we were passing runners and moving closer to the front, Coach Poles’ words kept popping into my head: ‘Trust the training. Trust the training.’ And he was right.”
The Team Comes First
W
est Roxbury native Francis “Franny” Rose of Class I has played football every fall since he was five years old. “I played quarterback and wide receiver on Parkway flag football teams from age five to twelve,” he says. “I loved playing offense and was hoping to continue doing so when I came to R.L. Then, I broke a couple of fingers and had to sit out my entire sixie season. It wasn’t the greatest start to my athletic career at R.L.” When his Class V year arrived, Franny
hoped to move the ball down the field as a tight end or wide receiver, but the team’s depth at these positions made him more valuable as an offensive lineman. In Class IV, his coaches switched him to linebacker, and in Classes III and II, he played both positions, plus special teams. As he looked ahead to senior year, however, Franny saw an opportunity to play the exciting offensive positions of his youth. So this past summer, Franny attended a couple of football camps and focused on his receiving skills. At early season practices, he
Congratulations to Our Undefeated Fifth Soccer Team Coach Diop’s Fifth Soccer team had a stellar season this fall, finishing undefeated 14-01. Pictured at left, they are (sitting) E. Bailit, A. Kee (captain), M. Whitfield (captain), W. Callewaert, J. Fazli (captain), A. Yin; (kneeling) F. Gutierrez, G. Humphrey, L. Grossman, A. Rabkin, A. Sparks, A. Philippides; and (standing) K. Miller, R. Lieber, A. Walters, J. Flores, J. De Vito, A. Denis, L. Finn, B. Kelly, R. Hayes-Messinger, S. Rosen, Z. Bashir, D. Sullivan, J. Krakauer, P. Collins, Coach Diop. Missing: Coach Kingsley.
Varsity Soccer. First row: J. Morris, E. Hanrahan, S. Gardner, O. Xu, A. Talcott (captain), S. Fisher (captain), J. Burton, F. Wang, H. Kothapalli, D. Shlayen, J. Cloherty, H. Weitzel. Second row: Coach Solis, Coach Sugg, M. Davis, B. Bryant, P. Kuechler, E. March, J. Colavita (captain), T. McCarthy (captain), M. Rounds, O. Booth, G. Jean-Claude, E. Kee, B. Rounds, J. Philippides, Coach Thornton. Missing: M. Uek, C. Dowd.
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practiced with the linebackers on defense and took reps as a wide receiver and tight end on offense, and his dream of catching passes for R.L.’s varsity squad seemed within reach. Then, Coach Lieb (the team’s offensive coordinator) asked Franny to come to his classroom for a talk. Franny recalls, “In my mind, I went through all the possible things Mr. Lieb might say, and right at the top of the list was what he actually did say.” Coach Lieb explained his dilemma: the team had lost several key seniors and had had some unexpected injuries to offensive linemen, plus they had a lot of depth at the receiver position. “I knew Franny was hoping to catch passes,” says Mr. Lieb. “I knew he would be disappointed; it was a conversation I didn’t want to have. But to his credit, when I told him the team needed him on the offensive line, he nodded and said, ‘I know.’” “R.L. teaches us to be unselfish,” says Franny. “The team comes first. It’s as simple as that.” He admits that he was a bit disappointed when he received the news, but looking back on the 2016 football season, he’s happy that things worked out as they
did. “I feel like I made a real impact on a varsity team at R.L., and I’m proud of that.” Coach Lieb concurs. “One of our biggest wins this past season was at Nobles. Franny battled hard against some big linemen, and we would have had a hard time winning that game if he hadn’t played tackle for us. That’s the long and short of it.” Franny, who also enjoys singing in the Glee Club, will continue to make a significant impact for Roxbury Latin athletics this winter and
Franny Rose I
Q&A with Nick Poles ’09, Head Coach of Varsity X-C This past fall, in his first season as head coach of the Varsity Cross-Country team, Assistant Director of Technology Nick Poles ’09 led R.L.’s harriers to their best performances in ten years at the ISL Championship (2nd) and New England Championship (2nd). Nick shares his thoughts on that inaugural season and the important lessons he learned competing as a runner in high school and college. How did your first season go? From a results standpoint, I’m thrilled with how the team performed. Of course you want to be first, but in this instance, I’ll take second, given the team’s improvement, how they came together over the course of the season, and how they challenged each other in a healthy way. Moving forward, the question is, how do we continue to foster that culture? How do we bring up junior runners through the ranks, into the j.v. and the varsity teams, and make it one continuous experience for them? We want the
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younger runners to know they’re an important part of the program, to see what makes the more experienced runners successful, and to realize that they can make an impact at the varsity level someday. What important lessons did you learn during your ten years of competitive running? Running in both high school and college taught me the value of being a “24/7 athlete.” Training for a sport doesn’t end when you leave practice. Everything you do outside of practice time also contributes to your success or failure as an athlete—from recovery, nutrition, and sleep, to managing stress and managing time. At R.L., my coaches taught me just how valuable the combination of positive reinforcement and transparency can be. I remember always really wanting to go the extra mile for the coaches who explained the method to their madness and could put a positive spin on a tough workout or game situation.
spring as a skilled, unselfish member of the varsity basketball and lacrosse teams.
Leading through Action
S
enior Tim McCarthy is a star basketball player. Indeed, he’s already got a spot reserved for him on Amherst College’s 2017-18 team. But Tim, who captains three sports, is also a force on the track (where he was named MVP at last year’s NEPSTA Division III Championship) and a dominating defensive presence on the soccer field—where the biggest turning point in his R.L. athletic career took place in the fall of his junior year in a game at Noble and Greenough School. “About five minutes into the game, I went up for a corner kick,” recalls Tim. “I ran toward the front post as the ball was coming toward me, and the goalie came out and collided with my leg, breaking my femur all the way through, just above my right knee.” The next day, surgeons inserted two screws into Tim’s leg, and thus began his four-month rehabilitation process. “I came back to school in a wheelchair,
Varsity Football. First row: V. Diaz, C. Bulger, J. Lomuscio (captain), N. Zarrabian (captain), H. Coiscou (captain), L. Flood, J. Ricciuti, W. Farber, D. Worrell, R. Lareau, M. Healy, F. Rose. Second row: Z. Keough, C. Keough, D. Cuzzi, M. Sheehan, E. Ma, B. Gibbons, M. Cefail, T. Bulger, E. Downey, Q. Sanchez, D. Meneses-Ontiveros, Z. Mascall, C. Knight, E. Ortiz, N. Lopes, H. Isselbacher, J. Regan, S. Graber-Adamsons, Coach Ross. Third row: W. Greer, C. Englert, J. Rose, J. Ryan, C. Weitzel, J.J. Demarco. Back row: D. Brennan, Coach Spellman, Coach Collins, L. Rimas, S. Russell, E. Egodogbar, Coach Layne-Allen, C. Bergstrom, Coach Lieb, Coach Randall. Right: Coach Pat Ross, who retired after this season, with Varsity Football seniors.
then I started P.T. to build back the muscle,” says Tim. Throughout this period, Tim attended all soccer and basketball practices and games that didn’t conflict with his physical therapy. “I progressed from the elliptical machine, to crutches, to walking, and then running.” Doctors had told Tim he’d miss the entire basketball season, but they didn’t comprehend the dedication of their patient; he surprised everyone by returning to the
Tim McCarthy I
court for R.L.’s last three games. Then, in the spring, just six months after his devastating leg injury, Tim led R.L.’s varsity track and field team in overall points with consistently strong performances in the 110- and 300meter hurdles, the triple jump, and the 4x400 relay. He was back—with a vengeance. Prior to the 2016 soccer season, however, Head Varsity Soccer Coach Paul Sugg asked to have a meeting with Tim. The purpose: to discuss the “big picture” of his athletic career, and whether or not playing soccer during his senior year was worth the risk of reinjuring his leg and putting his numberone season, basketball, in peril. “He told me to take some time to think about it, to talk about it with my parents,” says Tim. “But I didn’t need any time. I was playing.” “Tim understands that true leadership is shown by actions, not words,” says Coach Sugg. “I and every one of Tim’s teammates would have understood a decision to take the fall off. But he never considered that for a minute and courageously and selflessly returned as one of our most consequential
leaders and stalwart defenders.” Come see Tim McCarthy, healthy and strong, on the basketball court this winter. He’ll be the one leading in scoring—and leading through his actions.
2016 Fall Team Records Soccer Varsity............................ 7-4-4 Junior Varsity................... 7-5-2 Junior Varsity B................ 4-5-3 Third............................... 9-3-4 Fourth............................. 6-5-2 Fifth Soccer................... 14-0-1 Cross Country Varsity............................. 11-6 Junior Varsity.................... 16-1 Junior.............................. 14-1 Football Varsity............................ 4-4-0 Junior Varsity................... 1-6-0 Junior............................. 4-3-0
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Class Class NotesNotes 1954
th
Jared Diamond teaches geography at UCLA. A seasoned academic in earth science, he finds it ironic to “reflect on Mr. Whitney’s Class VI geography as the course in which I earned my lowest grade during my six years at Roxbury Latin.” Jared still travels to New Guinea to study birds and continues to play piano in chamber music groups in his leisure time. His next book, on the national political crisis, is scheduled for publication in 2019. Jerry Murray is proud of his screenwriter-author daughter, Sabina Murray, whose book, Valiant Gentlemen, was recently reviewed in The New York Times Book Review.
1957 60
th
reunion
1964 Dennis Kanin delivered his engaging presentation entitled “The Electoral College: What to Look For on Election Night” to the School on Founder’s Day. (Story on page 26.)
1967 50 1972 45
th
th
reunion reunion
1980 Richard Raiford and his wife, Miguelina, are very proud and happy empty-nesters after their youngest daughter, Alessandra, recently began her freshman year at New York University. Their eldest daughter, Morielle, is a sophomore at Amherst College. The couple sends “all the best to the R.L. community.”
1982 35
th
reunion
Jeremy Adams’ exhibition, Voicing the Woods: Jeremy Adams, Instrument Maker, runs at Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester through the end of February. Representing a lifetime of work, the exhibition includes a one-stop chamber organ, a demonstration organ chest, a clavichord, and a selection of harpsichords, each built by Jeremy in his Danvers workshop. Examples of his handcrafted furniture are also on display. Jeremy built the Rousmaniere Hall organ.
1961 Linda and Phil Ferrara enjoyed a three-week trip through China this fall. From Beijing, where sites included the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, they went west to Xian and saw the Terra Cotta Soldiers and then on to Tibet, where they visited the Potala Palace in Lhasa. Before ending up in Shanghai, they took a three-day cruise on the Yangtze River. J a n ua r y 2 0 1 7
DC (AAREP DC), on behalf of his company for its “transformational impact on lives and communities throughout the community.” The group’s success has garnered national praise for its innovative business model and its growth, and has been featured in Inc. Magazine, The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, and Fortune Magazine. Bo has been recognized as one of the country’s “coolest” young entrepreneurs and has earned awards from Washington Business Journal as one of its “Power 100 Minority business leaders in the Metropolitan Area.”
1996
reunion
1958
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1962 55
Bob McTighe ’73, Steven Linsky ’73, and Andrew Manns ’73 at the summit of Mt. Monadnock this fall.
1973 Steven Linsky organized a hike with classmates Bob McTighe and Andrew Manns on 13 November. Gaining the summit of New Hampshire’s Mt. Monadnock via the Dublin Trail, they enjoyed a spectacular view of nearby Mt. Greylock in spite of some haze. The three look forward to hiking with classmate Tom Frisardi. Others welcome!
1977 40
th
reunion
Members of the Class of ’77 gathered for the 40th consecutive year on Thanksgiving eve. Attendees included Brad Miller, David Barrington, Jack Englert, Michael Price, Bruce Rosengard, Jack O’Loughlin, and, all the way from Omaha, Nebraska, Paul Goodsell.
Charles Pinck ’82, president of The OSS Society, presented its Distinguished Service Award to Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) at the William J. Donovan Award Dinner in Washington, D.C., on 22 October 2016.
1987 30 1992 25
th
reunion
th
reunion
1994 Greg MacDonald lives in Marin County outside San Francisco, where he enjoys life with his wife, Dawn, and three children (Reece, 7; Henry, 4; and Emmeline, 2). He hopes to make it back east for the next reunion.
Peter Eyre, a senior adviser for the Commission on Presidential Debates, was interviewed in an article in USA Today about the process of selecting presidential debate venues, specifically the choice of Longwood College in Farmville, Virginia, for the vice presidential debate. Peter said the commission prefers venues that can engage the community, and colleges are primed for that. Longwood was chosen because it promised to create a debatethemed curriculum and ensure that any student who wanted to volunteer would be able to. John Flynn and his wife, Claire, welcomed child number two, Colin William Flynn, born 29 September at a solid 9.0 lbs. John reports, “Claire woke me up at 1:00 a.m. and Colin arrived at 2:15 a.m.—we barely made it to the hospital! Everyone is doing well and JJ is thrilled to have a little brother.”
1995 Bo Menkiti, founder and CEO of The Menkiti Group, recently accepted the “Developer of the Year” award from African American Real Estate Professionals of
JJ Flynn with his new brother, Colin.
Class Notes Call for Trustee Nominations The Committee on Trustees is seeking recommendations from any member of the Roxbury Latin community for trustee candidates to serve a six-year term on the Board of Trustees. Please forward such recommendations by February 15 to Dennis Kanin ’64, Chair of the Committee on Trustees, c/o The Roxbury Latin School, 101 St. Theresa Ave, West Roxbury, MA 02132.
Graham Anthony ’03 Named Head of Middle School at Pace Academy
Class of 2005 mates Sam Bourneuf, Pat Costello, Capt. Zack Ciccolo, Darian Reid, and Lamarr Rollins at a Refectory reception following Zack’s Veterans Day Hall address. (See story on page 13).
1997 20
th
reunion
David Grossman and his wife, Dara, welcomed daughter Alexa, born on 15 November, joining big brothers Ian (5) and Jared (2 and a half). “Everyone is doing great,” David writes, “although Alexa’s older brother is still adjusting to the reduced attention!”
2000 Nat Reimers is in his third year at Tufts School of Dental Medicine and was recently named to a design team to lead the school’s effort to “implement even more collaborative patient care and service and foster a culture of continuous improvement.” He is the sole student serving on the design team of doctors, professors, and administrators. Meanwhile, Nat married Kimberly Morgan on 3 July 2016 in Boston.
2001 Mike Ferrante and his wife Nicole welcomed a baby boy, Logan
Logan James Ferrante
Graham Anthony ’03 has been named Head of Middle School at Pace Academy, a pre-first through 12 co-ed day school in Atlanta, Georgia, effective 1 June 2017. In his new role, Graham will oversee a student body of approximately 280 students and a 47-member faculty. Graham arrived at Pace in 2009 to teach sixth-grade history after teaching positions at St. John’s Country Day School in Orange Park, Florida, and at the McLean Center for Autism in Belmont. At Pace he has since taught eighth-grade history and served as sixth-grade honor chair and eighth-grade boys dean; coached football, baseball and wrestling; and guided international trips for students. “Mr. Anthony has done much to shape the middle school and our greater community in his seven years at Pace,” wrote Head of School Fred Assaf in his announcement to the Pace community. As assistant head of middle school for student life, Graham implemented a student advisory system and athlete-of-the-week program, and served as middle school athletic director and coordinated spirit events. In 2012 he received the excellence in teaching award, the highest honor given to a Pace Academy faculty member.
James Ferrante, on 5 October 2016. Logan joins big sister Isabella, who turns two in January.
2002 15
th
reunion
Sam Oates works for Google in Cambridge, where he lives with his wife Caitlyn Oates and daughter Arabelle (14 months).
2006 Mike Lawler and Maddy Reavy were married on 10 September at Boston’s Harry Parker Boathouse. Mike continues his work at Saint Sebastian’s School, where he teaches eighth- and tenth-grade
Lawler Wedding. Maddy Reavy and Mike Lawler ’06 (center) are joined by R.L. classmates Phil Tonucci (left, with fiancée Sarah Conant) and Scott Roman (right, with friend Maddie Cleary).
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Class Notes English, coaches middle school lacrosse and varsity football, and serves as associate director of college counseling.
2007 10
th
reunion
2008 Peter Morrow recently joined RocketSpace, an incubator/ accelerator for tech startups based in San Francisco, where he assists with strategic research and startup discovery, partnership acceleration, and technology build services to its corporate partners. He lives in nearby Berkeley and in his off hours he paints, rock climbs, and hikes— recently in Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
2011 Thomas Buckley graduated from the Submarine Officer Basic Course in Groton on 4 November and will report to the USS Tennessee SSBN 734, Blue Crew, in Kings Bay, Georgia, after a few weeks of leave. “I am excited and a little nervous to finally get on a boat.” Josh Rivers graduated from Army Ranger training in September and the Airborne Division later in the fall. He joins classmate Dante Gaziano as a fellow Ranger. The Army Ranger School’s grueling course requires approximately 20 days in each phase with limited sleep and food. To top off Josh’s spectacular autumn, the Army Football team defeated rival Navy to earn its first win against the Midshipmen in 14 seasons.
2012 5
th
reunion
Chase Gilmore received his BA in government with a minor in French from Dartmouth in June. While there he served as ROTC detachment commander, inter-fraternity council president, Alpha Delta rush chair, commit36
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tee on standards representative, and war & peace fellow. This past summer, he completed a threeweek military internship with a tank platoon in Fort Riley, Kansas. The U.S. Army recognized Chase as a distinguished military graduate for his rank among the top 20 percent of ROTC cadets nationwide. After graduation, he reported to Fort Benning for training as an armor officer.
2013 Mickey Henry won a collegiate boxing national championship at the United States Intercollegiate Boxing Association (USIBA) Nationals in Los Angeles last April. He is captain of the University of Michigan Boxing Team this academic year.
Pat Benzan ’14 as “Man of the Match.” (Photo courtesy of College of the Holy Cross)
On 7 November the School welcomed former Latonic Seth McNay back to campus, where he and his fellow Yale Whiffenpoofs performed for the School in Rousmaniere Hall. An economics major, Seth also balances the books for the Whiffenpoofs and wrestles for the university’s club team. (See page 20.)
2014 With the Colby Mules trailing by one point and just four seconds remaining, John Baron delivered the winning field goal to help Colby defeat Williams, 9-7, on 24
Josh Rivers ’11 with his parents after his Army Ranger School graduation.
What have you been up to? Statistically, the class notes section of school magazines is the first stop for alumni readers. Give them something to read about and send us your news.
Contact: kyle.layneallen@roxburylatin.org
Class of 2007: You can’t believe it, but it’s true:
Your 10th reunion is this year. Let’s see if a decade made any difference. September. A junior, John broke the NESCAC record this fall for field goals in a season by going 8-for-8 in the team’s final two contests against Tufts University and in-state rival, Bowdoin College. He finished the season with 13 field goals (beating the record by two). Holy Cross named point guard Pat Benzan its “Man of the Match” on two occasions in November. On 20 November, against UMass Amherst, he recorded 12 points and 10 rebounds and followed up his standout performance two nights later against Harvard with 15 points and 3 assists. Pat and the Crusaders look to continue their success after last season’s Division 1 NCAA Basketball tournament appearance and Patriot League Conference Title. Isaac Krier is now studying in Copenhagen, Denmark, after a rewarding summer spent working for The Steppingstone Foundation as a teaching intern. In December, Tenzin Thargay began a six-month stint at the
National Taiwan University to study Chinese. An undergraduate at UMass Amherst, he recently received the 2016 David L. Boren Scholarship from the National Security Education Program (NSEP), a foundation concerned with geographic areas, languages, and fields of study deemed critical to U.S. national security.
2016 Justin Jin is one of five new members of the Yale Men’s Fenc-
ing Team, the only new fencer to be focusing on saber in an otherwise senior-heavy saber squad. The team began its season at the Penn Invitational on 5 November. Brown University freshman Jake Tango joined the Jabberwocks, the school’s oldest a cappella group. The all-male ensemble recently uploaded its rendition of the Pentatonix’s “Run to You” on YouTube, and they will perform for Roxbury Latin in Hall on 24 January 2017. Jake Tango ’16 (with the red tie) with fellow Brown University Jabberwocks.
Pete Cahill ’15 (freshman quarterback with the Williams Ephs), John Baron ’14 and Sean Godin ’16 (both with the Colby Mules) after the Williams vs. Colby game on 24 September.
Class of 2015 mates John Thomsen, Peter Cahill, and Sean Rose after the Hamilton vs. Williams football game at Hamilton. Peter was the starting quarterback for the Williams Ephs. The Hamilton Continentals prevailed 16-6 in a good game.
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Obituaries 1949: Arthur E. Cox
1949: James R. Curley
Arthur Edmund Cox died on 13 May 2016 after daybreak at his farm near Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The son of Aubrey Cox and Helen Varney, Arthur came to Roxbury Latin in the fall of 1943. He was a stalwart in athletics and left his imprint on R.L. sports as a captain for Varsity Hockey and as a player for Varsity Baseball and Varsity Football in multiple years. In addition to sports, he was active in the Glee Club and in theater productions. Reflecting on his R.L. years, Arthur identified his Roxbury Latin education as key to later successes. He attended Boston University and served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1951-1954 during the Korean War. He made his career at D.C. Heath & Company, a publishing house specializing in textbooks, where for 30 years he served as director of manufacturing and purchasing. He was a member of Bookbuilders of Boston, Association of American Publishers, and the Advisory Commission of Textbook Specifications. He also maintained community service positions in Needham, including director of the Needham Family YMCA and roles for the Needham Exchange Club and the Needham Little league for 20 years. His 35 years as a football official earned him a “Gold-Pass” from the Eastern Association of Intercollegiate Football Officials for his “long, able, and loyal service” to the cause. After retirement in 1992, Arthur moved to Savannah, Georgia, then to Annapolis, Maryland, and finally to Shepherdstown, West Virginia. In retirement he perfected his golf game and reconnected with classmates Joe Malone and George Stebbins. He is survived by his wife, Anita Trotter-Cox, and his children, Christine and Steven.
James Robert Curley passed away on 7 October 2016 in West Yarmouth after bouts with cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease. He was 86 years old. He was the son of James and Elizabeth (Turner) Curley and stepson of Donald Bradley. Jim came to Roxbury Latin in 1945. Former Headmaster Frederick Weed recognized him for his “quality of leadership” that “naturally attracted his associates.” A four-year standout for Varsity Football, he was equally skilled in Varsity Track, which he served as captain for two years. He was a stellar athlete with an “enthusiasm that lifted the entire morale” of his teammates. Jim’s energy extended to the arts, where he contributed to the Glee Club with his “natural bent for music” and to the School Play, in which he captured a lead role his junior year and “turned in an excellent performance in a difficult role.” Jim’s extracurricular offerings extended to the Yearbook committee, Student Council, and Debate. He went to Harvard, earning his undergraduate degree in 1953, and following that with advanced degrees from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education and Middlebury College. Between 1960 and 1968, he worked for the U.S. Foreign Service with the U.S. Information Agency and for the Ford Foundation in Ankara, Turkey. After his return to America, Jim taught English and was an administrator at several independent high schools in North Carolina and Massachusetts. His most recent tenure was at the Northfield Mount Hermon School, from which he retired in 1995 as assistant headmaster. In retirement he and his wife Nancy volunteered at a Cape Cod hospice. In that time he learned that the “dying (not just the dead) also teach the living” in what proved to be “a profound experience” for the couple. Jim was also an accomplished jazz pia-
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nist and sang with his own music groups, the Surftones and Geritones of Maplewood, at Mayflower Place, a senior living center in Cape Cod. Jim is survived by his wife of 60 years, Nancy (Boone); a brother, Richard and his wife, Nancy; two sons: David and his wife, Lilian, and Thomas and his wife, Nina; four grandsons; a nephew; and several cousins. 1949: Frederick J. Davis Frederick James Davis passed away on 8 September 2016 in his Marblehead home. The son of Frederick and Helen Davis, Fred spent his childhood in Roslindale and Centerville. He enrolled at Roxbury Latin as a sixie and, in addition to being elected class president several times over his R.L. career, he was a multi-year athlete in football and wrestling, ultimately serving as captain of Varsity Wrestling in his senior
year. Reflecting on those years, Fred valued the School for “its excellence of staff and ever-present tradition.” Even in his later years, Fred maintained that the School had the “most formative influence on his life” outside of his parents. He earned an AB (1953) and MBA (1955) from Harvard, and for two years served as assistant to chief of the U.S. Army’s Audit Agency, before joining Boston’s State Street Bank. In the role of vice president of marketing, he spearheaded the campaign to put the bank’s name atop Downtown Boston’s 225 Franklin Street building. From there he began a long and notable career in civic leadership, philanthropy, and marketing for causes that he deeply believed in, beginning with the Boys’ Club of Boston, where he led its rebranding as the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston and established partnerships with the New England Patriots and other corporations.
Agnes “Pat” Reilly Assistant Director of Admission (1976-1997) Agnes Patricia Reilly died on 15 November 2016. From 1976 to 1997, Pat served as assistant director of admission at Roxbury Latin under then-director Bill Chauncey. Bill described Pat as “the center and the heart of the Admission Office.” “Pat knew more about what went on in our office than anyone else. She was the center, because she managed all that went on there. She handled all the telephone calls, sent out all the applications, and created and maintained each applicant’s file folder. She scheduled all the interviews and did so while working within the confines of the School’s constantly changing weekly schedule. She was an important member of a committee of five, which met at the end of the admission process and pared down the number of outstanding candidates to a number
we could accept. Pat was the only member of the admission committee who had met every single applicant and his parents. In those 21 years, that was 5,649 boys. In today’s terms, she was a multitasker, but largely without today’s technology: no iPhone, no texting, no apps—just iPat! She was organized and efficient, but it was the kindness of her heart, her generosity, her ability to listen, to console, and to bring a warmth and cheerfulness to the office every day, day after day, that made Pat such a wonderful person with whom to work.” Born, raised, and married in Somerville, Pat graduated from Emmanuel College in 1955 and spent her adult life in West Roxbury. While she was keeping things together in the Admission Office, she also raised seven children
His strategic thinking left indelible marks on many other Boston non-profits, including Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Freedom Trail Foundation, and The Plummer Home in Salem. His board memberships included Boston City Hospital, Advertising Club of Boston, Forest Hills Cemetery, and Disabled Veterans. It was his inspiration and vision that brought the Boston Tea Party Ship to Boston and Red Auerbach’s statue to Faneuil Hall. A caring husband to his wife of 56 years, Phyllis, he was also an encouraging and enthusiastic father, a playful grandfather and a deeply loyal friend. Fred is survived by his wife, Phyllis (Roberts) Davis; son Chris and his wife, Robyn; son Michael and his wife Evemarie; daughter Mary Elizabeth and her husband Josh Carmody; and six grandchildren.
at home with her husband of 59 years, Jim. Her five sons, Michael ’77, Tom ’80, Jimmy ’81, Matt ’84, and Mark ’85, all attended R.L. In 2015, Matt and his siblings endowed a scholarship in honor of their mother. Pat is survived by her husband, her sons, daughters Regina and Theresa, eighteen grandchildren, and two greatgrandchildren. She is also survived by her brother, Eugene Prior, and many nieces and nephews.
1949: Dr. Everett W. Haggett Dr. Everett W. “Hap” Haggett passed away on 25 November 2015 at the age of 85. Born in Lewiston, Maine to Everett W. and Helen (Crossman) Haggett, Everett relocated to Newton Highlands at age four after the death of his father and entered Roxbury Latin at age twelve. An established leader during his R.L. tenure, “Hap” became class treasurer and a three-time class president. He contributed to the Glee Club, the School Play, and the editorial staffs of the Yearbook and The Tripod, and he played varsity football for three years. He also played on the tennis and baseball teams in other years. As a senior, he embraced an extracurricular position as a delegate to the Conference on Education for Public Service. He recalled moments with his favorite teachers, Dr. Elliot and Mr. Weed, and expressed his love of the School for its “high regard for the scholars in his class.” Everett earned his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College in 1953, and graduated from Dartmouth Medical School (then a two-year school) in 1954 and Harvard Medical School in 1956. He interned at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital and then served in the Army Medical Corps with the rank of captain. In 1959 he returned to Mary Hitchcock for a residency in general practice. In 1960 he opened his family practice in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Over his nearly 40-year career, Everett earned professional distinctions from the American Board of Family Practice; served as president of the Massachusetts Academy of Family Practice (1978) and Franklin Medical Center’s Medical Staff (1982); founded the Hospice of Franklin County (1980); served as medical director for Pioneer Physicians (1984-1986); taught at UMass Medical School; and was later a member of the Northeast
Permanente Medical Group, from which he retired in 1998. In 2001 he was appointed to the Greenfield Board of Health and served for three years. In his leisure, he enjoyed gardening, reading, golfing, and relaxing with family in Cape Cod and Maine. Despite medical setbacks, he and his wife, Nancy Karin (Peterson), enjoyed traveling and spending time with their grandchildren. Predeceased by his wife, Everett is survived by a daughter, Betsy, and her husband Victor Moschella; a son, Everett “Kip,” and his wife, Jill; and four grandchildren. 1953: Robert J. McLaughlin Robert Joseph McLaughlin of Needham passed peacefully on 23 September on Block Island, Rhode Island. The son of the late George F. and Mary A. McLaughlin of West Roxbury, Bob graduated from Roxbury Latin in 1953. Headmaster Weed considered him “a friendly lad with promise and a quick and good mind.” In between his academic pursuits, he played varsity football, acted in the School’s theater productions, and competed with the Debate Club. Years later, Bob expressed gratitude for his high school education: “I use what I learned every single day and have done so for 35 years. If all that R.L. taught were English, the School would be placing its graduates ahead of almost all others. But there is much more... I am happy that my parents placed me on this road and that the School pulled and pushed me in the right direction.” Bob earned his bachelor’s degree in American Government at Harvard in 1957; while there he joined the Harvard Varsity Club, served as its president during his senior year, and spent three years as the varsity coxswain for Harvard’s heavyweight crew. He continued to be involved with Harvard Crew beyond his undergraduate tenure, serving for
many years as a member of the Harvard-Yale Regatta Committee and eventually as its chairman. After a stint in the U.S. Army (1959-1961), Bob began a career in data processing, and worked for several companies, including Philip Hankins Incorporated computer consulting services, ADP payroll services, and Accounting Corporation of America. He married Eleanor McLaughlin, “the heart of his family,” in 1964 and fathered two sons, Daniel and Mark. The family enjoyed their home away from home on Block Island. Bob also found time to cultivate lasting relationships with classmates, which he describes as his fondest memory of R.L., on organized Cape Cod trips. It was on one of these trips that he and classmate Joe Bonarrigo ’53 renewed their friendship—a bond started in middle school prior to their R.L. enrollment in 1947. Bob is survived by his wife, Eleanor; son C. Daniel and his wife, Kristen Kiley; son Mark; a granddaughter; and a sister. 1954: Steven R. Rivkin Steven Robert Rivkin passed away on 6 February 2016. Steve joined the sixth class at Roxbury Latin in 1948 and gave the class valedictory at commencement in 1954. He recalled among his fondest R.L. memories writing for The Tripod, debating, and influential instruction from Cary Potter and Headmaster Fred Weed. Reflecting on his R.L. career many years later, Steve held an “admiration of the School’s diversity and sturdy direction” and continued to value the “intellectual and moral commitment (he) learned to prize at R.L.S.” He attended Harvard College and earned a degree in government in 1958, magna cum laude, followed by a JD from Harvard Law School in 1962. His career included roles in the Institute for Defense Analysis, M.I.T.’s
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In Memoriam Center for International Affairs, and on The White House Staff as its technical assistant for legal affairs. A five-year member of the U.S. Army Reserve, Steve also eventually served as an attorney specializing in general litigation and international transactions. He worked for the Boston law firm of Foley, Hoag, and Eliot as well as other law firms in Washington, D.C., and Bethesda, Maryland. He served as an advisor on various boards including the North American Institute. Steve is survived by his wife, Mary; their children; and six grandchildren. 1962: John T. deBettencourt The School was recently informed of the death of John Thomas deBettencourt on 15 April 2011. He was 67, and living in Candia, New Hampshire. Born in Boston and raised in West Newton, the son of Joseph T. and Mary E. (Dolan) deBettencourt, John graduated from Roxbury Latin and matriculated at Boston College. After two years he transfered to Babson College and pursued a career in business after graduation. Over the course of his career he was CPA/ CFO for a number of companies, including Bigelow & Co., the Jolicoeur family of Pepsi, Lighthouse Press, C.B. Sullivan, and Spatts Restaurant. He also served on the board of directors for Centrix Bank, Pepsico of Massachusetts, and Associated Grocers. John loved golfing and spending summers at Candia Woods, New Hampshire, and winters in Hollywood, Florida. At the time of his death in 2011 John was survived by his loving wife of 15 years, Cynthia J. O’Brien; his mother; two daughters, Nicole Browning and Michelle Bouchard; five grandchildren; a brother, Joseph; nieces, nephews, numerous friends and his beloved dogs.
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Three Former Trustees, Sons of R.L. 1947: The Hon. Maurice H. Richardson The Hon. Maurice Howe Richardson III died in Brookline on 3 September 2016 at the age of 88. Judge Richardson was a devoted, life-long supporter of the School and a trustee from 1985 to 1990. The son of Julia Reilly and Maurice Howe Richardson II, “Mo” entered Roxbury Latin in 1940 from St. Gregory’s Parochial School in Dorchester. Headmaster George Northrop recognized Mo for his “quickness of spirit” and “invulnerable good-nature.” In athletics, he contributed on the football field, wrestling mat, and baseball diamond. He lent his extracurricular efforts to the Glee Club, The Tripod, student council, debate, cheerleading, and the dance committee. He went on to Harvard, graduating in 1951 with an AB in American Government, and for the next two years he served on active duty in Korea as a Marine lieutenant. In 1953 he enrolled at University of Virginia School of Law, where his initial interest in criminal justice and a career in the FBI evolved into a fascination with antitrust law. His first position out of law school was as an associate trial attorney for the Boston firm Choate, Hall & Stewart, where he spent the next two years on a large antitrust case, defending Mobil Oil against the government. He stayed with Choate, Hall & Stewart for about six years before he moved on to his own, smaller practice, Nauss & Richardson. Soon afterwards, however, he left his practice to become the state campaign coordinator for his cousin, Elliot Richardson, in his run for the lieutenant governor’s seat. (Elliot won, and eventually served as U.S. Attorney General under President Nixon). Mo’s involvement in state politics led to his appointment as the commissioner of the Massachusetts Industrial Accident Board, and it was here that he learned how much he enjoyed “being
the deciding factor in a litigation environment.” In 1974 Mo was appointed as a judge to the Dedham District Court, where he stayed for 24 years, the last 16 years as first justice. During that time he also served as a member of the Massachusetts District Court Committee on Mental Health and Retardation, from 1975 to 1987, and as the chair of the committee from 1987 until his retirement in 1998. The Dedham Times recognized his advocacy for the mentally ill as work that “made him well known throughout the state.” Even in retirement, he remained deeply invested in the treatment and rights of the mentally ill. He became an assistant professor in the psychiatric department at UMass Medical School and an adjunct professor at New England School of Law. He was also the program director of the Law & Psychiatry Program for Clinicians at Bridgewater State Hospital and the director of the Massachusetts Mental Health Diversion & Integration Program. Mo received many awards, including several from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Massachusetts; the District Court Award for Judicial Excellence; and the Commissioner’s Award from the Department of Mental Health. During the last decade of his life, he served as alumni class agent for the R.L. annual fund and as chairman for his 60th and 65th class reunions. In his spare time, Mo and his wife, June (Childs), still found moments to sneak away from Brookline for long weekends to his 270-acre tree farm in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom; both in Brookline and Vermont, he enjoyed mastering his golf game. He is survived by his wife; his three sons—Maurice IV ’72 and wife Jackie, Mark ’76 and wife Priscilla, and Craig ’81 and wife Elizabeth; and five grandchildren.
1953: The Hon. Gordon A. Martin The Hon. Gordon Albert Martin of Jamaica Plain and formerly of Newton, where he was an active parishioner at Sacred Heart Church, died on 1 November 2016 at the age of 82. A trustee of the School from 1969 to 1975, Gordon remained actively engaged with Alma Mater through the last year of his life. The son of Gordon A. and Marion (Hennessy) Martin, he was raised in West Roxbury by his aunt, M. Lillian Hennessy, after the early death of his mother. At Roxbury Latin, Gordon was elected by his class to the Student Council in Class III and class president in Class I. Despite a struggle with asthma, he won his varsity letter in soccer as a senior and he was invaluable on the baseball team as Coach Foley’s right-hand man and on other teams as manager. Theater became him—he acted the title role in the Junior Play, The Name is Johnston—but he was especially known for his skills in debating and journalism. As a junior he won the New England Scholastic Sports journalism contest, and the following year he served as managing editor and sports editor for The Tripod and co-editor for the Yearbook. As a senior he also represented the School at Columbia College’s fifth annual Forum on Democracy. Gordon went on to Harvard, graduating in 1957, and then to New York University School of Law, where he was a Root-Tilden Scholar. In 1962, as a trial lawyer for the Civil Rights Division of Robert Kennedy’s Justice Department, he helped prosecute the case against Theron Lynd in Forrest County, Mississippi, the site of a seminal trial that led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the subject of his book, Count Them One by One, Black Mississippians Fighting for the Right to Vote, published in 2010. Returning to Boston, he served as first assistant U.S. attorney for
Massachusetts; commissioner of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination; and was founding partner of the law firm Martin, Morse, Wylie, and Kaplan. From 1983 to 2004 he served as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Trial Court. In the early 1990s, he headed the Roxbury District Court in Boston, which handled the most drug, gun, and domestic violence cases in the state. Gordon was a visiting professor at several law schools and a longtime adjunct professor at New England Law Boston.
Active in national juvenile justice groups and in Democratic politics, he coauthored Civil Rights Litigation: Cases and Perspectives in 1995 and published articles in a number of law reviews and other publications. One friend offered this eulogy: “His best traits were kindness, humility, patience, and respect. For someone who obviously had seen it all as a civil rights lawyer and later a judge, he seemed to never have a bad word for anyone.” Gordon is survived by his wife, Stephanie (Lang); daughters Constance; Clare and her husband, Terrence Lyons; and Andrea and her husband, Buddy Gumina; son Peter ’85 and his wife, Samantha; and eight grandchildren.
1951: Paul A. Powell Paul Atkin Powell died on 11 October, surrounded by his family, at the age of 83. The son of Charles and Lillian Powell, Paul was a Westwood native. He graduated from Roxbury Latin magna cum laude in 1951. A strong scholar across the curriculum, Paul especially excelled at math and French. During his six-year R.L. career he served as secretary of the Student Council and as Class Treasurer, played football for four years, sang in the Glee Club, and acted in theatrical productions. He received his undergraduate degree in 1955 from Harvard College and his JD from Harvard Law School in 1958. He married Alice Mae Hand (who later served the School as director of the annual fund from 1978 to 1996) that same year and pursued a law career at Schneider, Bronstein, and Shapiro in Boston. In 1962, he joined his family’s business, C.H. Powell Corporation, an international custom house brokerage and freight forwarding company,
and served as its treasurer for more than 30 years. Generous to his hometown community, Paul served as a member and chairman of Westwood’s Board of Appeals for 15 years and as assistant scoutmaster for Westwood’s Troop 7 from 1970 to 1989. He was a robust supporter of the School, serving as a Trustee from 1977 to 1982 and as the Class of 1951 representative. Three of Paul’s four sons attended R.L., as well as two grandsons (Robbie ’11, Jacob ’16). Even in the busiest years of his career, Paul found time for “ample activity” with his family and grandchildren, some of whom lived next door. Predeceased by brothers Alfred ’37 and Jack ’47, Paul is survived by his wife, Alice Mae; son Paul Jr. and his wife Lisa; son David ’79 and his wife Nancy; son Robert ’81 and his wife Carolyn; and son Andrew ’85 and his wife Collette. He is also survived by nine grandchildren, a great granddaughter, and his brother, Peter.
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Alumni Gatherings
Class Notes
Nagib Charles ’01, Kerry Brennan, Scott Martin ’09
Arya Alizadeh ’09, Sam August ’09, Tim Poterba ’09
Founder’s Day Pub Night – Boston Another Founder’s Day means another alumni toast to the “Apostle to the Indians” and fellowship with members of the faculty at Clerys Pub in Boston, adding tradition to tradition. On 3 November, about 40 Boston-area alumni gathered to raise a glass to John Eliot and catch up with each other at the Back Bay watering hole.
NYC Alumni Reception On Thursday, 10 November, R.L. hosted 50+ guests for its annual Alumni Reception at the Penn Club in New York City. Members of the Classes of 1948 to 2015 reunited with familiar faces and new, including Paul Sugg and Rob Opdycke, who attended as honorary guests.
Brian O’Leary ’02, Michael Horgan ’02, J.P. Jacquet ’01
Upcoming
alumni events: Friday, 20 January Winter Family Day Grand opening of the Indoor Athletic Facility, and honoring all winter teams’ alumni Michael Bacon ’93, Paul Sugg, Jonathan Barnes ’92
Sean McCarthy ’08, Alexander Jacobs ’08
5 pm
Varsity games begin
6:15
Ceremonies honoring all wrestling & basketball alumni
7 pm
Ceremony honoring all hockey alumni
Thursday, 2 March Exelauno Day Pub Night 6:30-8:30 pm, Clerys Pub 113 Dartmouth St., Boston
Tuesday, 11 April Alumni Reception TBD – Washington, D.C.
Friday-Saturday, 5-6 May Alex Cherenfant ’09, Pat Murphy ’09, Jordan Leites ’09, Woody Tunnecliffe ’09
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Reunion Weekend Kerry Brennan, Paul Massey ’78, Michael Bear ’77
Class Notes Young Alum Holiday Gathering Some 52 R.L. seniors and college-aged alumni came back to campus for the Headmaster’s annual Young Alumni Holiday Party on Sunday, 18 December.
A Lasting Impact A Planned Gift to Roxbury Latin can have a lasting impact on the School and its boys, and—with little planning—these gifts can create valuable tax benefits for you and your family. Here are three significant Planned Giving options to consider:
Ian Kelly I, Noah Piou ’16, Kevin Zhu ’16
IRA charitable rollover
If you are 70.5 or older, you can make a gift directly to R.L. from your traditional IRA. The distribution will not be subject to income tax and can count towards your required minimum distribution. charitable gift annuity (CGA) at Roxbury Latin
Dario Zarrabian ’15, John Thomsen ’15, Sean Rose ’15
Jared Ginnetty ’13, Matt Deveney ’13
You can make a gift now with cash or appreciated securities, receive tax benefits, and enjoy guaranteed income for the rest of your life. bequest
Include a gift to The Roxbury Latin School in your will or trust. Make your bequest unrestricted or direct it to a specific purpose. You may indicate a specific amount from, or a percentage of, your estate or trust.
To learn more about gift plans that can help you achieve your financial goals while you support Roxbury Latin, visit http://roxburylatin.plannedgiving. org or contact: Alan Balson ’15, Joey Mullen ’15, Derek DaSilva ’15, Kerry Brennan, Seb Lim ’15
David S. Cataruzolo Director of Alumni Affairs and Planned Giving 617.477.6314 david.cataruzolo@roxburylatin.org *As always, we encourage you to consult with a financial, tax, or legal advisor when making estate planning decisions.
Joey Haig ’15, JB Gough ’13
Luke Scheuer ’13, Ryan Dukeman ’13, Brion Morrissey-Bickerton ’13
For the next generation. 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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HOMECOMING A Celebration of Past and Current Fall Team Athletes, New Fields
A
grim forecast did not deter a fabulous turnout of R.L. alumni, families, and friends for Homecoming & Family Day on Saturday, 22 October. The occasion marked the official opening of the new artificial turf fields, ensuring games would be played, rain or shine! After an initial downpour as the throngs were arriving, the weather held steady for the rest of the day with chilly winds under a gray sky. Early attendees got a sneak peek inside the new Indoor Athletic Facility, which opened for hockey practices in January. At 3:00 p.m. current and alumni fall team athletes gathered with coaches for
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photos on Schoolhouse Field. There were many happy reunions with the retired teacher-coaches who returned for the festivities, including Liv Carroll, Bill Chauncey, Rick Dower, Frank Guerra, Brad Perham, Dave Smoyer, and Steve Ward. The Latonics performed the National Anthem, and then the contests began against St. George’s (varsity football), Nobles (varsity & j.v. soccer), and St. Mark’s (varsity and j.v. cross-country). Half-time entertainment consisted of the time-honored tug-of-war contest between the sixies and the fifthies, with the fifthies emerging victorious. Chef Jason Seidl and his staff provided delicious barbeque lunch fare along the sidelines throughout the afternoon.
“Mr. Carroll’s biggest coaching challenge with me was trying to prevent me from going to Mighty Subs in Newton every day to get a two-foot long roast beef sub slathered in mayo for lunch. Sometimes I wonder how much faster I would have been had he succeeded.” — Tom Federico ’94 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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“Thanks to my three years of R.L. cross-country, I am still an avid runner at age 39 (and trying ever so hard to get back below 20:00 for 5k before age 40...very close!). Especially around this time of year, I think back to those cross country days fondly. To your current harriers I may appear to be a ‘very old guy,’ but I swear it feels like it was just yesterday that we were lining up for an 18-ish minute, three-mile jaunt around campus!” — John Joyce ’95
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A n n u a l Fun d Ki ck Off
Doing for Others
T
he 2016-17 Annual Fund kicked off on 6 October with a reception and dinner for 330 parents, alumni, and friends of the School. Guests heard from Chairman of the Annual Fund Bill Maffie ’88, development associate and faculty member Kyle Layne-Allen ’09, and senior Francis Rose. Mr. Maffie thanked the parent and alumni leaders of last year’s fundraising effort, which yielded another record-breaking total. He reminded guests that R.L. has remained true to founder John Eliot’s vision: to prepare students intellectually, morally, and spiritually for service in the world as leaders of integrity and conviction. Alumni and parents past and present, he noted, gave very generously and in so doing signaled their endorsement of our mission. He pointed out, also, that “a less obvious cohort of donors, comprised of past and present masters, grandparents of alums, friends of the School, and people who simply believe in supporting the mission of this place—this cohort, which has perhaps benefitted the least from what R.L. has to offer—nevertheless donated a sum equal to the entire tuition for eleven students for the current school year.” “Eleven boys, even if their families could not pay a single dollar of the School’s $30,500 tuition, are here because of the generosity of people largely unknown to them. …Eleven futures now hold greater promise—eleven more reasons now exist that confirm that Roxbury Latin is worth protecting.” 48
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Mr. Maffie continues his leadership of the Annual Fund effort with the support of Parent Fund co-chairs Michael and Ellen Berk and co-vice chairs Ellen Berkman and David Bryant, and Alumni Leadership Giving Committee co-chairs Bryan Anderson ’88, Jay Mitchell ’96, and Andy McElaney ’96. Franny Rose and Mr. Layne-Allen each offered personal “R.L. boy” perspectives on the value of their Roxbury Latin years. Both discussed struggles and accomplishments in anecdotes that resonated with everyone in the audience—alumni, parents, and faculty alike. “By being known and loved,” Franny said, “you are vested in this community, and in turn it is vested in you. You are chal-
lenged, encouraged, supported, and—most important—you build relationships that last a lifetime.” Mr. Layne-Allen, who benefitted from his own R.L. mentors like Dedric Polite ’00 and Jose Vega ’01, delivered a captivating account of his journey from Steppingstone Scholar to R.L. to Colby College. “I’m proud to be back,” he said. “I’ve realized that this school has been with me every step of the way since those Steppingstone years. Jose Vega, that R.L. tutor at Steppingstone many years ago, still guides me today. So, now when I teach Latin to a boy who may have fallen off course, I’m merely walking along my journey, remembering to do for others what was once done for me….”
2016-17 Annual Fund Leadership: Bill Maffie ’88; Michael and Ellen Berk P ’19, ’21; Kerry Brennan; Ellen Berkman and David Bryant P ’18.
John and Jane Spatola P ’06, Mike Pojman
Annual Fund Update Lisa Layne-Allen and son Kyle Layne-Allen ’09
“With many grammar school A’s under my belt and having conquered Steppingstone, I entered R.L. feeling like a wellgroomed senior. Except I was a sixie—or, in the Rev. Jarvis’ eyes, the lowest of the low. I recall my first Mr. Carroll math quiz. I’d grown so accustomed to stellar grades that this foreign score, a 13 out of 20, seemed respectable…until I did the math, of course.”
Mary Kate and Tim Rose with son Franny Rose I
“[As a caddy,] I particularly enjoyed rounds with Mr. Call, an R.L. alumnus. Because of our shared R.L. experience, we instantly had a connection. We would talk a lot about how the school buildings may have changed, but the experience is still the same.” —Franny Rose, Class I
The 2016-2017 Annual Fund is making great progress toward achieving its goal of $3,450,000, thanks to the generosity of our alumni, parents, and friends. As of 13 December 2016, we had already topped the $2 million mark with gifts and pledges totaling $2,070,874.80. We are 60 percent of the way there, but we still need your help! Thank you to all who have already made a commitment to Roxbury Latin’s 2016-2017 Annual Fund. If you have not yet contributed, please consider supporting Roxbury Latin’s success. Every gift helps R.L. maintain tuition that is, on average, about $14,000 less than the tuition of our peer schools. Every gift helps bridge the $25,000 gap between the cost of tuition and the actual cost of an R.L. education. Every gift supports the admission and enrollment of qualified applicants, regardless of their ability to pay, and every gift helps retain and attract a faculty that is second to none. Gifts, large and small, from each and every donor, make a tremendous difference in the education Roxbury Latin can offer to the talented young men who study here. Please join your classmates, fellow parents, and friends by making a gift today. Thank you for doing your part to ensure that Roxbury Latin can preserve its distinctive quality and character. www.roxburylatin.org/giving
—Kyle Layne-Allen ’09 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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R . L.’ s E x te n d e d Footpri nt R.L. Hosts Seminar on Wellness of Under-represented Students
R
oxbury Latin hosted a seminar with the National Partnership for Educational Access (NPEA), an initiative of The Steppingstone Foundation, on 1 November. The event focused on how schools support the social-emotional health of underrepresented students and brought together 50 educators, counselors, and mentors from around Boston to discuss the well-being of students within this demographic. Director of Academic and Strategic Initiatives Andy Chappell co-hosted the seminar with Karin Elliot, NPEA executive director. After an introduction from the Headmaster, Mr. Chappell moderated a panel consisting of three panelists: R.L. junior Mahamud Hashi; Edgar De Leon, assistant dean of students at Noble and Greenough and director of his school’s partnership with UMass-Boston’s Upward Bound
Lee Englert P ’18 (center) and other NPEA seminar participants in small-group discussions.
program; and Shaina Omoroghomwan, an undergraduate at Boston College. All three shared insights on their journey through their schools and offered feedback on their schools’ support systems. After the panel, guests broke up into small groups to discuss topics related to understanding, maintaining, and advancing the well-being of underrepresented students and their environments.
R.L.-IBSC Conference Welcomes Teachers New to Boys’ Schools
O Roxbury Latin was proud to play a significant role in Boston STEM Week, which transformed 36 Boston middle school classrooms into learning labs, 3-7 October. Ethan Berman ’79, founder of i2 Learning and the driving force behind Boston STEM Week, is pictured above (right) with Headmaster Kerry Brennan at the Boston STEM Week kick-off event at the Oliver H. Perry School in South Boston. After opening remarks from Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Boston Public Schools Superintendent Tommy Chang, Mr. Brennan and other key sponsors toured classrooms where STEM projects were getting underway.
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ver the last weekend of October, R.L. partnered with the International Boys’ Schools Coalition (IBSC) to host the Teachers New to Boys’ Schools Conference for the second time in as many years. More than thirty educators from eight different boys’ schools (from the US and Canada) attended three days of speaker presentations and collaborative discussions on subjects ranging from “Giving Boys a Voice” and “Competition and Collaboration,” to “The Role of Women in Boys’ Schools” and “Relational Teaching.” Roxbury Latin is viewed as a model for the kind of enriching, intimate, and diverse boys’ experience the IBSC champions. Participants sat in on Roxbury Latin classes and heard from a panel of seniors, who spoke about R.L. experiences. Sixteen members of R.L.’s faculty led discussions or delivered presentations at the conference, and Tim Murphy,
Director of Secondary School Counseling at Fessenden School, offered a reflection on best practices among different age groups of boys. Attendees also heard from a panel of local headmasters, including our own Kerry Brennan, Peter Folan of Catholic Memorial School, and Jerry Ward of Fenn School. This year’s conference focused on a wide array of topics, including identity, technology, community, arts, athletics, service, and the use of free time. Educators discussed best practices for teaching boys in the current climate of evolving identity politics, rising levels of stress and competition, and rapid technological advances. Together, attendees developed numerous innovative approaches to bringing more leadership, humor, movement, openness, and variety into boys’ classroom experiences. Teachers left with a wealth of useful ideas for their own classrooms.
Attendees gathered in the IDEA lab for Math Department Chair John Lieb’s presentation on competition and collaboration.
Varsit y A thle t i c Schedule | Wi nter 2 0 1 6 - 1 7 2016-17
Varsity Basketball
W, 30 Nov
Varsity Hockey
Varsity Wrestling
@ Moses Brown 5:45
F, 2 Dec
CM (scrimmage) 4:00
S, 3 Dec
Dedham High (scrimmage) 2:00
@ Portsmouth Abbey 3:30
W, 7 Dec
LCA 4:30
@ Groton 3:30
F, 9 Dec
@ Governor’s 7:00
Portsmouth Abbey 6:00
@ Pomfret w/ Hamden Hall, LCA 3:30 @ Governor’s 5:30
Kingswood-Oxford 2:00
S, 10 Dec T, 27 Dec
@ Pentucket Tournament 9:30
Th, 29 Dec
RL/BH Tournament vs Marionapolis 12:45 @ BH
@ BB&N 4:00
F, 30 Dec
RL/BH Tournament vs Masters 12:30 @ BH
Berwick 4:00
W, 4 Jan
St. Sebastian's 5:00
St. George's 4:00
F, 6 Jan
Dexter 3:30
@ Pomfret 5:00
S, 7 Jan
Portsmouth Abbey 2:00
W, 11 Jan
Boston Trinity Academy 4:30
Moses Brown 4:30
@ St. Paul's 4:45
F, 13 Jan
@ St. Mark's 4:30
@ St. Mark's 4:45
@ Brooks 7:00
S, 14 Jan
Middlesex w/Landmark, St. Mark’s 2:30, 5:00
@ Brooks 5:45
W, 18 Jan
Thayer 4:30
@ Middlesex 4:30
@ BB&N w/ Milton 3:30
F, 20 Jan**
BB&N 5:45
Pingree 7:30
St. Sebastian’s 5:00
S, 21 Jan
@ Belmont Hill w/Andover, Loomis, Tabor 3:00
W, 25 Jan
Middlesex 5:00
F, 27 Jan
@ Nobles 7:30
S, 28 Jan
Portsmouth Abbey 3:00
Groton 2:00
W, 1 Feb
St. Paul's 3:30
St. Mark's 3:30
F, 3 Feb
@ Belmont Hill 7:00
@ Rivers 5:00
@ Lawrence 3:45 @ Nobles 4:45 Thayer w/ Marianapolis 3:30
Milton 1:00
S, 4 Feb W, 8 Feb
Middlesex 5:15
@ Milton 3:30
F, 10 Feb
@ Pingree 5:00
S, 11 Feb
St. George’s 2:30
Rivers 3:30
W, 15 Feb
@ Rivers 5:00
@ St. George's 4:30
F, 17 Feb
Groton 5:15
Brooks 6:00
S, 18 Feb
Graves-Kelsey @ Brooks 9:00 NE Tournament @ Hyde, ME NE Tournament @ Hyde, ME
Lawrence 3:30
W, 22 Feb
BB&N 5:30
F, 24 Feb
Nationals @ Lehigh Brooks 3:30
S, 25 Feb
Home games are boldface.
Nationals @ Lehigh **Family Day
R . L . s u mm e r p r og r a m s 2 0 1 7
Save the Date:
Saturday, 29 April
39
th
Parents’ Auxiliary
Giant Yard Sale
Start setting aside those treasures that need a new home. Drop-off dates are Saturdays, 15 and 22 April, 9 am - 12 noon at R.L.
Announcing Roxbury Latin Summer Institute
R
oxbury Latin’s robust summer program announces a new offering: Roxbury Latin Summer Institute—two 2-week sessions of fun, hands-on enrichment electives for boys and girls ages 11-14. Also new this summer is Debate Camp. Learn more about these and our other offerings, such as i2, sports clinics, and Mass Audubon’s Boston Nature Center Day Camp at www.roxburylatin.org/summer.
Find out more at www.roxburylatin.org/summer
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
Homecoming and Fall Family Day Sporting their R.L. athletic jackets, recently retired teacher-coaches Liv Carroll and Rick Dower enjoyed a shared perspective on the athletic contests at Homecoming on 22 October: all the fun and none of the responsibility. Threat of rain did not deter throngs of alumni and families from the festivities, which included a ceremony on the new turf that honored current and alumni fall team athletes and coaches. (See story on page 44.)