The Newsletter - July 2018

Roxbury Latin THE NEWSLETTER

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Oliver!

Consider yourself one of the family

The Roxbury Latin School

Headmaster Kerry P. Brennan

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

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

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

Erin Berg erin.berg@roxburylatin.org 617.477.6326

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

The Newsletter July 2018 | Volume 91 | Number 4

INSIDE

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DEPARTMENTS

Do not go it alone The Headmaster’s Address at the Opening of Spring Term

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Hall Highlights

10 Spring Break Travel

12 Student News

14 Wedding Knowledge to

17 Faculty Spotlight

Goodness Dr. Richard Melvoin gives Cum Laude address

33 The Many (Straight, Winding, Interrupted, Traditional, Surprising) Meaningful Paths Ahead RL@Work shows Class II students what’s possible by Erin Berg

36 Prize Day and Valete 38 Closing Exercises > A Dynamic World Faces the Class of 2018 | Dr. Sally Stevens delivers Commencement Address 40 > Humility | The Valedictory Remarks of Thomas Bulger I 44

48 Reunion

Peter Hyde, Biology

18 In and Out of the Classroom 21 Faculty Kudos 22 The Arts > Spring Musical: Oliver! 22 > Latin Play: Curculio 24 > Concert and Recital Highlights 25

26 Athletics Effort, Execution, and Buy-In: One Senior’s Experience of Athletic Success by Robert Crawford I

52 Class Notes 60 In Memoriam 61 Alumni Gatherings

63 Forty Years of the Giant Yard Sale… and of Mrs. Spinale

Above: ECOS pauses while collecting trash in the R.L. woods this spring. In a new initiative, the club collected 2,000 lbs. of used textiles at the Yard Sale for recycling by Bay State Textiles. With the $100 remuneration from Bay State Textiles, ECOS purchased a TerraCycle Box to collect hard-to-recycle office waste (such as dry markers and batteries) that TerraCycle will recycle safely. Cover: A scene from the Spring Musical, Oliver! (Photo by Mike Pojman.)

Send address changes to julie.garvey@roxburylatin.org. Send alumni news and other correspondence to alumni@roxburylatin.org.

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Jacob Peter Gowy

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Do not go it alone The Headmaster’s Address at the Opening of Spring Term

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hose of you who were on the Spanish Immersion Trip visited the Prado in Madrid. One of the world’s great art museums, the Prado goes on and on and contains some of the most highly prized works of art ever produced. One of these is by the Flemish painter Jacob Peter Gowy, a contemporary of Rubens, and highly celebrated in the early 17th century. The work that hangs in the Prado is Gowy’s 6’x6’ oil painting, “The Fall of Icarus.” It is the content of this painting that will inform my talk today. William Bennett’s re-telling of the myth of Daedalus and Icarus in The Book of Virtues captures all its important details. (Mr. Brennan read that account.) As is always true with art, however, there is something even more poignant, more evocative, more human about Gowy’s painting which captures the moments that Daedalus tries to save Icarus from his free-falling fate. A picture can be worth a thousand DA E DA LUS A ND I CA R US words. You can imagine the anguish on Daedalus’s face King Minos of Crete commissions Daedalus, an architect, to and the fear on Icarus’s. construct a massive labyrinth in order to imprison the minotaur— First, I would like to think about what went wrong in half man, half bull. But when the hero Theseus falls in love with this story. Daedalus, a genius inventor and experienced the King’s daughter, Daedalus helps the warrior navigate the liver of life, developed a way to escape King Minos’s maze in order to slay the monster. When the King finds out, he prison. He invented wings and fashioned them so he and banishes Daedalus, along with his son Icarus, to the center of the his beloved son could escape. But that was not enough labyrinth. Daedalus applies his skill as an inventor to build wings for him. He also anticipated what might go wrong. In out of wax so that they can escape, but showing his bravado, doing so, he admonished Icarus “not to go too high, Icarus takes off with the wings. However, when he flies too close and not to go too low.” In effect, Daedalus was lobbying to the sun, the wings melt. Poor Icarus falls to his death. for moderation, for pursuing a safe path, for avoiding risks that would surely accompany extremes. What was Icarus’s problem? Any observer could sense the delight he felt in his newfound freedom. Soaring above the earth, he experienced for the first time the wonder of all that was before him—land, and structures, and people and creatures. He flew over the land and he flew over the sea. But he wanted more. He was not satisfied with this merely phenomenal experience. He dared to fly higher and higher. He defied his father’s warning. He wanted to “push the envelope,” to see how it felt and how it looked beyond what

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had become the normal fare. Daedalus knew that one’s wings would melt if he got too close to the sun, but Icarus failed to acknowledge this reality. Taking Risks What was wrong with Icarus? Does he seem familiar? Do you know him? Do you know this instinct? Have you felt it? Have you done it? Have you dared to go beyond that which was advised and, instead, tempted fate to achieve a thrill, to know the flicker of fame, or at least new admiration and popularity? Where do such opportunities, and such risks reside? They are around every corner. They are present every time one turns on a computer or dials up a personal device or surfs the internet or, especially, every time one engages in social media hanging one’s ego and mythical self and hopeful projection out to be examined and admired. They are present when one gets in a car and rushes through the yellow light, or texts while he is driving, or sees what it’s like to go 100 on the Pike. They are present when one goes to a weekend party at which the beer and the booze and the pot are flowing freely and no one seems to be able to say, “No, thank you,” or ”I’ve had enough,” or “I think I’ll sit out this drinking game this time—my stomach has been bad all day,” or “I’m calling an Uber,” or “This is wrong,” or “This is dangerous.” They are present in the college admission process when one is accepted at a perfectly fine school, a good match for you, and yet you continue to apply and angle, and fret about whether you could get into another fine school, or perhaps a string of them. Isn a less politically correct time, we would have talked about gathering scalps, baubles to be proud of and boasted about. They are present countless other times when one chooses to betray good sense and the advice of others and takes needless risks. Reasonable risk taking, that which takes us out of our comfort zones, is, of course, largely to be commended, but when one goes beyond what is reasonable and chooses danger, and harm to self and 6

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others as desirable pursuits, then he is being irresponsible, hubristic, and selfish. Some would say that he is simply being a teenager. I have known hundreds of teenagers in my time, and I can safely say that such a sweeping generalization is, as most sweeping generalizations are, inaccurate, and even unfair. But I will concede that there often is something in the adolescent psyche—the heart and soul and mind—of all of you in this room, that leads to dangerous situations, that suggests a feeling of indomitable competence, of invulnerability, of unique capacity, of arrogance, of bravado, of hubris. Sometimes we just don’t want to listen to adults. Sometimes we need to try it ourselves, to suffer the consequences, to learn the lessons. Mentors and Mentees The first part of this talk, then, is about what is natural for teenagers to think and feel and what possibilities ought to be avoided. Often those who are older than we are can help us in our quest to be adult, to be adequate, to even excel. But that usually has to be on our own terms, when we are ready, and we are confident enough to internalize others’ experiences and take their advice, but make the ultimate process and product our own. Second, though, I want to talk about the relationship between Daedalus and Icarus. Daedalus clearly loved Icarus and was eager, as all fathers are, to keep him from harm. Perhaps he did not fully understand the adolescent’s psyche, however, and offered Icarus an opportunity that he would abuse and which would result in his demise. Icarus is dead, but his father is left with a grief that cannot be described of a father having lost a son. Today, I want to imagine the kind of relationship that might have served Icarus better. When I was growing up in our industrial city of Schenectady, I was always aware of an educational opportunity at General Electric, the big factory and business in town, called the apprentice program. Through this program, younger, inexperi-

enced workers were taught what it took to master and utilize the technological skills then current. Some were destined for factory work; some were intent on becoming draftsmen; others hoped eventually to become engineers. All, though, acknowledged that there was a good deal for them to learn before they could become effective in these roles. And they looked to the masters of the trades to help them realize their goals.

Marc Chagall

This set up is nothing new. Throughout history we know of economies that are established based on this concept. Perhaps most famously was the feature of the Middle Ages in which literally masters took on apprentices in order to introduce them to the specific fine work of the Guilds. But versions of this have existed forever where a more experienced person is involved in teaching a less experienced, often younger, person how to do something—to fashion and play a musical instrument, to weave intricate tapestries, to hunt elusive, but tasty, varmints, to live meaningful lives. Of course, schools are banquets of countless learning opportunities, but what I’m thinking of is a specialized aspect of school. In fact, what I want to champion today is not exactly a master and apprentice, but, rather, a mentor and a mentee.

Igor Mitoraj, Pompeii

The best mentors seek to empower the mentees, to reassure, to help the mentees clarify their own thoughts and positions, and values. Initially, of course, we can turn to the Classics again and gain some understanding of the term based on the mentor who figured importantly in The Odyssey. A friend of Odysseus put Mentor (Athena in disguise) in charge of his son Telemachus.

Mentor plays an important role in Telemachus’s development and safety. Our use of “mentor” today derives partially from Homer’s character. Before I explore what I consider to be the distinctive appeal of the mentor/mentee relationship, I want to clarify what it is not. A mentor is not necessarily a role model. A role model typically suggests a bit of distance, a person to admire, a person to emulate. All of that can be true of a mentor, as well, but a mentor means more than that. Frequently we hear in the media the lament that there are no worthy role models today—that political figures, professional athletes, stars of music and the movies often let us down by betraying weaknesses and character flaws. They are not gods. They do not walk on water. They are human. And ultimately not better or worse than any of us mere mortals. They also are remote. They do not usually engage with us directly or personally. A mentor, on the other hand, is directly and personally involved with a mentee. He or she teaches but indeed does more than that. The mentor lives a life and helps the mentee to live a life that is meaningful and virtuous. The best mentors I know do not seek to impose their own life journeys on

their mentees, but they do freely share lessons they have learned. We encounter many of these mentor types in the literature we read in this school. They show up at different times and in different places. The most famous of these pairs is Huck Finn and Jim. This relationship belies what would have been the common perception of the time. Indeed here a Black man, a runaway slave, ends up mentoring a younger white boy. Jim teaches Huck; he protects him; and he loves him. A similar relationship of care and concern is present in The Old Man and the Sea in which an older, grandfatherly figure teaches his mentee about the intricacies of fishing, and also about the dangers of the sea and the challenges of leading a good life. “The old man had taught the boy to fish and the boy loved him.” Throughout literature and film we encounter older, wiser, invested characters who teach and inspire and matter to younger mentees. Think of Merlin and the young Arthur, or the Fairy Godmother and Cinderella, or Alfred the Butler and Batman, or even Yoda and Luke Skywalker, or perhaps most vividly Mr. Miyagi and the Karate Kid. A mentor has a different investment in a mentee than a parent has in a child. For starters, the mentor and mentee choose each other. Each is aware that there is reciprocity in the relationship, that each can benefit from it. I have been blessed with several key mentors in my own life. While my parents and other relatives have offered a certain kind of support and love, mentors offer something different. The best mentors I know are empathic; they “get” the mentees and what they are going through, or, at least, they try to. The best mentors seek to empower the mentees, to reassure, to help the mentees clarify their own thoughts and positions, and values. The best mentors do not seek to impose their own choices on their mentees. The experienced, trusted advisor can ask probing, helpful questions and can bolster a mentee when he is faltering. One of the best things a mentor can give a mentee is confidence. The “I believe

Anthony van Dyck

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in you” commitment can be a powerful force in the mentee’s development and his expanded sense of self. Over Time Mentors and mentees are involved in a long process. While occasionally there are urgent concerns that require some thought or even action, what they forge is a relationship over time, sometimes a lifetime. A good mentor is analytical and not judgmental. A good mentor offers inspiration as well as guidance and training. Their relationship is based on free and open communication and is always character based and not about some particular competency. A good mentor is always available—if not at that minute, at least shortly, eager always to be of help, to lend an ear, to affirm. One of the chief tasks of adolescence is to achieve independence from one’s parents. You know that there are times when you are more reliant on or in better communication with your parents than others. As a school, we tell parents to let you fight your own battles, to grow up, to gain confidence, to become your own man. Some parents are afraid that their sons won’t turn out the way they would like them to. They fail to understand that you are individuals, each with your own set of gifts, virtues, and destinies. You are not simply younger versions of your mothers and fathers. I often have conversations with parents about empowering you to do what you need to do, and to resist rushing in to “save the day.” At another school I recall a parent calling me to discuss an “emergency.” Thinking someone was hurt or in danger, I dropped everything and took the call. The parent said, “Mr. Brennan, I don’t know if you know this but we got a 74 on the recent algebra test. That’s unacceptable. I believe the teacher is unfair. We worked very hard on this. What are you going to do about this?” For starters I suggested a pronoun transplant and the return to the son of his rightful responsibility, and to go on from there. You can imagine the rest of the conversation. 8

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A good mentor is always available… eager always to be of help, to lend an ear, to affirm. I don’t believe a mentor would behave this way. I have nothing against parents. I have found them essential in ensuring that we have a school full of students. And, usually, they are wonderful. They want what is best for you. Only occasionally are they certain of what that is and insistent

Vlaho Bukovac

Willem Drost

that we apply a heavy dose of whatever it is parents think will do the trick. Instead, I have found parents to be mainly trusting and especially appreciative of our advisor system, and the relationships advisors form with advisees. I am not saying that all advisors will be mentors for life, but I

think we provide an opportunity for a very good start. Eventually, your mentors will not be so tied to an institution in which you both have a clear stake. Eventually, you will mutually choose each other and establish a relationship based on admiration, trust, optimism, loyalty, respect, and burgeoning self-awareness. Each will give the other energy and affirm that each plays an important role in the other’s life. In part, I was inspired to give this talk about the importance of mentors because of an email I received earlier in the year. I have received several of these over the years. The sender, an R.L. alum and a senior at his Ivy League college, was writing me to ask if I could write a recommendation for him to get a particular job. I had been in infrequent contact with the young man over his college years and, while eager to help, suggested that I might not be the right person to endorse him. “What about one of your professors?” He responded, “I would be surprised if one of my professors could even put my name with my face.” “And your advisor?” “My advisor has changed every year and I only see him when I need my course selection sheet signed at the beginning of the semester.” The piece of advice that comes out of this talk is this: find a mentor. If you have more than one mentor, better yet. But do not go it alone. Have someone other than your parents—who love you and are eager for you to succeed but have their own agendas—who can give you support and wisdom and, occasionally, tough love. Find that mentor here or in college or somewhere along the way. Then, unlike Icarus who was not mindful of his father’s advice, you will have someone who can not only launch you, but occasionally, where appropriate, help to cushion the fall.

hall highlights The Rev. Geoffrey Piper On 2 April, the Rev. Geoffrey Piper spoke to the students and faculty about Lent, Holy Week, and Easter—the most important period of the Christian liturgical calendar. Father Piper is rector of St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church in Marion, where he has served for ten years. Through scripture and prayer, through personal experiences, anecdotes, and humor, Father Piper walked his audience through the Christian belief of Jesus being both holy and human; sacrificing himself for the sins of humanity; and freeing us, through our faith, “to be of God’s own spirit, raised to a new quality of life, even as we’re bound to these earthly bodies.” After graduating from Amherst College, Fr. Piper began his pastoral ministry as Lay Reader-in-Charge of four congregations in Quebec. In Canada, he studied theology at Bishop’s University and was ordained in 1988. With his wife, Leslie, and their growing family, Fr. Piper served a total of eleven congregations in three parishes over five years. Since then, he has served a range of congregations—from Easthampton, Massachusetts, to Detroit, Michigan—of the Episcopal Church. Fr. Piper is the father of our own Nate Piper, Director of Technology.

“How do we take what we trust occurred with one ancient rabbi on the outskirts of Jerusalem around 33 A.D. and assert that this will be our destiny as well?”

Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Edwards has, for nearly five decades, built a musical career of uncompromising integrity, delivering songs of passion, insight, and humor. A cornerstone of America’s folk music tradition, Mr. Edwards

has traveled the world—the “barefoot troubadour”—performing for legions of fans. On 19 April, Mr. Edwards performed (with shoes on!) in the Smith Theater, as this year’s Andrew Daland ’46 Memorial Concert. Mr. Edwards, who began performing music at age eight, built a following by playing on Saturday nights in the lobbies of college dorms throughout New England. He soon found himself opening for national acts, including the Allman Brothers Band and B. B. King. In 1971 he recorded his first—eponymously titled—studio album, for which he earned mainstream attention. His song “Sunshine” made its way to the top five on the national charts, earning him a gold record. He has recorded 18 studio albums to date—many critically acclaimed, and many cultural markers for our time. Vigilant over the years about maintaining his own work-life balance, he advises young, aspiring performers on balancing personal life and career. In 2008, a documentary of Mr. Edwards’ life and career titled “That’s What Our Life Is” was released. The Andrew Daland ’46 Memorial Concert Fund was established by Andrew’s wife, Pamela Worden, and his family and friends, with the purpose of bringing a musical concert to Roxbury Latin boys each year in Mr. Daland’s memory. Since the Fund’s establishment, the school has been privileged to hear guitarist Jason Vieaux; the a cappella group Cantus; Elijah Rock; Roxbury Latin’s own, violinist Stefan Jackiw, Class of 2003; and last year, Yale’s Whiffenpoofs. The school is grateful for the generosity that fuels this musical experience each year, and we were honored to have Ms. Worden join us for this year’s performance.

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SPRING BREAK TRAVEL Spring break is a welcome pause between the long winter term and the “home stretch.” In addition to providing a chance for the Glee Club to tour and perform in distant places, the end of March also offers a window for boys to travel with faculty leaders whose thoughtfully developed itineraries augment and enhance their students’ recent studies. 10

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lass IV boys, with nearly three years of Classics studies under their belts, spent nine days in Italy, taking in not only the ancient architecture, art, and archeological sites of Naples and Rome, but also the Renaissance treasures of Florence, led by faculty members Mr. Guden ’96, Mr. Layne-Allen ’09, Mr. Matthews ’08, Dr. McCrory, Mr. Snider, and Mr. Sokol. At this point in their academic careers, the boys are wellversed in the language and literature of ancient Rome, but this trip adds the tools of archaeology to their analyses

as well. In Naples they were excited to see Herculaneum and Pompeii, two cities buried—and thus preserved— beneath the rock and ash spewed by Mt. Vesuvius when it erupted in 79 AD. In Florence, after a morning trip to the Uffizi Museum to look at one of the world’s best collections of Renaissance art, the boys spent the afternoon getting to know the “real” Florence. Highlights included playing a 20-minute soccer match in a court located in a small piazza, visiting the Galileo Museum, and enjoying a little free time in the city. Spe-

cial thanks go to Dr. McCrory for her itinerary and knowledge of all things Florence!

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en Class I English students traveled to Paris with English Department Chair Phil Kokotailo to experience the city from a WWIera perspective as part of his course “Americans in Paris.” Now in its fourth year, the tour (designed by Dr. Kokotailo) traces Hemingway’s footsteps and visits the graves of famous American writers and artists in Père-la-Chaise Cemetery, among other explorations. For their visit to the Musée de l’Orangerie, the

boys prepared oral expositions of selected paintings to discuss with their classmates. Also included was an excursion to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near ChateauThierry, where the boys visited the grave of a member of the R.L. Class of 1905, First Lieutenant Hugh Charles Blanchard. On a couple of occasions, R.L. alumni living in Paris met up with the group over dinner: Scott Sayare ’04 and Nathan Wolfe ’15.

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ld Quebec, whose history and culture is especially relevant to the early history of the United

States, was the destination for fifteen Class V French students. Led by Mssrs. Diop and McLaren, the trip offered the boys an opportunity to practice French over the fourday excursion and included a walking-guided tour of the city, a visit to the CathedralBasilica of Notre-Dame de Québec, a tour of the Ice Hotel, and some pure fun: dog sledding, snowshoeing, and snow tubing.

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inally, the Glee Club toured domestically this year, traveling to Washington, D.C.; historic Williamsburg; and Charlottesville—under

the guidance of Director of Music Rob Opdycke and Assistant Headmaster Mike Pojman. They performed in D.C. churches and at area universities and schools, including the University of Richmond (where they participated in a workshop with the a cappella group The Octāves), the University of Virginia (which included a rehearsal exchange with the UVA Glee Club), and the College of William and Mary. At Georgetown and U. of Richmond they enjoyed personalized tours by R.L. alumni. Highlights included

exploring Colonial Williamsburg, attending an alumni event at the City Tavern Club, taking in a performance of The Wiz at Ford’s Theater, and meeting with Rep. Joe Kennedy’s chief of staff.

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student news Ben LaFond makes U.S. team for International Linguistics Olympiad

By virtue of his outstanding performance in the 2018 North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad (NACLO), Class I’s Ben LaFond has been selected as one of eight high school students who will represent the United States at this summer’s International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) in Prague. More than 1,700 students from the U.S. and Canada participate yearly in the NACLO, which offers young people an opportunity to experience natural-language processing through a series of linguistic puzzles, designed to teach students about the universal features of and differences Ben LaFond I

between languages and to test logic skills. No prior study of languages or linguistics is required. Puzzles include translation problems, number problems, writing systems, calendar systems, formal problems, phonological problems, and computational problems. Contestants will also find themselves deciphering kinship systems, transcribing spoken dialogue, associating sentences with images, and translating unknown languages from scratch. After two rounds of testing, the top NACLO scorers are sent to represent North America at the IOL. One of twelve International Science Olympiads for highschool students, IOL advertises itself as “the world’s toughest puzzles in language and linguistics.” After four days of training at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Ben will fly to Prague with the USA Red and USA Blue teams to participate over five days in late July in individual and team-based contests, see sights around the city, and mingle with young linguists from 41 countries around the globe.

Pianist Chris Zhu wins first place at URI piano competition

On 25 March, Chris Zhu III took first place in the Senior Pianist Division of the 2018 University of Rhode Island Piano Extravaganza Competition. Chris was awarded the top cash prize among all divisions and earned high praise from the competition’s adjudicator, Rasa Vitkauskaite, an internationally acclaimed pianist who plays for the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. Vitkauskaite noted, “…Chris has a wonderful range of dynamics. He played Liszt’s Concert Etude in beautiful singing tone and exhibited a great sense of character and 12

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Chris Zhu III, Prof. Manawu Takasawa

style in Beethoven’s Appassionata Sonata.” Chris is also an accomplished violinist and recently won the top prize from the Roman Totenberg Young Strings Competition. An avid musician in R.L.’s chamber program and frequent participant in Recital Halls, Chris has performed at Carnegie Hall and Steinway Hall in New York, and at Symphony Hall in Boston. Chris still finds time to share his musical talent with local senior communities such as Newbridge at Charles in Dedham and Deutsches Altenheim in West Roxbury.

Erik Zou awarded Anthony Quinn Foundation Scholarship

Erik Zou II was awarded a scholarship to attend the SAIC (School of the Art Institute of Chicago) Summer Institute Residency Program in Figure Drawing. Recipients of the prized scholarship have demonstrated “exceptional talent and dedication with a strong commitment to personal and artistic growth.” The judg-

ing panel’s comments on Erik’s artwork applauded the inventiveness of his selfportraits and his willingness to delve into political messages in his conceptual work. This spring Erik won twelve regional awards for fifteen art entries, including two Gold Keys and four Silver Keys, in the Scholastic Art Awards competition.

Dylan Zhou wins second place in juried art exhibition.

The artwork of Dylan Zhou I was selected for the second annual NEXT UP! 2018 art competition created by Page Waterman Fine Framing. Dylan was recognized for his “Five Faces,” a work of oil, charcoal and acrylic on canvas. Prizes included memberships to the Museum of Fine Arts, The Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Dylan was also awarded this year’s Janet Murphy Art Scholarship by the West Roxbury Art Association.

Seniors earn top marks in public speaking on the global stage

On 6 April, seniors Joe Nero and Andrew Steinberg traveled to Cape Town, South Africa, as part of the United States team competing at the 2018 World Individual

Joe Nero I, Andrew Steinberg I

Debate and Public Speaking Championships. During the five-day tournament, 130 top high school debaters from around the world compete in four events: Impromptu Speaking, Parliamentary Debate, Interpretive Reading, and either Persuasive or After Dinner Speaking. Scores from each category are combined to determine the overall World Champion. Joe reached the finals in After Dinner Speaking, and Andrew was one of four contestants to reach the finals in three events (Persuasive Speaking, Impromptu Speaking, and Interpretive Reading). Andrew advanced to the grand final in Impromptu Speaking and was recognized as the tournament’s second place speaker overall. To qualify, contestants had to either win regional or national tournaments in their home country (as Andrew did by winning the top speaker award at the St. Paul’s Cross Examination Debate in November), or place in an international competition (such as Joe did at the International Independent Schools Public Speaking Competition in Winnepeg, Manitoba, in October). “Andrew’s second place finish is the highest that an R.L. student has placed at Worlds in the 20 years that I have been at the school,” notes Mr. Stewart Thomsen, History Department chair and the team’s faculty advisor. “Most important, though, Joe’s and Andrew’s success is…a tribute to the R.L. Debate boys at all levels who listened to Joe and Andrew’s speeches and offered feedback; to the boys from years past who shared what they learned from their own international debate and public speaking experiences; to our coaches who teach, guide, and support our boys each year in the Debate and Public Speaking Program—Mrs. Dromgoole, Dr. Stevens, Dr. Kokotailo, Mr. Hiatt, Ms. Delaney, Dr. Guerra, and Mr. Heaton; and to the parents who support our boys in myriad ways, including Robyn Steinberg who chaperoned Joe and Andrew so that an R.L. teacher would not miss a week of teaching, coaching, and advising. The boys’ success is a victory for all of us.”

Harris Foulkes I

Harris Foulkes receives highest athletic honors

Varsity Tennis co-captain Harris Foulkes I was named the Independent School League MVP, a Boston Globe All-Scholastic, and a Boston Herald All-Scholastic student-athlete this spring for his performance and leadership on the court. In his time at R.L., Harris played a significant role on two ISL Championship Teams, and he is the only Roxbury Latin player to have ever played in three New England Class B team finals. Harris and co-captain Brendan Jimenez II helped lead the team to an overall season record of 18-2, and to a second place finish in the New England Championships. Season highlights included Harris finishing 27 and 1 at #1 singles in the ISL and winning all of his singles in the New England Tournament. Joey Barrett III finished undefeated in the ISL at #2 singles, and Walker Oberg IV was the only player on the team to be undefeated in singles in both the ISL and in the New Englands. (The last freshman to do that was Harris.) Head coach Ousmane Diop describes Harris as one of “the best players to have ever come to R.L. He is the smartest player and the best doubles player we have ever had. Harris is irreplaceable. He is one of the kindest and most humble players I have ever coached.”

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Dr. Rick Melvoin, Dr. Sally Stevens (Cum Laude Society chapter president), Will Connaughton, Gabriel Grajeda, Dylan Zhou, Zach Levin, David Ma, Connor Dowd, Andrew White, Robert Cunningham, Ben LaFond, Reis White, Jack Golden, Josh Cervas (chapter secretary).

Wedding Knowledge to Goodness Dr. Richard Melvoin gives Cum Laude address On Wednesday, 18 April, Roxbury Latin celebrated in Hall the eleven members of Class I whose efforts and accomplishments earned them membership in the Cum Laude Society. The school was honored to welcome as the Cum Laude speaker Dr. Richard Melvoin, who this June retires after 25 years as head of Belmont Hill School. The all-school ceremony honors the life of the mind—affirming that at the heart of a good school is scholarly engagement.

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his morning we honor new inductees into Cum Laude, the top scholars among you in Class I. We at Belmont Hill also have a chapter of the Cum Laude Society, and I have some sense of the intellect and talent and drive that has enabled 14

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you young men to achieve this significant honor. I thus offer congratulations to you, yet also to your families and to the faculty. None of us does this alone. We have an alumnus, a member of our Board of Trustees, who regularly reminds us that “gratitude unexpressed is not gratitude at all.” In that spirit, I hope you boys will remember and thank, now and always, your parents who helped bring you to this place and also your teachers—the men and women who have made this their life’s work and do it so remarkably well on your behalf every day. But even as we honor you young men, I want to remember the 80 percent of you seniors who are not joining Cum Laude today, and all you younger boys. I do so

because I hope all of us love—truly love— the pursuit of knowledge. Yet knowledge alone is incomplete. There is nothing wrong with being smart. Thank goodness we have schools like ours where it is accepted, in fact expected, and even cool for boys to love learning, to want to talk about ideas, to be, if you choose, unabashed geeks and nerds. But again, here’s the point: knowledge alone is not enough. Being smart is not enough. In that spirit, the heart of my talk today— the one point I hope you might take away with you—comes from a man named John Phillips. Phillips holds the distinction that in the late 18th century—I grant, a hundred and forty years after R.L. was founded—he and his family managed to establish not one but two rather respectable schools, and

their rivalry might even rival ours between R.L. and Belmont Hill. Helping to found both Phillips Exeter and Phillips Andover, John Phillips wrote, “Though goodness without knowledge is weak and feeble, yet knowledge without goodness is dangerous, and…both united form the noblest character, and lay the surest foundation of usefulness to mankind.” Let’s unpack that a little. I start with the last phrase: “usefulness to mankind.” I don’t mind imposing on you gentlemen this goal. Whether you are a member of Cum Laude or not, every one of you has been given an extraordinary education. The question is, of course, what are you going to do with that? My fervent hope is that you will do something which is indeed useful to mankind, something that will make the world better. Or, as the poet Mary Oliver has written, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” The good news is that you can do anything: there are an infinite number of ways to do good in this world. I won’t even start into a list of “good” professions, or ways to use your education. But trust me, you can find a way. The additional good news is that you can study anything you want, at R.L. or at college or beyond, and turn that into good. At a time when the pressure on you boys, certainly in college and even possibly here, is to become more narrowly pre-vocational—the economics course that leads you to the world of finance, the STEAM courses that propel you toward engineering—you do not have to get sucked into those pathways. In that spirit, I have a story that I hope will be informative for you. I recently heard from a Belmont Hill alumnus who is a senior at Stanford. Alex is a really bright guy, and we had a cohort of boys in his class which was exceptional. He has stayed close with another alum who is also a senior at Stanford, as well as one who is a senior at Harvard. All three are majoring in computer science and are riding that remarkable wave. Yet none of the three had ever taken a course in computer science before they went to college. Even more

important, as Alex wrote to me last fall, I think that Belmont Hill [and here I think you can safely read Roxbury Latin] left me better prepared for the academic rigors of college [because it] taught me how to work incredibly hard for prolonged periods of time, how to multitask and process challenging courses + several extracurriculars + a sport, and how to fail. My failures…were on the athletic field more than in the classroom (being cut from third hockey, struggles with third football, etc.), but I felt when I

Dr. Richard Melvoin grew up in Chicago. He holds degrees from Harvard College and the University of Michigan, where he earned his doctorate in history. His teaching career took him to Deerfield Academy, Harvard/Radcliffe Colleges, Mt. Holyoke College, and the University of Michigan. Prior to his Belmont Hill tenure, he returned to Harvard as Assistant Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, and Lecturer in History and Literature. He served as board president of the International Boys’ Schools Coalition from 2003 to 2006, and he recently served as president of The Headmasters Association. Rick’s wife, Bunny, was a beloved member of the faculty here at Roxbury Latin for 12 years, where she taught English and served as Director of College Counseling.

was there that every single boy failed in some way…and then learned how to recover from it, which I think was incredibly valuable. I also think that…my humanities classes helped me learn how to think critically about a variety of problems…and gave me the confidence to tackle new ones…where most people would struggle with imposter syndrome.

So, principle number one: there are plenty of paths toward usefulness to mankind. But back to Phillips’ warning: “Knowledge without goodness is dangerous.” What do we do with that? Last week Mr. Brennan and I attended a conference down in Washington of heads of boys’ schools from around the country. We heard the head of one school talk about the difficulty that he has had in acknowledging that Richard Spencer, the infamous leader of the “alt-right” movement in this country right now, is a graduate of his boys’ school. I know it is not my job to politicize this talk on this day, but I think all of us share enough belief in the dignity of all human beings to decry the racist and nativist venom that has come from Spencer and his cronies. We can and should at our schools ensure open and civil exchange of ideas; we need to make sure all views can be heard, even as we need to find ways to disagree. Indeed, many of us worry that the people in our society are taking in views only from those with whom they already agree. So, part of the challenge for you gentlemen is not only to note the danger of knowledge without goodness but also to ensure that a full range of points of knowledge, and a full spectrum of ideas, can be heard. As long as we are on that subject, let’s also think about what knowledge means in the world of “fake news.” Actually, there is no “fake news.” News is news, facts are facts, truth is truth. Maybe there is news that people don’t want to hear, maybe there is truth that they don’t want to acknowledge. And there is certainly plenty of room

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for interpretation of events. But if you students are going to live in and lead a world by being “useful to mankind,” you and we all need to identify pollution of language when it comes, call lies what they are, and stop allowing this devolution of the integrity of what news and facts need to be. Back to Phillips. “Goodness without knowledge is weak and feeble”? Fair enough. Put differently, we need to do more than wring our hands when thinking about what is good; we need to do this more than from an ivory tower. So how do we combine knowledge and action, knowledge and activism that leads to good? The most important teacher I had in my very good public high school outside Chicago was no academic. Duke Edwards was my track coach, and over three seasons—cross country, indoor track and outdoor track—and four years he had an outsized influence on my life. Coach Edwards taught me a great many things about rules and expectations, about hard work, about team and individual, and he was a real expert in his sport. Yet the most important, or at least the most enduring, lesson that he taught emerged when he discussed his goals for each of us on the team. He said—and I still remember it well—that his goal for each of us was to become a good citizen. I did not know what that meant at the time; I thought it a curious concept for a sports team. But maybe now, after times or distances or individual meet performances are long forgotten, the goal of being a good citizen endures. To put this a different way, what good might each of us do with our knowledge? What good might you do with your knowledge? How can you use that knowledge to be useful to mankind? I hope you have heard that message this morning. Yet my final thought for you today is to use your knowledge also to enjoy a fulfilling life. What will it mean for you to have a life that is fulfilling? Each of us has to answer that for him or herself. As I am closer to the end of my career than the beginning, for me that fulfilling life gets defined by priorities, and those priorities are far more 16

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How do we want to be remembered? For the things we did, or for who we are? about family and friends than they are about fame and fortune. The fact is that anybody can make money. It is not all that hard, and it does not really depend on how smart you are or how good you are. Is it nice to be financially secure? Of course it is. I grew up with the reminder from Tevye, the main character in the musical Fiddler on the Roof. In the song “If I Were a Rich Man,” Tevye begins by speaking to God, as was his wont, saying, “God I know it’s no shame to be poor, but it’s no great honor, either.” I get that. But I also hold fast to the words of David Brooks, columnist for The New York Times, who published in 2015 a book called The Road to Character. Brooks argues, as reviewer Richard Reeves has noted, that American society “needs a wholesale shift of mindset, away from individualistic, meritocratic materialism towards a quieter, smaller, less selfish way of life.” Put in simpler terms, Brooks urges us to think less about what our life looks like as words on a resume and more what words about us would look like as a eulogy. In other words, how do we want to be remembered: for the things we did or for who we are? Perhaps

it’s not as binary as Brooks has posed it, but I think you get the idea. Knowledge is not opposed to goodness, but how each of us finds that balance is at the heart of what each of us may ask as we consider what will be a life well lived. I close with an appropriate tie back to R.L. My wise and thoughtful counselor, your former faculty member and my life partner Mrs. Melvoin, once shared with me an idea to which I have held fast. As a valedictory, I offer these words from the American writer Marianne Williamson. She wrote, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.” Congratulations to all of you, those in Cum Laude and those who are not, as we all find ways to combine knowledge and goodness. Don’t play small, and may you find your own right way to serve the world and make it better.

Fa cul t y Spo tl i ght Pe te r H yd e , B iolog y

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sk Roxbury Latin students what “science” at school means to them, and some may mention the sludge lab from Class V IPS, others Mr. Pojman’s chemistry antics or Mrs. Carroll’s environmental expeditions, but many will come around to Dr. Hyde. Indeed, science at R.L. is synonymous with Peter Hyde, who will begin his eighteenth year this fall. From the sixies’ first forays into Natural Design to the seniors’ final research projects in Honors Biology, Dr. Hyde is there to guide scientific exploration. It was his own high school science teacher who inspired Dr. Hyde’s love of biology. After a stint of neuroscience research as an undergraduate at Yale, Dr. Hyde headed west for a PhD at Stanford, where he studied how barn owls learn to locate sound in order to understand how learning occurs in our own brains, at the cellular level. Near the end of his program, Dr. Hyde found himself gravitating less toward research and more toward teaching

Peter Hyde teaches Natural Design, Chemistry, and Honors Biology and coaches JV Tennis and Fourth Soccer.

neuroanatomy classes to medical students. Reflecting back, he notes, “I recognized that I was more interested teaching and communicating to students the power of science and how it works.” After cutting his teeth teaching 150-student neuroanatomy classes, Dr. Hyde sought out the small class sizes of Roxbury Latin. From his first day on campus, Dr. Hyde has enjoyed freedom in the subjects he teaches. Without AP curricula restricting him to mile-wide, inch-deep coursework, he can explore such topics as evolution, neurobiology, and cellular biology with his students. Dr. Hyde develops his courses in a way that focuses students on the power of observation and the scientific process, not necessarily the knowledge itself. He pushes his students, sixies to seniors, to understand how collecting data and interpreting data, not just knowing a lot, is a scientist’s most valuable skill—and also the fun and collaborative part of the

enterprise. As a result of this approach, he hopes his students leave his classes as more knowledgeable consumers of science. At a time when science itself has become increasingly embattled and truth ever elusive, R.L. students need to make informed decisions and be able to spot spurious scientific claims about climate change, vaccines, and genetically modified crops. Outside his lab classroom, Dr. Hyde savors his time spent coaching boys on the soccer pitch and tennis court and enjoys the “opportunity to be with kids in another context, especially one in which they can shine if they don’t think they do in the bio lab.” Beyond R.L., Dr. Hyde can be found tooting his own horn, literally, as a trumpeter in the Wellesley Symphony or hiking around New England, often with fellow faculty colleagues. Much like his students and players, Dr. Hyde makes the most of his many talents—a clear embodiment of R.L.’s generalist spirit.

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in and out of the classroom A Crash Course in Civic Engagement for Class V

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or four concentrated weeks each spring, Class V students convene every C Block for a rich lesson in what it means to be a responsible, engaged, informed citizen of the United States. This mini-course in Civics, conceived of by Headmaster Kerry Brennan, has been a hallmark of the Class V program since 2011. Through it, students learn early in their R.L. tenure how their government works, what their civil rights and responsibilities are, and what service to country and commonwealth can look like. History Department Chair Stewart Thomsen kicks off the course with an Introduction to Civics—what the term means, and what the boys can expect in the coming weeks. On day two, Mr. Brennan walks the boys through the American election process, digging deeply into the federal branches of government and how the individuals in those seats come to arrive there. He offers the history and current state of the electoral college; the difference between primaries and caucuses; the steps toward running for our nation’s highest office; and the voter turnout percentages during recent presidential elections. During the perennial favorite “May Madness” competition, the boys face a test of knowledge connected with the naturalization process for U.S. citizenship. This test segues into an introduction to immigration, offered by Mr. Thomsen and History faculty 18

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member Chris Heaton, who plays a key role in organizing the course. A major highlight of the immigration unit is when members of the Roxbury Latin community share their personal immigration stories and their various paths to citizenship. This year, French master Ousmane Diop, Eli Roumally of R.L.’s Buildings and Grounds team, and Elias Simeonov of Class II generously told the boys their personal tales of how they arrived in the United States and what made them stay.

Dr. William Sparks

A keystone of the Civics course is a series of guest speakers who represent different avenues of public service. This spring, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gareth Cook (father of Aidan Cook, Class III) walked the boys through exercises designed to help them identify “fake

Mark Ciommo

news”; former R.L. parent (Mike ’09 and Matthew ’10) and Boston City Councilor Mark Ciommo, with his associate Daniel Polanco, spoke with boys about their different roles and paths to serving with the City Council; and finally Dr. William Sparks (father of Andrew Sparks, Class V) discussed the critical role of the military staff corps—the lawyers, engineers, supply specialists, nurses, doctors—who ensure that other active duty service members and their families have the resources they need to do their jobs. Dr. Sparks served as a pediatric anesthesiologist for the Naval Medical Corps. While boys enter the month-long course with various levels of interest and awareness about these topics, they all enhance their knowledge and walk away with an appreciation for their responsibilities as citizens.

Students Lead Forum on Gun Violence

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n 17 April, seniors in Erin Dromgoole’s Current Events class led students from Classes VI through I, along with members of the faculty and staff, through an informed and thoughtful discussion on issues of gun violence and gun control in the United States. In the aftermath of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, information on gun violence (particularly related to schools) flooded the news. Yet even major and reputable media outlets, at times, got their facts wrong. The goal of the student-led forum was to share both facts and informed opinions, in order to generate a productive discussion on a timely topic. Seniors Quinn Ebben and Ben Bryant launched the forum, assigned to present two opposing sides of an argument on

gun law reform. Quinn cited statistics highlighting the disproportionate number of mass shootings—school shootings, in particular—that take place in the United States, pointing to a distinctive “gun culture” that sets the U.S. apart from other developed nations. “Although we make up 5 percent of the world’s population, 31 percent of mass shooters worldwide are American,” said Quinn. “Per million people, the U.S. leads advanced countries with 29.7 gun murders; the next highest highest rate of gun murders occurs in Switzerland, with 7.7 per million people.” Ben affirmed that “mass shootings of any kind are a problem for which our government must find a solution.” He maintained that the Second Amendment is a key tenet of the Constitution, and he acknowledged the many challenges associated with an

May Madness A perennial favorite of Class V boys in Civics, the May Madness competition is a test of knowledge connected with the naturalization process for U.S. citizenship. This year’s champs: Teddy Glaeser and David Sullivan (left); Colin Herbert and Liam Finn, Runners Up (right).

outright ban of guns in the U.S. Ben noted that today there are 300 million guns in circulation in the United States. “That’s approximately a gun for every man, woman, and child in the country,” he calculated. “Even if legislation is passed with the sole focus on banning assault rifles, there are up to 15 million of them in circulation. Plenty of owners would be unwilling to sell back their weapons to the government, making it essentially impossible to eradicate the public supply of assault rifles. Additionally, assault rifles have an average price of $1,000, so even if a buy-back program were successfully instituted, it would cost the government about $15 billion.” Seniors Chris Knight and Austin O’Brien summarized the details of two different school shootings—one being the recent one in Florida, carried out with a legally obtained AR-15 rifle, and the second being one in Maryland, in which the shooter used a handgun. With these points in mind, the audience continued the discussion in small groups, led by students in the Current Events class. In preparing for the forum, Mrs. Dromgoole had her students research the Second Amendment of the Constitution; gun laws at the federal and state level; the differences between certain types of guns—automatic versus semiautomatic; and school shootings in the U.S. and abroad. The forum was the third event of this format during the 2017-2018 school year. Headmaster Kerry Brennan has encouraged these types of formalized discussions as a way to extend the classroom and broach important topics relevant in the world today. In September, in the wake of the Charlottesville protests, Mr. Brennan and a panel of seniors led a forum on the removal of historically significant and controversial statues and monuments; in November, R.L. seniors partnered with their counterparts at The Winsor School for a joint forum on immigration and DACA, at which the keynote speaker was immigration law attorney Rachel Casseus, Winsor Class of 2002.

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David Leach ’09

Music of the American Civil Rights Movement

Class V spent a spring day at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), a culmination of their final unit in the Introduction to Physical Science course, which focuses on water quality. Two alumni were instrumental in making this trip especially rewarding. Thanks to a connection facilitated by Mike Earley ’87, the boys investigated underwater ecosystems aboard a vessel equipt with a camera that films the bottom of the ocean in real time. Sampling nets collect organisms from the sandy ocean bottom for the students to handle and examine up close. Then, with the help of Jim Flynn ’75 (who is himself a member of the Woods Hole development team), students were invited aboard the U.S. Navy’s state-of-the-art research vessel, the Neil Armstrong, which is operated by WHOI.

Class V team ranks in top ten for funds raised in Walk for Hunger The Fifth Class represented the school in this year’s Walk for Hunger on 6 May, joining some 10,000 fellow fund-raisers in support of Greater Boston food assistance programs. The fifthies surpassed their own goal of $4,500 with a final tally of $13,328, placing them sixth among the top ten teams for funds raised.

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Who can argue against the power of music? In the Civil Rights Movement, singing was a unifying force that energized marchers and sustained them through brutal police encounters. In jail, singing was a way to release tension. The final unit of the Class IV Western Civilization course concentrates on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. In May, students were the beneficiaries of an introduction to the music of the Movement, delivered by alumnus David Leach ’09. Mr. Leach named key influences like The Freedom Singers and professional musicians like Mahalia Jackson, whose tradition-based freedom songs and spirituals served as code for freedom from oppression just as they had for the enslaved African Americans a century earlier. When the History Department added topics in music to the course a few years ago, the inclusion of civil rights song lyrics in the materials led to the decision to make the Movement’s music a point of focus for one of the lectures. “This is David’s third year with us, and it just keeps getting better and better,” says department chair Stewart Thomsen. “He is passionate about this subject and does a marvelous job for us.” David holds a dual degree (BA & BM) from Oberlin College and Conservatory. David teaches piano privately and has been directing the Select Jazz Combo and assisting Rob Opdycke and Ken Hiatt with the Jazz Band for the last several years. He recently finished an MFA in poetry from B.U. and traveled to Nepal and Japan on a Robert Pinsky Global fellowship.

faculty kudos Highflyers in the Crossword Underground Math Department chair John Lieb and English faculty member Andrew Kingsley ’12, both skilled crossword creators, have each had many puzzles published in The New York Times. Most recently, Mssrs. Lieb and Kingsley collaborated on the puzzle that appeared on 28 April. Mssrs. Lieb and Kingsley enjoy their shared interest. “As a duo, we find we work nicely together,” says Mr. Kingsley, “especially since we can pop into each other’s office dur-

ing free periods and talk shop.” Last summer, t h e y t e am e d up to create a crossword tournament—Boswords—at Roxbury Latin. The first-of-its-kind event attracted 149 competitors from all over New England. Thanks to its great success, Boswords 2018 is scheduled for Sunday, 29 July, at Roxbury Latin (register at www. boswords.org). See page 55 to read about another R.L. puzzler, Sam Trabucco ’11.

A Joint Reading from R.L.’s Own Mother-and-Son Poets A pair of mother-and-son poets, reading from their newly published—and even newer, unpublished—works is, perhaps, a unique event even if you don’t count their shared association with Roxbury Latin. On 2 April, Dr. Kate Stearns, R.L.’s writer in residence and member of the English faculty, and her son, Nate Klug ’04, read aloud to an overflowing crowd at Newtonville Books, an independent bookstore in Newton. Introducing one another, Ms. Stearns and Mr. Klug contextualized and read poems calling up images of home and highway, farm and passenger train, grandparents and babies in-the-womb, headless chickens and “Pokemon Go people,” and, ultimately, love—both just-budding and time-tested. Ms. Stearn’s newly published book of poetry, Then & Again, was the winning manuscript in the Slate Roof Press chapbook contest. Her previous book, The Transparency of Skin (New Rivers Press), was a Minnesota Voices Project Winner. Her new poems have been fea-

tured in Poetry Daily, Salamander, New Ohio Review, North American Review, and Yale Review. Her work has been anthologized in The House on Via Gambito: A Collection of Writing by American Women Abroad (New Rivers Press), and she has been a recipient of a Dana Award and a Loft-McKnight Award in Poetry. At R.L., she teaches senior English and manages the school’s visiting writers program. Mr. Klug earned his BA in English at the University of Chicago and his MDiv from Yale Divinity School. He is the author of Rude Woods (The Song Cave, 2013), a book-length adaptation of Virgil’s Eclogues, and Anyone (University of Chicago, 2015), and in 2010 he was awarded a Ruth Lilly Fellowship by the Poetry Foundation. A UCCCongregationalist minister, he has served churches in Connecticut, Iowa, and now California, where he lives in Berkeley with his wife, Kit Novotny, and their daughter. Slate Roof Press publishes limited edition, art-quality chapbooks, designed by the poets and printed by master printer Ed Rayher.

Rob Opdycke’s Similar Jones invited to Boston Sings 2018

R.L. Director of Music Rob Opdycke was honored with an invitation for his group, Similar Jones, to be part of Boston Sings 2018 Pro Showcase, an a cappella festival of concerts, classes, and workshops, at the Somerville Theater this spring. Mr. Opdycke’s seven-member, high-energy vocal band, which includes R.L.’s Nate Piper, opened for the Saturday night show on 7 April, and shared its secrets to group longevity in one of the festival’s workshops. Formed in 1997, Similar Jones performs innovative arrangements of rock and blues, both covers and original tunes.

A Web of Poetry and Place

The March issue of Irish America magazine features an article written by English Department chair Phil Kokotailo, “From Padua to Kiltartan: The Irish Airman’s Grave, Yeats’s Tower, and Lady Gregory’s Autograph Tree.” The article includes photos taken by Dr. Kokotailo during his travels in Europe last summer with the support of an R.L. professional development grant—a trip he designed to research this subject. Italy, Ireland, a lady, an airman, and a poet may comprise a disjointed collection to the uninitiated, but Dr. Kokotailo reveals—through the telling of stories within stories—the ligaments that bound them together. In his article, the lines of Yeats’s poems memorializing Major Robert Gregory, aviator and son of Lady Gregory (herself a great friend of and literary collaborator with Yeats), form the warp of the tapestry created by the confluence of these complex characters and haunting places, from Padua’s elaborate Cimitero Maggiore to Thoor Ballylee Castle in County Galway. As a result of the article’s publication, Dr. Kokotailo was invited to speak at a conference of the W. B. Yeats Society of New York in May.

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the arts

Oliver! 22

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Photos by Mike Pojman

Roxbury Latin and Winsor students stage “Oliver!” Over the first weekend in May, the combined efforts of Roxbury Latin and female students from other schools presented the musical Oliver! in the Smith Theater. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens in which Oliver, a nine-year-old orphan, escapes from the workhouse and makes his way to London, where the Artful Dodger hooks him for Fagin’s gang of pickpockets. Directed by Marge Dunn, the cast of fifteen characters included Jamie Drachman VI as Oliver, Eli Bailit V as the Artful Dodger, and Andrew White I as Fagin. Fifteen R.L. boys

and Winsor girls made up the ensemble, and eleven R.L. instrumentalists made up the orchestra under the direction of Rob Opdycke. With music and lyrics by Lionel Bart, Oliver! premiered in the West End in 1960, earning Bart the Tony Award for Best Original Score in 1963. The show enjoyed long runs in London and on Broadway (after being brought to the United States by producer David Merrick in 1963) along with tours and revivals. Little known fact: Davy Jones (later a founding member of the Monkees) played the Artful Dodger in the Broadway production.

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CURCULIO Latin Play

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he boys in Honors Latin 3 staged an abridged version of Curculio in the Smith Theater on the evening of 15 May. Also known as The Weevil, Curculio is the work of Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 254-184 B.C.), one of Rome’s most popular writers of comedy. Plautus drew from Greek New Comedy for many of his plots, which he adapted to the Roman stage. New Comedy was characterized by stock characters and focused on personal or familial problems, as opposed to the political satire of Old Comedy or the philosophical questions of Middle Comedy. Typical plot devices were confusion of identity, the discovery of long-lost relatives, the shrewish wife, the parasite who takes advantage of every possible situation, and the clever slave who brings order to the chaos at the end. Plautus spares us none of these in Curculio. Very little is known of Plautus. He supposedly emigrated to Rome to start a shipping business and write plays on the side to earn extra income, but the business failed and his plays made him famous— and were influential well beyond his lifetime. Shakespeare’s comedies borrow the theme, pacing, and even plots of many of Plautus’s plays; Broadway’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a combination of Plautus’s Pseudolus, Miles Gloriosus, and Mostellaria. 24

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Senior Concert On Friday evening, 20 April, R.L.’s singing groups celebrated the graduating class in the annual Senior Concert. Opening with “Brothers, Sing On!,” the Glee Club offered an eclectic selection of favorites—several with accompaniment by student instrumentalists on violin, bass, trumpet, piano, and organ. The Junior Chorus presented two pop songs by the Turtles and Billy Joel, and the Latonics’ lineup included a composition by sophomore Jonathan Weiss, “Agnus Dei.” Class I chose the traditional Irish song, “The Parting Glass” as their Senior Song (pictured at right). Ben Lawlor sang the solo for “Lift Every Voice,” and John Philippides, Reis White, and Andrew White joined him for the Senior Quartet.

A Cappella Fest 2018. Roxbury Latin hosted its annual A Cappella Fest on Friday evening, 6 April, in the Smith Theater. The biggest show of the year for the Latonics, A Cappella Fest 2018 included guest performances by the Yale SOBs (with Ben Kieff ’16, pictured bottom), Wellesley High School’s Inchordination, and Dover-Sherborn’s DS Al Coda. Rob Opdycke’s group, Similar Jones, made an appearance—as it has annually since its establishment 19 years ago—with Rob’s faculty colleague, Nate Piper.

The Latonics at A Cappella Fest

Evan Lim I, warming up the audience.

Ben Kieff ’16 with the Yale SOBs.

Spring Recital Hall. Collaboration and originality characterized the performances of eleven student musicians in Hall on 10 April: a cello ensemble—Eric Zaks II, Raphael Deykin II, Justin Shaw VI, Cameron Estrada III; two piano solos (Chris Zhu III, Beethoven, and Milan Rosen II, Debussy); a string duo (Alex Yin V, violin; Eric Zaks II, cello); an original piano composition for four hands (composed by Jonathan Weiss III, performed by Jonathan and Dylan Zhou I). Ben Lawlor I sang his own original composition while accompanying himself on the piano, and senior Marc deFontnouvelle wrapped up the recital with a bluegrass song and some masterful mandolin playing.

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2018 Spring Team Records Baseball Varsity....................... 11-6-0 Junior Varsity................ 5-6-0 Third............................ 3-7-0 Fourth.......................... 8-3-0 Fifth........................... 12-0-0 Lacrosse Varsity....................... 5-11-0 Junior Varsity................ 2-8-0 Fourth.......................... 7-5-0 Tennis Varsity....................... 17-2-0 Junior Varsity.............. 12-0-1 Junior.......................... 6-4-1 26

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Track & Field.................... 17-2-0

athletics Effort, Execution, and Buy-In One Senior’s Experience of Athletic Success

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photo by Mike Pojman

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his year, I had the honor of co-captaining two varsity sports: cross country (which, admittedly, I chose simply to fill a requirement) and baseball—my lifelong passion. The sports require different ingredients for success. Cross country, for instance, is grueling. Preparation and effort leading up to a race directly affect your performance. And every runner knows that training means nothing if you don’t push yourself on race day. Beyond that, cross country outcomes are somewhat predictable: the faster, more prepared runner almost always wins. Baseball is another game entirely. It’s not a physically exhausting sport, and while preparation is important, a game can go any team’s way based on a silly bounce or a bad call. While cross country is a sport of sheer effort, baseball is about execution. My experience of these two R.L. teams was similar in one way, however, beginning my junior year, when both programs had new head coaches. I learned quickly that in the season following a coaching change, the athletes’ buy-in becomes a critical component in a team’s success. When a team is unsure about trusting the new adult in charge, student leaders—captains and other team veterans—become paramount to this buy-in. “Do The Little Things” In my junior year cross country season, this buy-in happened fast, even with all the changes implemented by our new coach, Mr. Nick Poles ’09. In the first week, he introduced a routine of having all the runners in the program—varsity to middle school—warm up together; the addition 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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Photo by John Werner

six regular season losses. (In cross country, only the championship meets determine the final league standings.)

of core and hip exercises before every practice; and a more organized, strategic workout schedule. With these differences came a larger culture change, something that can be tougher to adapt to than a few extra intervals or a new daily push-up routine. This shift began when, in a session led by the captains, no coaches present, the team named our goals for the season. On a whiteboard, we chronicled our brainstorm with ideas ranging from vague (“Have a successful season”) to specific (“Collect at least ten dual-meet wins”). In the end, we settled on five or six goals. Two were concrete: “Place top-five at the ISL Championships” and “Place top-three at the New England Championships.” The other few were less tangible: “Work hard every day,” “Be prepared.” After 20 minutes, Coach Poles returned to the room and read what we had come up with. He seemed satisfied, until he picked up a marker and started circling the less concrete items. “These goals right here,” he said, “can be summed up in one goal: ‘Do the little things.’” From that point on, our team lived by those four words. If someone was late for practice? “Hey, man, do the little things. Be on time.” Night before a big race? 28

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“Hydrate tonight. Do the little things.” One guy dragging on the core workout? “Pick it up…” and so forth. We sometimes mocked the mantra—especially when Mr.

“I think we can win it.” The transition to The Poles Era seemed all but complete. However, coming into my senior year as captain, I knew we had unfinished business after losing six times the previous season and falling to Belmont Hill in the ISL Championships. It started with me: I knew I could be a better runner, and that I needed to lead by example with my training. I logged more than 400 miles last summer in preparation. Many other runners put in impressive off-season work, as well. However, we were a young team, having graduated some of our top runners. We began the season with our goalsetting session. This time, as co-captain, I was leading it. “Do the little things” immediately went onto the board. With that covered we debated our concrete goals. We

We had nearly settled on a goal of “Top-three at the ISL and New England Championships” until someone spoke up. It was George Madison, an eighth grader running with varsity and a man of few words. “I think we can win it.” Poles said it as we pushed through the last leg of a brutal hill workout. But in the end we embodied the phrase. We did the little things. To start the season, we dropped four of our first six dual meets. However, as time went on, we got better. When the ISL Championships rolled around, we knew we had a chance to put it all together. We showed up at Groton for the ISL Championships seeded 5th, right in line with our preseason goal. We ran well, everyone picking off his man and a couple more. We surprised everyone but ourselves, placing second and avenging five of

had nearly settled on “Top-three at the ISL and New England Championships” until someone spoke up. It was George Madison, an eighth grader running with varsity and a man of few words. “I think we can win it.” Silence. I laughed to ease the tension, and our goals remained unchanged. In the second meet of the season we faced Tabor, one of our toughest foes, to whom a close loss would not be shameful. The day before the race, Mr. Poles gave us our assignments. “We have to get five in front of their third.” And we did, winning the race by a mere three points. As the

Roxbury Latin cross country team had ever been able to say about itself. “You were right,” I said to George. Spring on Chauncey Diamond ith that cross country season under my belt, I had learned the importance of buy-in, goals, and, of course, “doing the little things.” Going into the baseball season, I looked forward to applying those lessons to a team that was looking to build on a strong previous year. My junior season, Coach Cataruzolo’s first with the baseball team, we started 1-5 in league play—an extremely disappointing way to begin a season for a team full of high expectations and top-to-bottom talent. After our fifth loss, the captains held a players-only meeting to figure out why we hadn’t found our stride. It was true that things were different with a new coach. He ran a tight ship, and some players hadn’t yet adjusted. After that meeting, though, buy-in increased. The team rattled off some big wins, including a four-run, 7th-inning comeback versus Governor’s and an 8-1 win over Brooks on Family Day. We went

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on to win our last four games, all against good teams, salvaging an 8-7 league record. All season, Coach Cat had been trying to get the best out of us. Eventually, he did. Unfortunately, it took half of the season to get there. Coming into my senior season as a captain, I had one goal for us: be our best

Varsity Baseball. Sitting: W. Connaughton, C. Straub, C. Knight, R. Crawford (captain), B. Rounds (captain), J. Duffy, J. Nero, R. Balakrishna. Standing: Coach Dave Cataruzolo, T. Smith, T. RaoShah, J. Frates, S. Russell, W. Greer, J. Ryan, E. Kee, J. Luca, Coach Sean Spellman.

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Photo by Adam Richins

season went on, we stayed prepared and focused, and, most importantly, we kept having fun. We used our home-course advantage to knock off an undefeated Belmont Hill team and went into the final meet of the season with a record of 13-0. St. Mark’s, our opponent, was also undefeated. Confidence was high on both sides. Again, we rose to the challenge and downed St. Mark’s on their home course with a convincing 10-point win. All that was left was the ISL Championships. Seeded first, we were no longer underdogs. Seed, however—as we learned last year—is never a sure thing. On race day, it was cold and rainy, and the course was a hilly, slippery mess. But in those 18 minutes we overcame the weather and every team in the ISL, en route to Roxbury Latin’s first Independent School League cross-country title ever. In the post-race commotion, runners from other teams frantically searched for jackets, some crying from exhaustion, the cold, or disappointment. I found my teammates, and not one was cold, sad, or disappointed. We were champions, something no other

Photo by Adam Ritchins

from day one. Though we had lost seven key seniors, there were not many new faces, and buy-in was high right away. An unspoken thought made its way around the locker room: “This is a damn good team.” No one wanted to let another season go by without reaching our full potential. We were collectively unfazed by our 0-2 opening in league play, and I personally thought we had a good chance at a tenwin season for R.L. baseball for the first time in many years. Then, we got hot. We won 10 of our next 11 games, including a narrow victory over defending champion St. Sebastian’s (their only loss this season). At the peak of our hot streak, with team morale high, we played Lawrence Academy on Family Day. We were back in title consideration, but there was little room for error. We got down early to Lawrence, but no one was worried—a true sign of a good ball club. We battled back to tie, and in the 6th inning—the game still tied—a questionable balk call put Lawrence back up by a run. Going into the bottom of the 7th, with a flame-throwing closer on the mound for Lawrence, Coach Cat brought us all in. “Think about taking a strike. We need baserunners.” With orders made clear, junior Ethan Kee led off. The count ran to two balls, no strikes. Everyone in our dugout was praying for ball three when Ethan swung, hitting a ground ball between shortstop and third. Base hit. We had switched the lineup so 30

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our normal leadoff hitter, senior Jimmy Duffy, was hitting third and was up next. “Dude, why am I third now?” he had asked me earlier. I had shrugged. Nevertheless, Duffy climbed into the batter’s box and looked to Coach Cat for the sign. Bunt. The pitch came in high, and Jimmy missed the bunt. Ethan, expecting the ball to be dribbling down the first baseline, was caught too far off of first. The catcher threw behind him, and he took off for second, making it by a step. Coach then gave Jimmy the bunt sign again. Called strike. No balls, two strikes. After a foul tip on a blazing fastball, the pitcher came set and dealt a hanging curveball over the heart of the plate. Jimmy rounded the bases as the ball cleared the left field fence. Our dugout erupted in a state of shock, joy, and excitement. Ball game. The Lawrence players walked off the field, heads down, as we hopped and hollered, awaiting the man of the hour at home plate. Our ninth win in

ten games had come in the unlikeliest of ways: a two-run, walkoff homerun. It was like something you see on SportsCenter as a kid and think, Just once, I want to be part of a moment like that. That day we all were, and to do it with that group of guys made it all the more special. We finished the season 10-5 in the league, one of the best marks in recent R.L. history. As I look back on the two teams I had the honor to help lead, the first word that comes to mind is “pride.” Sure, there is pride in a good race or game. A successful season is an obvious reason to be proud. More than anything, though, I am proud that I was a part of starting something special for two varsity teams. I am proud to say the Roxbury Latin cross country and baseball programs have had a successful run lately. And the true credit for that goes not to me, my fellow seniors, or my teammates, but to Coach Poles and Coach Cataruzolo. I can’t wait to see what they and their teams accomplish next year.

Josh Wildes Named Prep School Coach of the Year Head wrestling coach Josh Wildes was named 2018 Prep School Coach of the Year by the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. He was honored as part of the annual Mass Mayhem awards—“The Massachusetts Braggin’ Rights Classic”—on Sunday, 8 April. Leading R.L.’s varsity team to a 19-2 season record and a second place finish in the Graves-Kelsey League Championship, Coach Wildes has earned well-deserved accolades and the respect of his wrestlers. Above, Coach Wildes is surrounded by (l-r) Ben Morris II, Evan Lim I, Ayinde Best I, Makoto Kobayashi II, Brendan Gibbons II, Liam Rimas II.

Varsity Track and Field: New England Champions. Sitting: E. Umunna, E. Tarazona, B. Brasher, S. Morris-Kliment, Q. Donovan, T. Gaziano, D. Berk, E. Chang, E. Auguste. Kneeling: Coach Chris Heaton, T. Gustafsson, B. Gibbons, G. Rosenthal, E. Zou, T. Sullivan, R. Sheth, E. Egodogbare, A. Massenat, R. Corless, D. Gillis, J. Cloherty, N. Ukoha, I. Balaguera, L. O’Connor, P. Levangie. Standing: Coach Arturo Solís, L. Rimas, Coach Erin Dromgoole, A. Bowen, M. Rosen, N. Lopes, E. Lim, J. Philippides, B. Lawlor, A. White, A. Best (captain), P. Kuechler (captain), A. Steinberg, D. Ma, B. LaFond, C. Dowd, A. Berk, J. Morris, D. Meneses Ontiveros, C. Miller, Coach Jamie Morris-Kliment, Coach Bruce Lynch, Coach Nick Poles. Missing: A. Fuqua, R. JohansonGordet (statistician), D. McElroy, M. Rincon, J. Wexelblatt (statistician).

Varsity Tennis: New England Runners-Up. G. Grajeda (manager), D. Zhou, A. Rabkin, B. Chang-Holt, W. Oberg, H. Foulkes (captain), B. Jimenez (captain), JJ DeMarco, A. Zhang, J. Barrett, J. Fazli, R. White (manager), Coach Ousmane Diop.

Varsity Lacrosse. Kneeling: S. Ginsberg, D. Cuzzi, M. Uek, M. Sheehan, Z. Milton, A. O’Brien (captain), C. Englert (captain), Z. Keough (captain), J. Sporn, C. Bergstrom. Standing: B. O’Grady, W. Specht, P. Frates, J. Werner, J. Sheer, D. Varney (captain), K. Swan, D. Murphy, K. Demore, C. Croce, J. Rose, C. Keough, J. Roberts, B. Anderson, L. Donovan, B. Keough, Coach Tim Kelly. Missing: Coach Tyler Moore, Coach Richard Cooke.

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Sean Spellman ’08 Named Head Basketball Coach This winter, Sean Spellman ’08 will take over as R.L.’s head basketball coach for Tony Teixeira ’93, who has led the basketball program for 15 years. Sean—who played on the varsity team for four years under Coach Teixeira and captained his senior year—has been the varsity assistant coach for three years. “Coaching at R.L. is a special opportunity because of the connection I have with the school and my belief in the culture,” says Sean. “The school really enlists athletics as another avenue of learning, and most boys embody R.L.’s generalist philosophy. In doing so, they embrace the concept that sport is a microcosm for life, and that on-court teaching moments can have impact far beyond the court.”

Congratulations to Undefeated Lower Teams

W. Hoyt R.L. 1896

M. Rosen II

S. Golden ’14

Milan Rosen II sets school record in pole vault as R.L. snags New England Championship

JV Tennis: Undefeated. AJ Gutierrez, B. Zhou, T. Oberg, V. Emani, R. Dhaliwal, J. Ryan, M. Hutter, B. Karlen, F. Gutierrez, Coach Peter Hyde. Missing: C. Landry.

Fifth Baseball: Undefeated. Front row: E. Uluer, W. Matthews, H. Lonergan, J. Fallon, T. Duarte, J. Shaw. Back row: Coach Andy Chappell, D. George, H. Brennan, M. Hoover, P. Schultz, J. Reen, W. Grossman, Coach Stewart Thomsen.

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For the second year in a row, R.L. Track and Field took the coveted New England Championship title—this year by a margin of 13 points, over Hyde School. And for the second year in a row, R.L. pole vaulters finished in first, second, and third place, with Milan Rosen II, Evan Lim I, and Alvin Massenat II sweeping the medals. Milan broke his own school record (which he had set at 12’ 9” just a few days before at the ISLs) clearing 13’3”, securing his fourth straight ISL and New England title. (Milan emerged as a double New England champion, also winning the 300 hurdles.) The previous school record in the pole vault was set in 2014 by Stephen Golden ’14 at 12’ 6”, besting William Welles Hoyt (R.L. 1894) who held the record (11’) for more than a century. Hoyt went on to become the Olympic champion in 1896. Younger athletes figured significantly in the successful season and in the Championship meet: Ejiro Egodogbare III took the silver medal in shot put; Reid Corless III scored in three events; and Quinn Donovan IV and Daniel Gillis III scored in the distance events. The team will graduate 11 seniors—six of whom have been members of the team for four years. With a record of 17-2 on the season, Coach Erin Dromgoole credits the team’s senior leadership with setting the example of strong work ethic, stellar sportsmanship, and deep care for one another.

The Many (Straight, Winding, Interrupted, Traditional, Surprising) Meaningful Paths Ahead RL@Work shows Class II students what’s possible by Erin Berg

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e call it The Arcade,” explains Dr. Andrew Eyre ’02, as he ushers a group of ten Class II boys into a space that looks to be decked out for very high-stakes gaming. On the left side of the room are six stations, each proffering a pair of tools that seem to be combination scissors/tweezers, which extend unseen beneath a small platform, and connect to a monitor. Six students step up to the stations, and Dr. Eyre says, “Now, go ahead and test your laparoscopic surgery skills, at the same practice bays where doctors hone theirs when they come to the STRATUS Center to train.” The STRATUS Center for Medical Simulation is located just off of Longwood Avenue, the hub of Boston’s worldclass medical institutions. Dr. Eyre, who specializes in Emergency Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, was one of five doctors and medical professionals who helped launch day one of this year’s RL@Work program. The first of the program’s four days focused on science and medicine. That same day, two small groups of Class II students were at Harvard’s MEDscience Simulation Lab, sewing sutures and assessing vitals on $80,000 practice “dummies” designed to blink, bleed, pulse, cry and otherwise respond to stimulus in physiologically accurate ways. Six boys had the once-in-a-lifetime experience of scrubbing in to two heart bypass surgeries—and all the associated sights, sounds, and smells—care of Dr. Scott Streckenbach (P ’19, ’22), an anesthesiologist with Mass General Hospital. Finally, Dr. Paul Weitzel ’86 (P ’16, ’18, ’20, ’22) welcomed a group of boys to his office at Boston Sports and Shoulder Center and a local medical supply company, Surgi-Care, where boys had the opportunity to repair

shoulders and knees, using state of the art simulation dummies. The entire group convened later that afternoon on MIT’s campus to hear from Mr. Iqbal Dhaliwal (P ’21) and his team at the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) where researchers are combating poverty around the world with tangible solutions, based on economics. And that was just day one. This spring marked year two of the RL@ Work program. Led by Andy Chappell, R.L.’s Director of Studies and Strategic Initiatives (and Class II Master), the program provides boys with an off-campus experience of discovery and growth—through visits to places of work, encounters with professionals, facilitated group discussions, individual reflection, and engagement in hands-on design challenges and case studies. Consistent with the school’s mission “to prepare students intellectually, morally, and spiritually for service in the world as leaders of integrity and conviction,” the program helps boys imagine how they might “lead

and serve” in the years ahead. “By exposing boys to various professions and types of leadership, and challenging them to solve real-world problems and discuss current topics, we’re preparing them for citizenship, service, work, and the world,” says Mr. Chappell. More than 40 generous alumni, parents, former R.L. parents, and friends of the school—writers, lawyers, doctors, engineers, judges, developers, investors, professors, business owners—shared their time and passions with 53 Class II boys during the final days of the school year. Boys trekked throughout Boston and Cambridge—from Kendall Square to Downtown Crossing, from the Seaport District to Fenway Park, from the Longwood Medical Area to State Street—many getting their first taste of the MBTA commuting experience. Days two and three of the program focused on entrepreneurship of all kinds. One morning began with a presentation by

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Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gareth Cook (P ’20), who spoke with boys about the rewards and perils of journalism in today’s climate, as well as what it takes to spot “fake news” and responsibly navigate the critical, and ceaseless, role of media. After a discussion with Mr. Cook in the Evans Choral Room, the boys and their chaperones walked to the nearby commuter rail station to head farther into the city for meetings and activities with tech startups, real estate investors, designers, and a range of individuals working on innovative, interdisciplinary solutions through MIT’s Media Lab. For example: On a tenth-floor, openconcept space on Chauncy Street (with a fully-stocked kitchen, a Ping Pong tableturned-workspace, and virtually no office doors), a group of boys was greeted by Gavin Murphy ’98, co-founder of Annkissam, which offers innovative technology solutions for mission-driven organizations. Thirteen Class II boys found their seats around a brightly-lit conference table and settled in to develop their own startups through “The Company Game,” design by Gavin for RL@Work. “At the heart of entrepreneurship,” began Mr. Murphy, “whether you’re starting a company or not, is organizing people 34

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and resources, in order to provide goods and services.” He walked through his own education and experience, and the road that brought him to found Annkissam with his wife and business partner, Mollie. He described a path that included fortunate turns of events and failure, lots of hard work, and some good luck, as well. Then it was the boys’ turn to test their hands at building a company from the ground up. Mr. Murphy handed out stacks of workbook packets, pencils, and a bowl of red and green die. (After all, getting any business off the ground is part strategy and part chance.) He charged the boys with

identifying their own personal interests and talents—in finance, technology, marketing, operations—and then partnering with others who would help round out the group’s composite skills. “You’re going to have a lot of decisions to make,” instructed Mr. Murphy. “Will your company offer a service or a product? How are you going to be financed—are you funded or bootstrap? Will your technology platform be mature, or will you be an early adopter? What about your company culture: workaholic or balanced?” Making careful and thoughtful decisions—often with lively discussion and debate!—the boys navigated their way through their “first year,” filled with upturns and pitfalls, at which point they calculated their yearend earnings. Entering year two, they took turns rolling the dice to know whether their companies would fall victim to any of the difficulties that can plague a new startup: Would they get audited? Would their tech platform crash? “If you can navigate your way successfully through the first couple of years as a startup, with hard work and luck, your idea and company can really take off,” said Mr. Murphy. “If you can retain a team that lives in the sweet spot of the Venn diagram where they’re doing 1) what they want to do, 2) what they’re good at, and 3) what the company needs, that’s a big step in the right direction. Only meeting two out of

three on that diagram won’t work!” The final day of the program focused on law and public service, and, in small groups, students met with nearly twenty men and women whose life’s work is focused, in various forms, on justice. From an assistant U.S. attorney, to a white-collar criminal defense attorney, to a real estate and property lawyer, to a panel led by Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley

P ’14, boys gained a perspective on the many forms that a law career, and a career in public service, can take. The culmination of the four days found the boys in the Champions Club at Fenway Park with three members of the Red Sox franchise, including Mike Regan ’04, Assistant Director of Baseball Administration; Steve Kelley ’09, Manager of Business Development; and Tim Zue, Executive Vice President and CFO of the Boston Red Sox. The trio reinforced to the boys, by virtue of their own professional experiences, the themes that over four days had become familiar in any successful pursuit, regardless of the profession or discipline: the importance of teamwork and communication; willingness to fail and learn from that failure; creating networks and developing relationships; being open to the unknown, and to exploring new ideas; working hard and being persistent; and understanding that the path to meaningful success isn’t always traditional or straight-

forward. (Afterward, the boys stayed with members of the faculty to watch the Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-3, under sunny skies.) We are grateful to the men and women—R.L. alumni, parents, and friends—who generously offered their time, talents, and spaces to provide our boys an insider’s view on the many meaningful paths ahead of them. Though we’re unable to list here the names of all those who played an important role in this year’s program, we ask that you visit roxburylatin.org for a comprehensive list of those individuals and their organizations, companies, and institutions.

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hat did the boys take away from four intensive and inspiring days? Here are some of their reflections, in their own words:

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You almost never know where life will take you. Find and do what you love.”

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It takes a lot of drive and hard work to succeed, regardless of which profession I choose to pursue.”

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Career paths can change. That’s something I didn’t realize before, but I think it’s very valuable to know.”

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As Marvin said at Mass General: Do something that—no matter how stressed you may be at work one day—still makes you happy to go back the next day.”

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To become successful means hard work, and even that won’t always result in success.”

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The job market is very diverse, and there are many different things that one can do with his talents.”

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It’s clear that R.L. is preparing me for a life of work and service. Now I can see what I am working for.”

Work hard to get your foot in the door and keep a strong network.” There are lots of different ways to make a living and have a career. There is no ‘right way.’”

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Prize Day and Valete

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rize Day recognizes discernible excellence in all areas of school life and across every class. On 30 May, the Class of 2018 took their front row seats in Hall for the last time as the First Class, and anticipated, along with the classes behind them, this year’s roster of prize-winners and their plaudits. (To see the complete list of prizes and awardees, go to https://bit.ly/2JS22RE). Prize Day also serves to recognize those adult members of the R.L. community who are leaving us. This year, there are just two. Considered one of the best teachers at Cleveland’s University School, Dr. Sally Stevens was earlier a tenured professor of economics at St. Lawrence University before she arrived here in 2007. R.L. boys similarly call her the best teacher they have had and cite as her most distinctive trademark her unique ability to make the rigorous fun. Besides her famed AP Economics course, Dr. Stevens designed a popular elective, American Foreign Policy Since World War II, and taught U.S. History. As a college counselor assisting Tom Walsh, she is attentive, resourceful, and dedicated to helping students “make the match” and understand the variety of choices they have. Dr. Stevens also ran the ISP program and served as president of R.L.’s Cum Laude

Joyce Hempstead P ’08

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Society chapter. Over the past few years she has co-chaperoned the “Americans in Paris” trip with her husband, Dr. Philip Kokotailo. In his Hall remarks Headmaster Kerry Brennan said, “Her encyclopedic knowledge is rivaled only by her enthusiastic embrace of all sorts of ideas, her eagerness to get students engaged, and, especially, to get them to challenge their own perspectives.… In a community that prides itself on the level of discourse and the clever marshalling of facts and opinions, there is no one more effervescent in her perspective and enthusiasm for her charges than Dr. Stevens.” (Read Dr. Stevens’s commencement address on page 40.) As Director of Communication for the past eleven years, Joyce Hempstead has chronicled all things R.L.—on the website and through printed materials for admission, development, and alumni. Mr. Brennan called her a gifted designer and astute manager of a range of data who modernized and codified the process for representing us to the world…. “There may be publications of schools and colleges that are fancier (and certainly costlier) than our own, but not one of those so accurately reflects the nature of who they are with such vivid authenticity as what Ms. Hempstead has produced for us.”

Sally Stevens

Notable R.L. Anniversaries 35 years. Paul Sugg (Dean of Students, Science). 20 years. Misty Beardsley (Athletic Trainer), John Lieb (Math Department Chair), Tony Teixeira ’93 (Director of Athletics), Stewart Thomsen (History Department Chair), Hunter White (French). 10 years. Ernesto Guerra (Spanish), Joe Lechner (Buildings and Grounds), Billy Quirk ’04 (Director of Admission, English). 5 years. Elizabeth Carroll (Science), Dave Cataruzolo (Director of Alumni Affairs and Planned Giving), Chris Heaton (Librarian, Archivist, History), George Matthews (Assistant Director of Admission, Class III Master, Classics), Jamie Morris-Kliment (Classics Department Chair), Eli Roumally (Buildings and Grounds).

Major athletic prizes awarded to boys in Class I. Flanking Athletic Director Tony Teixeira are awardees Evan Lim (Sportsmanship); Paul Kuechler (Scholar-Athlete); Ayinde Best (ISL Award); Jimmy Duffy (Best Athlete).

Major book prizes awarded to boys in Class II. Harvard Book Award: Ethan Kee; Holy Cross Book Award: Nate Lopes; Brown University Book Award: Erik Zou; Dartmouth Book Award: Rohan Sheth.

Trustees Valete

The school is deeply indebted to the Board of Trustees for its dedication and hard work on behalf of the school. This spring, we gratefully bid four members farewell as they have fulfilled their terms: Serving since 2012, Andrew Balson has been an important member of the Development and Investment Committees and a strong advocate for preserving the affordability of an R.L. education. Andrew and his wife, Melora (P ’15, ’15, ’21, ’21), have served as leadership agents, vice chairs, and chairs of the Parent Fund. When Debby Kuenstner (P ’11) became a trustee in 2012, she had already contributed her time and talent to many board committees and task forces. Most recently, she chaired the Audit Committee and served on the Investment, Resource Strategies, and Compensation Committees. Phil Alphonse ’89, who joined the Board in 2010, steps down after serving as an instrumental member of the Committee on Trustees, the Finance Committee, the Development Committee, Resource Strategies Committee, and Strategic Planning Committee. His business acumen and dedication to preserving and promoting diversity and inclusion at R.L. has been invaluable. Finally, Dennis Kanin ’64 is retiring

The 2017-18 Roxbury Latin Trustees. 1st row: Anne McNay (Secretary), Dennis Kanin ’64, Paul Massey ’78 (Chairman), Bob O’Connor ’85 (President), Jim Frates (Treasurer), Chris Mitchell ’89. 2nd row: Marlyn McGrath, Deborah Kuenstner, John Connaughton, Pamela Everhart, Paul Spinale ’81, Josaphat Tango. 3rd row: Diane Young-Spitzer, Bill Maffie ’88, Michael Berk, Bryan Anderson ’88. 4th row: Jim Hamilton ’91, Ian O’Keeffe ’86, Andrew Balson, Jack Englert ’77. Missing: Philip Alphonse ’89, Ellen Berkman, Michael Giarla ’76 (Vice President), Larry Lebowitz ’78, Ronald Sullivan.

after serving for 18 years (nine as president). He and his wife Carol (P ’01, ’04, ’06) served as leadership agents, vice chairs, and chairs of both the Parent Fund and the Parents’ Auxiliary. Dennis saw the school through the worst recession of a generation; oversaw the historic acquisition of land for the

school; and spearheaded the development of the school’s strategic plan. Dennis also served on the Headmaster Search Committee—bringing Kerry Brennan to us as Headmaster. The school has commissioned a portrait of Dennis to display in the school along with our many other revered trustees.

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Closing Exercises

n the morning of 2 June, the 373rd year of The Roxbury Latin School ended with Closing Exercises and the graduation of the Class of 2018. When Headmaster Brennan finished reading the names of the 48 members of Class I, and each had received his diploma from Board president Bob O’Connor ’85, thunderous applause burst forth from the family members, friends, and faculty who filled Rousmaniere Hall. Following the benediction, the tolling of the school bell, and a rousing rendition of The Founder’s Song, all in attendance streamed outside onto the Senior Grass for hugs, handshakes, and farewells.

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Photos by Suzi Camarata Ball

The Class of 2018

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A dynamic world faces the Class of 2018 Dr. Sally Stevens delivers Commencement address Dr. Sally Stevens has taught economics and history at Roxbury Latin and served as its associate director of college guidance since joining the faculty in 2007. She retired at the close of this academic year.

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would like to share some observations on the place of the United States in the world and address some challenges facing the U.S. that will engage the Class of 2018 now and as adults when they are long gone from their seats of honor. I will begin with where we are today before considering challenges posed by China and Russia. We—all of us in this room—are incredibly fortunate. Yes, we all at one time or another will endure individual tragedies that tear our souls and cause us great distress. But collectively we are lucky to live in a time and place of relative peace and prosperity. I stress relative. Compared with so many people around the world, we are secure, well-fed, certain that tomorrow will come so we can plan for the future, and, dare I say, complacent. We feel entitled to the lifestyle to which we have become accustomed—our jobs, our vacations, our cars, our phones and computers, our social media accounts. As a country, we have enjoyed relatively free security for much of our history, surrounded as we are by two vast oceans and two non-threatening neighbors. And we act entitled. We have enjoyed what some observers have described as “exorbitant privilege,” a consequence that comes from providing the de facto world currency. As long as other countries want to hold our dollars and dollar-denominated assets like government bonds, we can consume more than we produce by importing more than we export simply by paying U.S. dollars. We like to consume oil. In fact, we consume about 20% of the global oil production per day, even though we account for only 4.3% 40

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of the world’s population. Our government spends more than it takes in as revenue, and we borrow from the rest of the world to do so. Right now, American soldiers fight in some dozen countries, yet we the public at large are not asked to sacrifice. We are comfortable with our lifestyle. But, if the rest of the world matches our lifestyle, we will undoubtedly need another planet. What America stood for seemed quite well defined during the Cold War. Freedom, democracy, rule of law, capitalism—and once the Soviet Union collapsed, formal ideological challenges to our system seemed to disappear. America stood pre-

What happens when two self-consciously exceptional countries come in contact? eminent. After the events of 1989 and 1991, the Western ideal of liberal democracy seemed on a march; history was moving in the right direction. But history did not end, contrary to what was assumed by some at the time. Events got in the way. We know the challenges that the United States has faced in the last 25 years. 9/11 forced a much needed re-think about security. Events that day shattered our sense of invulnerability and reacquainted us to the value of alliances. An Authorization for the Use of Military Force passed by Congress in 2001, and still in existence, essentially gives the President power to take military action anywhere against perceived terrorists. A controversial war of choice in Iraq damaged the view that the U.S. knew why and when

to go to war and that it knew how to achieve its goals, in this case to remake the Middle East. The devastating made-in-America financial crisis discredited deregulated capitalism. The slow recovery exacerbated growing income inequality at home. More recently, the 2016 election raised questions about the integrity of the political process and the susceptibility of the entire system to manipulation. More than ever, people began to question the news…what is real? What is a fact? Yet access to reliable information is critical to the integrity of our political system. The events of the last 25 years or so have tainted what the U.S. stands for: capitalism and democracy. We also know—no matter which side of the political spectrum you are on—that the one constant is that nothing is static. Everything is dynamic and change is inevitable. The Class of 2018 will not remain 18 years old forever, and countries evolve as well. They shift in terms of relative power. Today, the United States is a status quo power. Other countries are challenging it

in sometimes subtle and not so subtle ways. To take one example: The United States used its preeminent economic position after WWII to reconstruct international economic relations. The dollar became the linchpin of international finance. A rulebased, institution-based system embodied principles of non-discrimination, multilateralism, and freer trade. At the same time, in the late 1940s, China was engulfed by civil war; but today, its GDP, by some measures, is larger than ours. The U.S. created principles and rules that still underpin the international economic system, but economic power is shifting, and China is challenging the U.S.-based system with its own institutions and relationships. China was absent when the system was designed; now it is powerful. It is a key lender to the United States, an important link in the supply chains of many manufacturers, and a dynamic player in innovative technologies. It continues to be a major source of world economic growth. To take another example of how other countries are challenging the United States…let’s consider Russia. For the latter half of the 20th century, the Soviet Union was a superpower with a vast empire in Europe and Asia and military power capa-

ble of obliterating the United States. Then it was no more. Today, Russia’s economy is roughly one-fifth the size of ours (purchasing power parity method), and there is not much one wants to buy from Russia except for natural resources and weapons. But let’s not forget that Russia also possesses over 6,000 nuclear warheads, a roughly equivalent number to our own arsenal. Arms control agreements that have been in place for years are scheduled to expire in the very near future; what will take their place? Russia is intent on undermining U.S. power and curbing its influence. Why… is a topic for another time. But how is becoming all too clear, as evidence mounts of social media infiltration, cyber attacks, and electoral intrigue. While Russia may not be a great economic power, it certainly feels emboldened to alter the status quo to the extent that it can and to undermine the appeal of the Western political system. Russia under Vladimir Putin fears democracy at home and in nearby countries because democracy would undermine Putin’s power and perhaps the security of Russia’s borders. NATO enlargement, while perfectly understandable from the perspective of former Eastern bloc countries, is viewed by Russia as a threat to its security.

Add to these relative power shifts the notion that the United States, China, and Russia each believe that it alone is unique, that it alone is exceptional among other nations. Of course, we know that America is exceptional. We sing about it in Hall. We think about our Puritan heritage. We recall the “city on the hill” image, the “promised land,” the rebirth evident in the New World as distinct from the hierarchical, monarchical, and corrupt Old World. We believe our values are universal values. We proclaim our Wilsonian mission of making the world safe for democracy. A prominent American historian once wrote, “our fate as a nation is not to have ideologies, but to be one” (Hofstadter quoted by Allison). Our leaders over the years have described us as “the world’s last best hope.” In short, we believe we are uniquely different from other nations. What binds us together? Not blood, not religion, not race, but a secular liturgy that proclaims all men, and women, are created equal. We embrace a set of ideals and institutions that promote rule of law and equality before the law, institutions that protect minority rights from whatever majority is in power, and institutions that permit the regular opportunity to replace those in power. Throughout our history, something else has bound us together, namely the belief in opportunity open to all…but not without effort. That hope sustains many and cushions sacrifices made every day to afford education for one’s kids or hard work at school or a job. To the extent that hope dwindles or that institutions weaken or that cynicism prevails, the United States is less powerful and, therefore, less capable of meeting the challenges of the future. China, too, sees itself as exceptional. Chinese civilization seems to have no beginning. Chinese written characters appear in the second millennium BCE. Cycles of turmoil and relative peace occurred over the centuries, and strong leaders seemed to maintain order. China was never obliged to deal with other countries or civiliza-

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tions that were comparable to it in scale and sophistication throughout most of its history. The Confucian values shared by elites were secular, not tied to a god. It was splendidly isolated; it was unique. Henry Kissinger contrasts the Chinese game of wei qi (or “go” in Japanese) with the Western game of chess. “Wei qi” involves building partially interlocking areas of strength and seeking relative advantage. Chess involves total victory. Protracted campaigns vs. the decisive battle. Kissinger says that Western thinkers approach history as a process of modernity achieving a series of absolute victories over evil and backwardness. On the other hand, the traditional Chinese view of history is more of a cyclical process of decay and rectification, in which nature and the world can be understood but not completely mastered. What happens when two self-consciously exceptional countries come in contact? Let’s remember the history behind U.S. relations with China. Remember that certain Chinese migrants were officially excluded by legislation from entering the U.S. in the 1880s and all Chinese migrants were formally banned from entering in the 1920s. Remember too that the Western imperial powers in the 19th century carved up China into foreign concessions with established extraterritorial rights. Remember that Japan occupied China before and during WWII. This was a century of humiliation for a proud people with a unique sense of national self. Once the Japanese were defeated, the Chinese Civil War continued until 1949 when Mao and the Chinese Communist Party defeated the Nationalists (who, you will remember, were supported by the U.S.). In the 1970s, President Nixon and Henry Kissinger exploited the Sino-Soviet split and opened a dialog with Chinese leaders. After Mao’s death and the resulting power struggle, Deng Xiaoping introduced market-oriented reforms that took off in the 1990s. Deng is reported to have told Kissinger: “China is a great civilization that 42

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has had a couple of bad centuries.” So, China sees itself as exceptional. And today China challenges us economically and will continue to do so throughout our lifetimes. We nurtured it by establishing trade relations and facilitating its membership in international institutions, all the while hoping that economic modernization and prosperity would prod its burgeoning middle class to demand political reforms too. We continue to hope that China will become a responsible stakeholder in the international system that we designed. But will China play by the rules…our rules? Graham Allison has written that China and the United States could fall into what is known as the Thucydides Trap, where an

We continue to hope that China will become a responsible stakeholder in the international system that we designed. But will China play by the rules…our rules? up-and-coming rival (Athens then, China now) confronts the ruling status quo party (Sparta then, the United States now). The rival wants more powers; the established country becomes fearful, insecure, and defensive; and war breaks out. Today, China is not only an economic rival, but also an ideological rival. It presents an alternative model of development to the world, namely authoritarian capitalism. What this means is extensive state involvement in the direction of the economy while allowing some market attributes to flourish. China has performed an incredible feat of lifting around 800 million people out of

poverty in a generation. Remember that 800 million people is over two-and-a-half times the size of the entire U.S. population. Yet China has done so with a Party and an authoritarian government that dominate the political scene and see delivering economic prosperity as critical to the maintenance of power. China continues to dream big. It aims by 2025 to be a world leader not dependent on Western technologies in key strategic industries. It is financing and building infrastructure projects throughout Asia and into Europe. It is developing ways for its currency to be used as an international medium of exchange. It is a country where there seems to be no real boundary between companies and the country; it is only the national interest that matters. Where will it be on the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party victory that the members of the Class of 2018 will witness in 2049? And what about Russia? Some observers have described the rise of China as the most remarkable economic event since WWII and the collapse of the Soviet Union as the most important political event. Yet, Putin called the breakup of the Soviet Union the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century…Remember that the 20th century included two devastating world wars, among other events, and in WWII alone, 25 million Soviets lost their lives. The Soviet Union was a superpower and is no more. Its military might, imperial reach, and ideology struck fear in American policymakers throughout the Cold War. While George H. W. Bush was

right not to gloat after the USSR imploded, the fact remains that the Soviet state and economic model failed. But what happened then? Russia’s GDP fell over 40% between 1990 and 1998; public health deteriorated; oligarchs took control of national wealth; financial chaos reigned; free markets, democracy, and any admiration for the U.S. were roundly discredited as conditions worsened. Yes, the U.S. poured money into Russia to stabilize its nuclear arsenal and to prop up Boris Yeltsin whom it saw as the best leader among the alternatives. But Russia was a mess for years after the Cold War ended. Today, while the Russian economy is small, its oil reserves are twice as large as ours, and its gas reserves are five times as large. As a natural resource producer, it often allies with OPEC to reduce production to keep oil prices high. Putin is maneuvering to be a global power to be reckoned with once again. The goals? To restore Russia’s greatness after a period of humiliation and to maintain power. To preserve Russian security, which means ensuring friendly countries on Russia’s borders and, for an autocrat, stifling democratic pressures there and at home. Russian actions to subvert democratic institutions and processes in Western Europe and the U.S. reveal a strategy to weaken, wherever it can, the liberal democratic system. Today, China poses an economic challenge to the United States. In some ways, our two economies are so interconnected that both sides stand to lose a great deal, should relations deteriorate. Russia poses a more ill-defined, yet potentially more nefarious, challenge to our democratic institutions. Yet, these are only two of the many other foreign policy issues and military concerns that confront us today. Suffice to say that these challenges are complex and not easily resolved. Soundbite solutions will not work, and it is the task for all of us as citizens and adults to be skeptical of politicians bearing easy answers. The United States is not entitled to forever enjoy the privileged position it

held after WWII and after the end of the Cold War. Yet, without correcting flaws in our economic policy, we will find our remaining privileges waning in the years ahead. Without paying attention and exercising our citizenship responsibilities, we risk compromising our political system. The task for you—the Class of 2018—is to ask questions, to search for what is true, and to be active and involved citizens in the long-term future of the country that has given you so very much. History matters. Power is dynamic.

A few minutes ago, Mr. Brennan reminded you that you were known and loved in your years at Roxbury Latin. Now it is your turn to go out into the world. Of course, you must take care of yourself and your loved ones. But, you must also take care of your country, for your country needs your help. As you go out into the world and take on adult responsibilities, remember what Mr. Brennan said about your past. Apply those words in your present and in your future. Seek… TO KNOW… and TO LOVE.

Major prizes awarded to graduating seniors at Closing Exercises. Andrew White (The Class of 1913 Award); David Ma and Ben LaFond (The William Coe Collar Award); Reis White (The Richard A. Berenberg Prize).

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Humility The Valedictory Remarks of Thomas Bulger

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ood morning Headmaster Brennan, faculty, staff, families, guests, and the Class of 2018. I am honored to be able to speak to you today. I would like to start out by thanking our parents. Never have I seen a group so invested in not only their children, but the school community as a whole. The Class of 2018 would be nowhere without your advice and constant support. I would also like to thank our teachers, coaches, and all members of the R.L. staff. All that you have taught us goes far beyond the classroom and I know that the relationships you have made with our class will be long lasting. Our class could never show enough grati-

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tude for all that you have done for us over our years at the school. Today, I would like to talk about one thing among others that made this class special: Humility. One assignment that I found particularly intriguing this year was the traditional Senior Wisdom Speech. I was excited to hear the definition of wisdom through the eyes of my classmates, but there was a name that kept popping up that really bugged me: Socrates. If there’s one thing I hate about Socrates, it’s everything. Students appreciated that he recognized how much he did not know, but for a man who recognized how little he knows, he

sure liked to show people how much he did know. Could Socrates have been a smart guy? Sure. Maybe the smartest. The Oracle of Delphi named him the wisest man alive. He was referenced as the Greek word, μυωψ, meaning “gadfly,” because he kept the Athenian market on its toes by twisting the words of the people until they proved themselves wrong. He even described the Athenian political scene as “a dimwitted horse.” It seemed his days were spent showing people his superiority. He was indeed on another level from the common man and acted as such. Socrates was intelligent and quick, but what good were his talents if they came at the expense

of others? He lacked empathy for those he badgered but, more importantly, he lacked humility, and this is where our class excelled. When I met each of my classmates, I was blown away by the amazing qualities and talents that each of them possessed. It seemed as if there was someone who stood out in every field: Robert Cunningham’s skill with computers; Ben LaFond’s knowledge of linguistics; Sawyer’s faith; Lawlor and Jack, singing; Zander, lacrosse; Jimmy, hockey; David Ma, mathematics; Chris Knight… mathematics. The list of skills and qualities goes on, yet, with all of these achievements and attributes, my

The desire to help a classmate along was greater than the desire to stand out among the crowd. This, to me, is the definition of humility.

classmates remained humble. It would be easy for each of them to be arrogant and to make others feel small, the way Socrates had in the market. Although there was healthy competition, there was never bad blood or a desire to outperform one another. In fact, the most impressive characteristic of our class was the way that we helped each other. It seemed as if so much of our work was collaborative. If there was a hard math problem from the night before, the one boy who understood it would be helping the other guys understand the problem the same way he did. If there was a poem that needed to be broken down, all you had to do was ask and someone in your class was there to help. The desire to help a classmate along was greater than the desire to stand out among the crowd. This, to me, is the definition of humility. I have had my own personal experience with this. After a year as the guinea pig class for MSI, my coding skills were sharp…but my algebra skills were not. The next year, we had the choice to take an algebra-based physics course. Somehow, I found myself in this physics course, as well as starting a new language (Greek) and beginning a more difficult level of Latin. I felt unprepared for the workload and pressure of these courses. My first physics test began with 25 minutes of sweating profusely and panicking, followed by 20 minutes of struggling to answer the questions. I received a failing grade on that test. Greek grammar and vocabulary worksheets were taking multiple hours for me to finish. I was falling behind. My Latin translations were spotty. I was overwhelmed and disorganized. I felt stuck… until my class rushed to my side. It may not have felt that way to them, but their efforts, no matter the size, made a world of difference to me. Sometimes, it was entire free periods spent teaching me a handful of physics problems. Other times, it was sitting and reviewing a translation over and over until every word was known. There was a constant flow of texts from my Greek

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It’s not about whether or not you all change the world, because I am confident that you will. It’s about the manner in which you do it.

Tom Bulger I and Sally Stevens

class, reminding me of the frequent, small quizzes that counted for a significant part of our grade. I probably would not have passed Greek without their help. After my classmates helped me get my footing, I started enjoying my classes. Greek became one of my favorite classes ever, partially because of Eoghan Downey’s constant efforts to convince the rest of the class that Northern Ireland belongs, in fact, to the Republic of Ireland and not the U.K. (That’s right, Mrs. M-K, we want our six counties back!) Physics became a lot of fun, too—until finals week rolled around. None of my classmates could have ever helped me prepare for that. Still, I was 46

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able to take a breath because of their help. All they had done changed my experience at school that year in a tremendous way. I started to notice that this kind of assistance from my classmates was not in my direction exclusively. They didn’t sacrifice their time and efforts for just me, but for anybody who was struggling. It was nice to take a step back and watch how we treated each other from that moment on. As a result of help from one another, our class not only became a well-rounded group of R.L. boys, but also forged a unique bond. No one boy placed himself above the others and this, to me, is humility. Roxbury Latin preaches that they care

most about the character of a boy, and there couldn’t be a better indicator of such a claim than the 47 boys sitting in front of me, and our brother Elson, who couldn’t be here today. There is no better example of character than taking time from your own life to help a person in need, especially when it would be all too easy to keep your extraordinary talents to yourself. Usually, at the end of these kinds of speeches, there is a call for the graduating class to go out and change the world. I find no need for such a call. It’s not about whether or not you all change the world, because I am confident that you will. It’s about the manner in which you do it. I call on you today to keep your humility and to keep your character, because that is what makes this group special. Continue to lend a hand to the struggling man, not in hope that it may one day be reciprocated, but because you all know it is the right thing to do. Before I finish, I would also like to thank Jimmy for nominating me and all of you for voting for me to speak today. The only reason speaking today is an honor is because I was voted in by men like you. Thank you.

The Class of 2018

First row: Dylan Zhou, Tom Bulger, Ahmed Abdelrahman, Matt Sheehan, Austin O’Brien, Evan Lim, Robert Cunningham, Ben Bryant, Tyler Wolfe, Will Connaughton, Jake Wexelblatt, Gabriel Grajeda. Second row: Erik Gomes, Marc de Fontnouvelle, Sawyer Wellman, Andrew Steinberg, David Ma, Connor Dowd, Rohan Balakrishna, James Jaffer, Benjamin Stick, Ben Lawlor, Harris Foulkes, Zach Levin, Andrew Gray, John Philippides. Third row: Quinn Ebben, Grady Hayes, Joe Nero, Zander Keough, Cole Englert, Jimmy Duffy, Robert Crawford, Eoghan Downey, Paul Kuechler, Ben LaFond, Ayinde Best. Fourth row: Matthew Uek, Andrew White, Carson Straub, Jake Sporn, Zach Milton, Mahamud Hashi, Chris Knight, Harry Weitzel, Jack Golden, Brendan Flood, Reis White.

Class of 2018 matriculation† Ahmed Abdelrahman, Bowdoin Rohan Balakrishna, Northwestern Ayinde Best, Wheaton (MA) Benjamin Bryant, Harvard Thomas Bulger, Davidson William Connaughton, Harvard Robert Crawford, Dartmouth Robert Cunningham, MIT Marc de Fontnouvelle, U of Chicago Connor Dowd, Harvard Eoghan Downey, Tufts James Duffy, Bowdoin Quinn Ebben, Georgetown Cole Englert, Colby Brendan Flood, Trinity College Dublin Harris Foulkes, Amherst John Golden, Harvard Erik Gomes, U Mass Amherst Gabriel Grajeda, Princeton Andrew Gray, Tufts Mahamud Hashi, Boston University † College choices as of 25 May 2018

Grady Hayes, Bowdoin James Jaffer, George Washington University Alexander Keough, Tufts Christopher Knight, George Washington University Paul Kuechler, Harvard Benjamin LaFond, Harvard Benjamin Lawlor, Colby Zachary Levin, Brown Evan Lim, Columbia David Ma, Harvard Zachary Milton, PG Year—Deerfield Joseph Nero, Davidson Austin O’Brien, Babson John Philippides, Princeton Matthew Sheehan, Wake Forest Jacob Sporn, Georgetown Andrew Steinberg, Brown Benjamin Stick, Amherst Carson Straub, Dalhousie

Matthew Uek, Bowdoin Harrison Weitzel, Tufts Sawyer Wellman, Wheaton (IL) Jacob Wexelblatt, Georgetown Andrew White, Princeton Reis White, Princeton Tyler Wolfe, Boston College Dylan Zhou, Harvard

Advanced Placement results 96% of the 48 members of the Class of 2018 generated 180 AP exams by the end of their junior year: 57% of the scores were 5 83% of the scores were 4 or 5

National Merit 41% of the Class of 2018 received some level of recognition in the National Merit programs: 11 Semifinalists and 9 Letters of Commendation (including 2 Scholars in the National Hispanic Recognition Program).

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REUNION 2018

“Back to School” is the newest addition to Reunion Weekend If you have been wondering how it would feel to sit at an R.L. desk again and learn from an R.L. teacher, this year’s Reunion Weekend offered a chance to find out. On Saturday morning alumni attended a program called Back to School, where they returned to student status in classes on poetry, comparative literature, the United States’ place in the world, and the Maker Culture (STEAM). Taught respectively by Joe Kerner (who came out of retirement for the occasion!), Mo Randall, Sally Stevens, and Nate Piper, classes were full and engaging. The complete roster of reunion festivities began on Friday, 11 May, with RL Today, a program that welcomes alumni back to campus while school is in session. Alumni attended an all-school Hall and enjoyed a catered lunch in the Bernstein Tea Room. The program concluded with an address by the Headmaster and a discussion with a panel of seniors in the Evans Choral Room. Students led alumni on tours of the campus

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before and after the scheduled events. Many guests saw for the first time such recent additions to the school as the IDEA Lab, the Evans Choral Room, and the Indoor Athletic Facility and Hennessy Rink. On Friday evening, the 25th Anniversary Class (1993) enjoyed a family supper recep-

tion in the IAF, sharing the occasion with their parents, spouses, and children. On Saturday, varsity home games began at 12:30 p.m., and alumni and families supported our teams while enjoying BBQ fare under the arches of the Gordon Field House alongside Schoolhouse Field.

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REUNION 2018 Reunion 2018 culminated in a cocktail hour followed by dinner on Saturday evening. Rain kept the party indoors but at no expense to the festivities. Some 260 alumni and guests returned to Alma Mater, representing classes from 1953 on.

The Wellington Prize Every year a member of the 25th Anniversary Class is selected to receive the Wellington Prize, given in memory of Stanwood Gray Wellington (R.L. 1896). This year, the prize went to Jim Quagliaroli ’93 (left), for his loyalty and devotion to the school. The prize was awarded during the Reunion Dinner on Saturday evening.

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Send your news to alumni@roxburylatin.org

class notes 1955 Pete Luchini writes that he was perfectly content with his six grandkids, ages 20 to 26. “I figured that was it, and was then presented with number seven, now one year old. Game changer!”

1956 Jim Rooney writes that he’s still producing records and performing. His latest album is Voices by Tom Rush on Appleseed Records.

1958 Ari Gold described a “small but exuberant turnout” for his classmates’ 60th Reunion. In addition to attending R.L.’s main event

on Saturday evening, he, Peter Schwartz, and Robert Smith joined classmates Chris Lydon and Barry Maker for dinner on Friday.

1961 Dr. Richard Lewis, Professor of Molecular and Human Genetics, Ophthalmology, Pediatrics, and Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, was the first nonpediatric ophthalmologist to be awarded the 2018 Marshall Parks Bronze Medal from the American Association of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus in March. He was recognized as the major intellectual force in applying molecular technologies to inherited ocular disorders,

especially those afflicting infants, children, and adolescents.

1965 Joseph Myerson recently ran for the board of selectmen in his town of Bolton, Massachusetts. Though the incumbent beat him out, Joseph said the campaign “gave him many new friends” and that he plans to remain on the town’s advisory committee and work to make “Bolton as good a town to live in as possible.”

1980 Bob Hannan begins a new Foreign Service assignment at the embassy in Paris after four years in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti.

1982 Chris Hannan is busy as a professor of history and department head at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. He also volunteers as a Latin teacher at his parish school in North Weymouth. Having settled back into Upstate New York, Dan Mackay writes that he is finding his responsibilities to advance historic preservation for the state invigorating. He adds, “Our younger son, Ben, will be transferring in September to Caltech for the back end of his 3/2 program at Haverford.” On 21 March, Charles Pinck received the Congressional Gold Medal on behalf of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Society, of which he serves as president. The award was given in recognition of the 13,000 men and women who served in the OSS, the World War II predecessor to the CIA and the U.S. Special Operations Command.

1988

Class of 1953. Bob Macdonald, Stephanie Martin, Paul Kavanaugh, Mary Jo Swain, Peter Banks, Elizabeth Martin, Fred Martin.

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Nick Lynch would have attended his 30th R.L. reunion if it hadn’t coincided with his commencement ceremony from Principia College at which he received a degree in media production with minors in music technology and mass communication. He writes, “In the better-late-than-never category, I am happy to say that I did [R.L.] proud: 4.0 club for all semesters, and five varsity letters

class notes

Class of 1958. Arthur Gold, Robert Smith, Peter Schwartz.

Class of 1968. First row: Cathy Bilodeau, John Colbert, Catherine Sahakian, Rick Sahakian, Tim Manns. Second row: Bobby Jorgensen, Tim Bilodeau, Steve Leahy, Amy Sidman, Charles Sidman. Third row: Bob Jorgensen, John Bowers, Samuel Goldhaber, Reeve Goldhaber, Gordon FitzGerald.

Nick Lynch ’88 with his children.

Class of 1963. First row: Bob Jorgensen, Bobby Jorgensen, Richard Siegal, Susan Balee, Jonathan Arac. Second row: David Scheff, Thomas Nagy, Kären Nagy, Peggy Siegal, Arthur Bowen. Third row: Peter Gately, Carol Gately, Philip DiSantis, SantaJean DiSantis.

Charles Pinck ’82 (fifth from left) stands with Sen. Angus King, Speaker of the House Paul D. Ryan, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as William Clarke (third from right), from Detachment 404 of the Office of Strategic Services, accepts the Congressional Gold Medal at the U.S. Capitol. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

in track and cross country. In fact, I recently ran a 5:04 mile, keeping those young whipper-snappers on their toes!” He notes that his oldest children are in high school and college, and he is “enthused at the opportunity to raise his toddler, Gracie, and imminent son.” Nick plans next to pursue his MA in leadership with a concentration in Christianity. Jon Winickoff was quoted extensively in an article in the The New Yorker (14 May) about the life and allure of vaping —“Juuling,” in particular—among young people. A pediatrician at MGH and a professor at Harvard Medi-

cal, Jon is the former chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Tobacco Consortium and was one of two physicians who drove the Massachusetts legislature to enact the Mass 21 law that forbids sale of cigarettes to anyone under 21.

1989 Rick Canale and John Connor have started a company that mints MLB licensed collectible coins featuring 30 current Major League Baseball stars. Baseball Treasure (www.baseballtreasure.com) provided Eoghan Downey ’18 with an Independent Senior Project opportunity, and coincidentally,

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class notes writes Rick, “Eoghan’s dad, Chris Downey ’81, was John’s and my math teacher at R.L.”

1991 Howie Axelrod had an op-ed in the New York Times on 27 March, “Finding the Poetry in March Madness.” Author of The Point of Vanishing: A Memoir of Two Years in Solitude, Howie is a lecturer in creative writing at Loyola University Chicago and a recent R.L. Hall speaker.

1998 This spring, Matt Lackner, a professor of engineering at UMass Amherst, received the College of Engineering Outstanding Teaching Award for 2017-2018.

2001 Pete Simpson has been named director of the upper school at Buckley School, an independent, K-9 day school for boys located on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. For the past six years he served as assistant director at the Klingenstein Center at Columbia University’s Teachers College. Prior to that, he taught at the Journeys School of the Teton Science Schools in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and at the Park School in Brookline, Massachusetts. Pete begins his new role at Buckley on 1 July.

2002 Mark Powers recently moved to Luzern, Switzerland. He writes, “Beautiful area, lots to do, and we’re really enjoying ourselves with epic skiing and climbing. Let me know if you’re in the area—we’re hoping for visitors!” Mark Valentino and Jennifer Rollins announced the birth of James

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James Oliver in the arms of his dad, Mark Valentino ’02.

Oliver Valentino on 21 May. Mark writes, “Mom and Baby James are both doing well and enjoying the start to summer.”

Class of 1973. First row: Bobby Jorgensen, Andrew Manns, Emily Manns, Cynthia Golding, Larry Golding, Donna LeBlanc, Michael LeBlanc. Second row: Bob Jorgensen, Harry Murphy, Lauren Murphy, Peter Rowland, Rich Callanan, Paula Callanan, Jean McTighe, Bob McTighe. (In attendance but missing from the photo: Willie Walker and Steve Linsky.)

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living in Zambia for the past six months or so, but I’m planning to move to Dakar, Senegal, in the next few months. Time to dredge up Mr. Diop French.”

Dom Pellegrini and his wife, Jessica, announce the birth of baby Leo on 12 March.

2006 William Burke graduated from George Washington University Law School in 2017 and has joined the Navy to be a Judge Advocate General (JAG).

2008 Sean Spellman, who has been coaching at R.L. since 2015, has been named Head Varsity Basketball Coach for Alma Mater. Alex Tejeda volunteered in Peru on a medical mission trip in May. Alex, who just finished his first year at Howard University’s Medical College, writes that he “could not have asked for a better group with whom to embark on his journey to becoming a doctor.”

2009 Afif Rahman is the co-founder and executive director at Poligon Education Fund. His partner-

Alex Tejeda ’08 in Peru.

ships with advocacy groups in the Washington, D.C., area have supported the government-funded food program, SNAP, which supplies nourishment and services to the two-million Americans who are food insecure.

Mackay Lowrie was invited to participate in the Washington Redskin’s rookie mini-camp in Virginia in May. Mack played quarterback at Bentley and played six games last fall before injuries cut his season short. He completed 61 percent of his passes, good for 1,310 yards, 11 touchdowns and only four interceptions. Patrick Sullivan received the James Andrew Haas Prize at Yale’s

2010 Jake Modest was recently matched at Brown University for his medical residency in the orthopedic surgery program.

2013 Mickey Henry is working in the international development field for a consultancy called IDinsight. He writes, “I’ve been

Jake Modest ’10.

class notes

Class of 1978. Bob Pinkham, Eugene Fabio, Jill Fabio, Paul Massey.

commencement this spring. The award is given to “that member of the senior class in Yale College whose breadth of intellectual

Class of 1983. First row: Tom Tretter, Robyn Tretter, Lance Kussell, David Goldberg, Coral Zine, Rob Sherry. Second row: Sonja Johanson, Richard Gordet, Matthew Rosen, Tejas Mehta, Barry Bear. Third row: Mike Giarla, Steve Hilliard, Joe Walsh, Paul Provost, Kerry Brennan, George Malley. Fourth row: Mike Pojman, Daniel Banks, Mike Nyhan, Aaron Deykin, Rachel Herschenfeld, John Maggioni, Sue Maggioni, Peter Voudouris.

achievement, strength of character, and fundamental humanity shall be adjudged by the faculty to have provided leadership for his

Sam Trabucco ’11 is focus of NYT’s “Wordplay” Sam Trabucco ’11 was the focus of The New York Times’ April Wordplay feature, “Who Made My Puzzle?” This millennial has already published ten puzzles in the NYT. Sam is a protégé of crossword maestro David Quarfoot, who taught for a few years at Roxbury Latin and in that short time planted a hardy seed for future R.L. puzzle makers. Sam calls his first puzzle—published in Tripod—“terrible…a one-off, fun project I might have forgotten about a few weeks later if not for the auspicious introduction of David Quarfoot to my high school’s math department my senior year.” Mr. Quarfoot encouraged Sam to start writing crosswords seriously, directing him to the best puzzle-making software and quality word lists and offering lots of advice. A 2015 MIT graduate with degrees in math and computer science, Sam always enjoyed puzzles as a child, especially Scrabble and word games in general. “Paper puzzling” began in earnest for him after he attended his first MIT Mystery Hunt as a high school junior; after that he started solving crosswords regularly. As for their creation, he finds grid construction “a fun and satisfying problem to solve and theme development/clever cluing to be nice creative outlets.”

or her fellow students, inspiring in them a love of learning and concern for others.” Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu recently made his MLS debut for Atlanta United, subbing in on the 74th minute with his team down a man and defending a one-goal lead—playing a significant role in helping his side hold on to the victory.

at Putnam Associates in Boston’s Back Bay. Aryeh Lieber graduated from Wesleyan University, Phi Beta Kappa, with highest honors from both French and English departments for his thesis, a translation of French contemporary fiction. Tenzin Thargay received a Fulbright to study in South Korea and delivered the UMass Commencement address. (See page 62.) Ben Zheng, one of R.L.’s first pole vaulters, is now sailing for Harvard. As a senior, he is one of Harvard’s top computer science students and is headed to Google after graduation.

John Baron ’14, Duncan Finigan ’14.

2014 R.L. baseball teammates John Baron (Colby) and Duncan Finigan (Bowdoin) faced off against each other recently at the Pickard Field at Bowdoin. Scott Frankenthaler has begun a position as associate consultant

2015 Sean Lowrie and Will Weitzel ’16 faced off in Gillette Stadium over Memorial Day weekend during the NCAA Lacrosse Championship “Final Four.” A junior midfielder and attackman for Duke’s Blue Devils, Sean had his best season ever with 18 goals and five assists, notching points in 11 matches and is cred-

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class notes ited with bringing Duke to the Final Four. Sean and his team were victorious in the semifinals over top-ranked Maryland but succumbed to Yale (13-11) who— with defenseman Will Weitzel ’16—won its first national title. Owen Maguire has published a book on non-profits and the use of technology. Nonprofit Z: Building Nonprofits in the Era of Technology responds to the reality that the nonprofit sector is almost a decade behind the private sector in its use of technology to transform processes and services. The book addresses public perceptions of nonprofit overhead spending rates and their negative impact on technology innovation and then focuses on the increasing importance of millennials to nonprofit fundraising and how to effectively reach this new generation of philanthropist. Owen is a rising senior at Georgetown, majoring in marketing. He will be working in Washington, D.C., this summer.

Class of 1988. First row: Ted Connolly, Margaret Bulger, Chris Bulger, Tim Silva, Denise Silva, Craig Lehrich, Mo Randall. Second row: Jim Vlahos, Kristy Vlahos, April Anderson, Kerry Brennan, Paul Harrington, Greg Mahoney, Kevin Malley, Lucy Malley, Mary Lou Lovett. Third row: Brian Donovan, Rebecca Donovan, Bryan Anderson, Matt Axelrod, Bill Maffie, Ephraim Hochberg, Chris DiZinno, Denise DiZinno, Chris Lovett.

Dave Cataruzolo, Joe Lomuscio ’15.

2017 Coach Dave Cataruzolo watched as Joe Lomuscio, representing Brown in a match-up against Harvard, hit his first home run of the season on 21 April. T.J. Silva is a member of the University of Notre Dame’s Glee Club as well as the a cappella group Undertones. 56

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Chris Hasiotis ’14, Capt. Ed Ellison, 2nd Lt James Joyce ’14, Jake Joyce ’07, Andrew Joyce ’16, Michael Joyce ’08, Duncan Finnegan ’14, and Andrew Wang ’14.

James Joyce ’14 Commissioned in the U.S.M.C. Ed Ellison dusted off his dress blues at the request of Jimmy Joyce ’14 to administer the Oath of Office at his Commissioning Ceremony at Harvard’s Tercentenary Theater on 23 May. Jimmy graduated from Harvard with a bachelor’s degree in economics. As a newly commissioned United States Marine Corps 2nd Lieutenant, Jimmy will report to The Basic School in Quantico, Virginia, in September for six months of intensive infantry and leadership training before receiving his first assignment in the Fleet Marine Force.

class notes

Class of 1993. First row: John Griffin, Konstantinos Deligiannidis, Jim Quagliaroli, Michael Bacon, Tanya Rohani, Ben Nadol, Krista Nadol, Ken Hiatt, Rick Dower. Second row: Tony Teixeira, Angie Ovalles, Greg Wood, Kim Giangrasso, David Giangrasso, Derek Tarsy, Lauren Linstrom, Liz Volpe, David Bobruff, Yael Bobruff. Third row: Cathy Malloy, Bart Malloy, Michael Leung-Tat, Kim Simonian, Stacy McDonough, Eugene McDonough, Matthew Kopans, Mike Volpe, Jeremy Caplan, Shawn Zeller.

Class of 1998. First row: Jonathan Stephens, Tiana Stephens, Rob Levy, Michael Chin, Kristaps Paddock, Kate McElaney, Jessica Grabler, Matthew Grabler. Second row: Mike Pojman, Andrew Martin, Ian Moss, Matthew Lackner, Mike McElaney, Katie Fagan, Erik Fagan. Third row: Dan Botwinik, Ashley Whitney, Steve Brady, Phil Mone, Nick Lawler, Ryan FitzGerald, Deana FitzGerald. Fourth row: Magda Ostas, Nick Szydlowski, Ryan Whalen, Erin Manju, Will Holt, Molly Murphy, Gavin Murphy, Brendan Flaherty, Johanna Sullivan, Patrick Sullivan.

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class notes

Tenzin Thargay ’14 receives Fulbright, delivers UMass Amherst Commencement Student Address

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enzin Thargay ’14 has received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award to South Korea in political science from the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Tenzin will conduct his research at Hanyang University’s Center for Energy Governance and Security as part of a project to examine how political party affiliation influences local attitudes on nuclear energy. On 11 May, Tenzin graduated from University of Massachusetts Amherst as a Commonwealth College Honors student, completing dual degrees in political science and Chinese language and literature. He earned a certificate in public policy, as well as an International Scholars Program certificate. Tenzin was also named one of ten recipients of this year’s 21st Century

Leader Awards, and was chosen to deliver the student address at the University’s commencement ceremony. Tenzin has a deep interest in international affairs and is especially drawn to energy policy for its interdisciplinary nature. He is committed to pursuing a career in international affairs and public service. As an honors student, he created and organized a Five College conference on compassionate leadership and assembled and moderated a panel discussion on the future of Tibet after the Dalai Lama. Last summer, Tenzin cofounded Project YETI (Young Educated Tibetans Initiative), the first virtual mentorship program to connect Tibetan youth in the U.S. and guide them in the intricacies of the college application process, scholarship searches, and other opportunities.

Class of 2003. First row: Michael Pope, Chris Oates, Kate Kenney, Chris Kenney. Second row: Christian Suciu, John Lawrie, Courtney Lawrie, Paul Evans, Ellie Evans, Matt MacDonald.

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Class of 2008. First row: Remy Lupica, Kerry Brennan, Jason Sandler, Kirsti Martin, Chris Martin, Chris Oates, George Matthews, Tom Campanella, Paul Sugg. Second row: Ebele Anidi, Jorind Beqari, Emily Eshleman, Elizabeth LeRoux, Mike Joyce, Michael Oberst, Doug Wolff, Kenny Backlawski, Anna Spellman, Sean Spellman.

class notes

Being There Ave Atque Vale Witness Beyond R.L.

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rising sophomore at Emory University’s Oxford College, in Atlanta, Sam Gardner ’17 is studying political science, economics, and classics. He is also continuing a practice he learned as a senior at Roxbury Latin under the guidance of Classmaster Mike Pojman: offering his presence at the burials of the indigent and forgotten. At R.L., this offering is the work of the Ave Atque Vale Society. A May issue of the Atlanta Journal Constitution contains an article by Sam about the volunteer role he has added to his life at Emory: a mourner at burials for Atlanta’s poor who have no funds, family, or friends to arrange a service or bid them farewell. Sam recently assisted the Rev. Cliff Dawkins, Fulton County chaplain, at the burial of a mother and baby killed in a driveby shooting, in a potter’s field some 60 miles outside of the Atlanta, Georgia. Sam wore

his R.L. tie, black with the Roxbury Latin crest repeating across it, as a reminder of the school’s motto, Mortui vivos docent— “The dead teach the living.” He notes that Ave Atque Vale isn’t so much a service for the dead, but rather it offers the living a perspective. “It draws back the curtain of everyday life and reveals the deeper meaning of our existence,” he writes. “Every time I attend a funeral I am reminded of this. That is why I will continue to honor the passing of Atlanta’s homeless—to show my fellow class members and friends a new perspective on our lives and to extend our privilege to those who are equally deserving. “We must understand that living parochial lives is contrary to human nature. It is my duty—and every person’s duty—to continually seek to understand our place within the entire human community, not

And some there be, which have no memorial; who are perished, as though they had never been; and are become as though they had never been born; and their children after them. —Ecclesiasticus 44:9 merely our own comfortable spaces. This is why I cherish any opportunity to travel to the forgotten places of the world, where the impoverished are preyed upon, and struggles for survival are tangible. I am always eager for new perspectives and experiences, and I hope to better myself through them.”

Class of 2013. First row: Kerry Brennan, Brion Morrissey-Bickerton, Franklin Li, Mike Hurley, Jack Barkowski, Andrew Robinson, Seth McNay, Paul Matthews, Alex Adames. Second row: Shaun Houlihan, Ethan Faust, Guy Green, Jared Ginnetty, Kurt Bullard, Luke Scheuer, Harrison Kay. Third row: Sean Myers, Warren Bunnell, Matt Deveney, Ryan Dukeman, Pat Barry, Ousmane Diop.

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

in memoriam 1958: George E. Maloof Dr. George E. Maloof passed away on 16 October 2017 in Daly City, California. Son of the late Emil and Rose (Lian) Maloof, George arrived at Roxbury Latin from St. Raphael’s School in Hyde Park. He enjoyed a rich academic and athletic career at R.L., playing football, baseball, and wrestling from Class IV through I. Captain of the wrestling team, he won the New England Wrestling Championship without a point scored against him. He was the president of the Glee Club in his senior year. “Classical and modern language studies at RLS have been invaluable in further work and religious activities,” he wrote in a 2003 Reunion note. “I have tried to live up to my award as Scholar-Athlete.” He also named as his most influential teachers— Richard Whitney, “who required maximum effort of students,” and Van Courtlandt Elliott, “who conveyed a love of the Classics.” George earned an AB in history and science from Harvard in 1962 and received his MD from Georgetown in 1966. Residencies took him to the San Francisco area where he settled, working as a staff psychiatrist for the San Mateo County Mental Health Center (1973-1982) and for two years as chief of Mental Health Services at the USAF Hospital at Vandenberg Air Force Base. From 1986 to 1992 he was Staff Psychiatrist for the California Department of Corrections, after which he served until 2003 in the same capacity at the CDC-Parde and Community Services Division. Throughout his whole career he maintained a private practice. The author of many articles and the editor of a natural family plan60

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ning manual, George served on the board of United for Life – San Francisco from 1998 to 2003, and since 2003 he was what he termed “a bona fide traditionalist” in the Roman Catholic Church. He sang in the Schola Cantorum of the first authorized Traditional Latin Mass in the San Francisco Archdiocese in 40 years. George leaves his wife, Carol; sister, Mrs. Pam Lamb; and children: Quijuan, Kwixuan, Zurvohn, Vyhyanh, Xatrohn, and Yhunuan. 1960: Paul A. Castleman Paul A. Castleman of San Francisco passed away on 19 March 2018. Born in 1942 to Anna and Benjamin Castleman, Paul grew up in Brookline and joined the R.L. Class of 1960 as a sixie. As an upperclassman he rode his motorcycle to school—attired in a scarlet motorcycle jacket and mittens—and was noted by his classmates for being an “allaround guy” who didn’t limit himself to one particular field, interest, or pastime. Particularly proficient in math and science, he was noted for his strength and ability on the football field. In notes to the school later in life, he named Messrs. Bridges, Whitney, and Potter as his most influential R.L. teachers. Paul graduated cum laude and attended Harvard, earning an AB in Applied Math in 1964. He married Sally Teitelbaum and raised a family in the Boston area, working for over 25 years as an executive at Bolt, Beranek & Newman, where he led the development of computer systems for medical research and parallel processing systems. He also served in leadership positions in successful start-up medical software companies Belmont Research and

Lincoln Technologies. Since the mid-1980s, Paul was active in the nuclear disarmament movement, including serving for several years on the board of directors and as a Senate lobbyist for the Council for a Livable World. In 1992 he left Bolt, Beranek & Newman to devote his professional energies to bringing executive business talent to the former Soviet Union. Divorced in 1995, Paul relocated to San Francisco and in 2001 he married Linda Blackstone. A longtime practitioner of Vipassana mindfulness meditation, Paul battled prostate cancer during that time and wrote in a Reunion note in 2000 that he found himself “in the mythic ‘third phase of a man’s life’—the phase of inner life and reflection.” Paul was beloved as a husband, father, and grandfather and a trusted advisor and cherished source of support and wisdom to many friends. Paul is survived by his wife Linda, children Jennie Rosenn, Tony Castleman, and Seth Castleman, and six

R.L. circa 1945

grandchildren. He is also survived by his sisters Ruth Griffin and Jean Chase. Alice Mae Powell Alice Mae (Hand) Powell, 82, of Westwood, died on 26 May 2018. Wife of the late Paul A. Powell ’51 (who served as an R.L. trustee from 1977 to 1982), mother of Paul, David ’79, Robert ’81, and Andrew ’85, and grandmother of Robbie ’11 and Jake ’16, Mrs. Powell served as Director of the Annual Fund from 1978 to 1996. Former Headmaster Tony Jarvis remembers her as one who “not only contributed to the development of our fundraising program but also established herself as someone who cared about and enjoyed our students.” She spent her later working years at C.H. Powell Company. She leaves her sons and their wives; twelve grandchildren; one great-grandchild; a sister; and several nieces and nephews.

Upcoming: For more information, visit www.roxburylatin.org/page/alumni

alumni gatherings

The Patriots’ Nick Caserio is speaker at Alumni Luncheon Wintry weather on the day after Easter did not deter 74 alumni who joined the members of the Class of 2018 at this year’s Spring Alumni Luncheon on Monday, 2 April. The venue was Gillette Stadium’s Putnam Club Premier Lounge. Guest speaker Nick Caserio, director of player personnel for the Patriots, held his guests captive with stories from his decadeplus career with the Pats, after which a lively Q&A ensued. The afternoon included a tour of the facility where the team’s five Lombardi Trophies are on display.

R.L. circa 1945.

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Annual Fund again tops $3.7 million Sets new record for giving

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s the 2017-2018 Annual Fund closed on 31 May, we had not only reached, but exceeded, our goal of $3,600,000. Annual Fund donations totaled $3,778,501, setting another record. Annual Fund Chairman Bill Maffie ’88, ALGC Co-Chairs Bryan Anderson ’88, Jay Mitchell ’96, Andy McElaney ’96 along with Parent Fund Co-Chairs David Bryant and Ellen Berkman and Vice Co-Chairs Michael and Claire Callewaert have done an outstanding job leading a team of dedicated volunteers. As a result, parent participation was 99 percent this

year. Parents raised a record breaking $1,425,956.41—the first time that parent donations topped $1.4 million! Our alumni volunteers have also worked diligently to ensure that the 2017-2018 Annual Fund was a banner year for them—alumni raised $1,446,243.46 with 52% participation. And none of this would be possible without the energetic, persistent leadership of Tobey O’Brien, Annual Fund Director. The continued level of commitment to Roxbury Latin demonstrated through the Annual Fund is both a ringing affirmation of the difference the school makes in boys’

Participation by Reunion Class as of 31 May

lives and a testimonial to the tireless devotion of the men and women who served this year as volunteers. We extend our deepest gratitude to all those who invested in our school this year and allowed us to preserve our unique financial model. On behalf of the boys— your beneficiaries—we thank you for your continued support. There is no better way to honor the boys and their teachers, today and always. Roxbury Latin is the school that it is because of you! Young Alumni Giving Challenge Congratulations to the Class of 2009 for winning the first-ever Young Alumni Giving Challenge! Sixty-nine percent of that class supported this year’s Annual Fund, narrowly beating out the Class of 2012 (see chart, bottom left). The Class of 2009 has secured bragging rights for the year and will gather at a watering hole in Boston this summer to celebrate its efforts on behalf of Alma Mater.

Wear your RL gear with pride! Visit Roxbury Latin’s official online apparel store for a broad selection of customizable merchandise in your favorite brands. Best of all, the proceeds support essential R.L. programs.

Young Alumni Champs: Class of 2009—at 69%!

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Forty Years of the Giant Yard Sale… and of Mrs. Spinale

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orrine Spinale has been a fixture of Roxbury Latin’s “Giant Yard Sale” for four decades. She and Dot McTighe (mother of Thomas ’79 and Bob ’73) founded the sale, as a Parents’ Auxiliary fundraiser, in 1978. Mrs. Spinale—mother of alumnus and trustee Paul Spinale ’81 and Dr. Sue McCrory, of R.L.’s art and history faculty—recalls the sale’s humble beginnings, and she still gets excited about the gems that arrive at her “white elephant” table each year. What has changed about the sale over 40 years? The magnitude of the sale these days is incredible! We used to set up in the smaller junior wrestling room, and we didn’t have nearly the amount of items we do now. I don’t believe we sold clothing then, but we did sell plants; that was a big part of

Corrine Spinale P ’81

the sale in those days. We also used to have lots of silver donated, which we would take home and polish prior to the sale. (We don’t tend to have silver these days. Who wants it anymore?!) What’s remained the same? Oh, the fun! The spirit, the energy, the same friendly folks you see every year. Being part of this sale is great fun.

Do volunteers gravitate toward certain “departments”? People pitch in in the areas that interest them, I think. People who love books sort the books, people who know a lot about computers and electronics organize things over there. People who have been volunteering for a few years in the same area know what sells—they know how to organize and price things. You just sort of get into a ryhthm. And what’s your area? White elephant! I love the while elephant tables. There’s such a great variety of “stuff,” of miscellany. You never know what you’ll find there. (And I don’t have to be too knowledgable about any one thing!) You can find fun treasures there—but anything of real value we bring straight to boutique!

Thank you to the Yard Sale Committee Chairs: Carol Morse, Amy Hutter, Ann Marie Russell, Gail Santry, Tom Santry, Robyn Steinberg, Paula Giancola.

What’s one memory of the sale that particularly stands out to you? I’ve enjoyed seeing some of my R.L. friends’ little ones grow over the years. For instance, you see that strapping young man over there? I remember when he was two years old, testing out every tricycle and riding toy he could find over in the toy section! This community is a real joy.

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

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MAY DAY 2018

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ay Day stands in vivid contrast to the many academic formalities at the end of the R.L. year. And yet, nestled between the Cum Laude Society induction ceremonies and Prize Day, this tradition of contests and mayhem, scrapping and sweat, completes the full spectrum of vitality in the school lives of R.L. boys. Since the seniors are off campus with their ISPs, May Day leadership belongs to Class II. Like our Hall gatherings, May Day draws the whole school together to share one space (the playing fields) and one mind (give or take a few team loyalties).