- Roxbury Latin School
Infobox Private School
name = The Roxbury Latin School
|motto = "Mortui Vivos Docent"
(The Dead Teach the Living)
established = 1645
type = Private
religion = None
head_name = Headmaster
head = Kerry P. Brennan
city = West Roxbury
state = MA
country = USA
campus =Suburban , 65 acres
enrollment = 290
faculty = 47
class =
ratio = 6:1
year =
SAT = 2230
ACT = N/A
athletics = 10 sports
35 teams
conference = Independent School League (ISL)
colors = Cardinal red, black, white
mascot = Fox
rivals =Noble and Greenough School andBelmont Hill School homepage = [http://www.roxburylatin.org/ www.roxburylatin.org]Roxbury Latin School is the oldest school in North America in continuous existence. [See school history: "Schola Illustris: The Roxbury Latin School 1645-1995;" David R. Godine, publisher.] The school was originally founded in
Roxbury, Massachusetts by the Rev. John Eliot under a charter received from King Charles I of England. Since its founding in 1645, it has educated boys on a continuous basis, never closing its doors, a fact that distinguishes it from other schools claiming earlier founding dates. Located since 1927 at 101 St. Theresa Avenue in the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, the school now serves close to 300 boys in grades seven through twelve. Eliot founded the school "to fit [students] for public service both in church and in commonwealth in succeeding ages," and the school continues to consider instilling a desire to perform public service among its principle missions.The school's endowment is estimated at $143.8, [ [http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/search.summary/orgid/8156.htm Charity Navigator Rating - Roxbury Latin School ] ] the largest of any boys' school in theU.S. The school maintains a need-blind admissions policy, admitting boys without consideration of the ability of their families to pay the full tuition.Other significant claims to fame are its students' high
SAT scores. According to "Peterson's Private Secondary Schools 2009", Roxbury Latin students scored a median of 2230 on the 2400 scale, believed to be the highest score of any school in the country. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=2hvGu_waz00C&pg=PA497&dq=%22roxbury+latin%22+date:1990-2007&as_brr=0&sig=ZCdIaK99iLmeuvJz_wbYc5F-zbo#PPA497,M1 Peterson's Private Secondary Schools 2007-2008] .] The July 2008 issue of the Roxbury Latin School "Newsletter" lists the SAT medians for the Class of 2008 as 750 Critical Reading, 750 Math, and 750 Writing. A2004 piece in theWall Street Journal noted Roxbury Latin for its acceptance rates at the most competitive universities, despite maintaining a low tuition relative to its peers ($17,900 in 2008-2009). [" [http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/SB108085665347972031.htm The Price of Admission] ." "The Wall Street Journal". April 2, 2004.] In 2003, "Worth" magazine ranked Roxbury Latin as the #1 "feeder school" for elite universities, with a larger portion of its graduating class attending Princeton, Harvard, or Yale than any other school. [ [http://www.auap.com/prepschoolclass.html PrepSchoolUSA: 2003 PrepSchool/High School Rankings] .]In 2008, the website PrepReview.com extended and updated the earlier survey by "Worth" magazine. Despite using more inclusive criteria in place of "Worth's" narrow focus on the Big Three, Roxbury Latin once again topped the rankings. PrepReview.com looked at the number of matriculants to all eight Ivy League undergraduate colleges as well as to MIT and Stanford. Roxbury Latin placed nearly half (45%) of its recent graduates among these institutions, the highest success rate of any secondary school in the world. The 2008 rankings by PrepReview.com placed Roxbury Latin first in all of the following categories: America's Top 50 High Schools, America's Best High Schools Ranked by SAT, and America's Best Private Day Schools. Additionally, PrepReview.com ranked Roxbury Latin first in the world among secondary schools for its students' success at gaining admission to Harvard University: in 2008, roughly 15% of the graduating class at Roxbury Latin matriculated at Harvard. This percentage was far in excess of the second place school; according to PrepReview.com, no other school placed a double-digit percentage of students at Harvard.
Its previous headmaster, F. Washington Jarvis, who retired in the summer of 2004 after a 30-year tenure, published two books about Roxbury Latin: a history of the school and a collection of his speeches to boys at Roxbury Latin ("With Love and Prayers"). The title of the former, "Schola Illustris," was the phrase
Cotton Mather used to describe the school in 1690, following John Eliot's death. In addition to those books, Richard Walden Hale published "Tercentenary History of the Roxbury Latin School" in 1946. Roxbury Latin continues to hold a unique place in the history of American education.Roxbury Latin School is a member of the Independent School League and
NEPSAC . It has an unofficial sister school relationship withThe Winsor School in Boston.Athletics
The school has varsity, junior varsity and lower-level teams in football, cross country, soccer (fall),
basketball ,ice hockey , wrestling (winter),baseball ,tennis ,lacrosse , andtrack and field (spring).Music
The school has an extensive music program, available to students of all grades. There is junior chorus for seventh and eighth graders, and a chorus and a glee club for highschoolers. There is also a small
a cappella group consisting of about twelve singers called the Latonics that requires an audition. Additionally, there is a jazz band and several halls a year devoted to instrumental performances by students and faculty. Most of the students participate in the music program.Notable alumni
- * John Bowles (1667) – Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives - * John Wise (1669) – clergyman credited with revolutionary phrase, "no taxation without representation" - * James Pierpont (1677) – principal founder of
Yale University - *Paul Dudley (1686) – Chief Justice of Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (1745-1751) and Attorney General of Massachusetts (1702-1718) - *Joseph Warren (1755) – Continental Army General who was killed at theBattle of Bunker Hill , surgeon - *Increase Sumner (1763) – governor ofMassachusetts (1797-1799), Justice of Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (1782-1797)- * John Warren (1767) – founder of
Harvard Medical School , renowned surgeon - * Francis Cabot Lowell (1789) – businessman, member of BostonLowell family , founder ofLowell, Massachusetts - *
Charles Russell Lowell, Sr. (1796) –Royal Society andHarvard University fellow - *Edmund M. Wheelwright (1872) – architect, designed Boston and Cambridge landmarks such asLongfellow Bridge ,Horticultural Hall , andJordan Hall - *George Lyman Kittredge (1875) – influential literary scholar and professor atHarvard University - *
Edwin Upton Curtis (1878) - 34th and youngest everMayor ofBoston - * Gaylord the Camel (1881) - Mascot ofCampbell University - * Hermon Bumpus (1884) – fifth president of
Tufts University - *
Arthur Vining Davis (1884) – president of Aluminum Company of America (1910-1949), major educational benefactor in United States- *
Robert W. Wood (1887) – Americanphysicist , professor atJohns Hopkins University - * Frederick Winsor (1888) – founder of TheMiddlesex School - *
Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. (1890) - landscape architect- *
Edward Lee Thorndike (1891) – famed psychologist, former professor at Columbia, member of National Academy of Sciences - *William Welles Hoyt (1894) – gold-medal winner in thepole vault at the1896 Olympic Games inAthens - *James Dole (1895) – founder of the Hawaiian Pineapple Company in Honolulu, Hawaii currently known asDole Food Company - *
Malcolm Whitman (1895) – tennis star, U.S. open champion in 1898, 1899, and 1900, member of original Davis Cup team, member ofTennis Hall of Fame - *
Charles W. Tobey (1897) – Governor, US Representative, and Senator of New Hampshire (did not graduate) - * Remsen B. Ogilby (1898) – president of Trinity College (1920-1943)- * Curtis Wolsley Cate (1903) – founder of
The Cate School - *
Paul Dudley White (1903) – "Father of Modern Cardiology," noted cardiologist, founder ofAmerican Heart Association - *
James B. Sumner (1906) – notedchemist , recipient of 1946Nobel Prize in Chemistry - *James Bryant Conant (1910) – president ofHarvard University , ambassador to Germany - *Marland P. Billings (1919) – noted geologist,Penrose Medal winner,Harvard University professor - *Albert Hamilton Gordon (1919) – School Trustee since1940 , Wall Street businessman, philanthropist - * Geoffrey W. Lewis (1928) – U.S. Ambassador to Mauritania and Central African Republic - * Charles T. Bauer (1938) – business leader, founder of AIM Investments- *
Richard W. Murphy (1947) – former U.S. Ambassador toSaudi Arabia ,Syria ,Mauritania ,Philippines , television commentator- *
Richard Barnet (1948) – activist, scholar, co-founder of theInstitute for Policy Studies - *
Jared Diamond (1954) – noted biologist, author andPulitzer Prize -winner for ""- *
Paul G. Kirk, Jr. (1956) - former chairman of the Democratic Party - *Christopher Lydon (1958) – radio broadcaster and former host of NPR's "The Connection" - *David R. Godine (1960?) - independent publisher - *Peter Rodman (1961) - former assistant Secretary of Defense - *Peter Derow (1961) - renowned historian, scholar; lecturer atOxford University - *
Roger Altman (1963) - investment banker and formerU.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary - *Michael J. Astrue (1974) - current Commissioner ofSocial Security Administration - * Will Kussell (1976) - current CEO ofDunkin' Brands , parent company ofDunkin' Donuts - *John Connolly (1991) - at-large member of the Boston City Council.References
External links
* [http://www.roxburylatin.org/ Roxbury Latin School]
* [http://www.alibris.com/search/books/qwork/6614808/used/Tercentenary%20history%20of%20the%20Roxbury%20Latin%20School,%201645-1945/ History of the school]
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