Reference.com

Roxbury Latin School

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

Roxbury Latin School is the oldest school in North America in continuous existence. 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 a number of schools with 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 its principle mission. The school's endowment is estimated at $143.8, the largest of any boys' school in the U.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 2007-2008", RL students scored a median of 2230 on the 2400 scale, believed to be the highest score of any school in the country. A 2004 piece in the Wall Street Journal noted Roxbury Latin for its acceptance rates at the most competitive universities, despite maintaining a low tuition relative to its peers (about $17,000 in 2008). 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.

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 with The Winsor School in Boston.

Notable alumni

Athletics

The school has varsity, junior varsity and lower-level teams in football, cross country, soccer (fall), basketball, ice hockey, wrestling (winter), baseball, tennis, and lacrosse (spring).

Music

The school has an extensive music program, available for students of all ages. There is junior chorus for seventh and eighth graders, and a Chorus and a Glee Club for highschoolers. In addition there is a small a capella group consisting of about twelve singers called the Latonics that requires an audition. For instruments, there is a jazz band and several halls a year devoted to instrumental performers within the school. Most of the students participate in the music program.

References

External links



Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Thursday July 24, 2008 at 12:51:59 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation