Uncategorized – Page 3 – A Student Publication of the Roxbury Latin School

Varsity Wrestling toughs it out

By Mat Cefail I

Varsity Wrestling was optimistic coming out of the gates. We were already predicted to be one of the top teams in the league, and we were scheduled to compete with Governors and Nobles for second place. This held true throughout our season as we dominated. Our ISL dual meet record by the end of the year was 14-3. Those losses coming from close meets against Governors and Nobles. As many of you know this year the annual Graves Kelsey ISL Championship tournament was hosted by RL. It was one of the best-run tournaments credited by many coaches present– a big thank you to all who helped out. RL overall took 4th missing third by a small margin to Nobles.

What will a coronavirus summer feel like?

By Ben Chang-Holt II

As Roxbury Latin boys looked ahead to the summer of 2020, they were worried about what was to come. Was there any chance of getting a paying summer job? Could they still be selected for that coveted research internship they had been hoping for? Would they be able to travel around the world? Most RL boys gave up, only making plans to sleep in until noon, play video games all day, and binge-watch The Office for the 14^th time. Many resigned themselves to the inevitable: their summer would, sadly, be utterly “unproductive.” Then, COVID-19 arrived.

Three departed faculty make room for Zoom interviews

By John Harrington I

Recently, one of my highlights of the quarantine was the opportunity to sit down (virtually) through Zoom with three esteemed former RL faculty members, Matt Dinger, Andrew Kingsley, and Cary Snider. They were all glad to share their fond experiences at school and to shed light on the next chapters of their lives. Here are their interviews, in the order of how much I liked them as teachers, along with my editorial commentary. I’m totally kidding. It’s just alphabetical:

Theo rises to the challenge of baking bread

By Theo Coben V

You ever just be chilling on your couch down in the dumps compulsively sucking your thumb and then decide to make sourdough? Yea, so like any 55-year-old woman who recently moved on from her Hamilton phase, I tried to do that. The dough takes a few weeks to develop because it needs a “starter,” which is an active yeast culture, so things get kinda funky if you do not attend to it. I kinda forgot about the whole project a few weeks in and left the boy out for a few weeks. I got pretty scared when it turned a color it really shouldn’t, and worse, I turned to my last resort: I created an account on an amateur Bread Forum. Under the alias “GettingThatBread,” I set out to revive said sourdough in these exact words:

Thank You, Mr. Wildes

Beloved teacher-coach returns to his alma mater, Pomfret School

By Mat Cefail I

This spring we must sadly say goodbye to Mr. Josh Wildes, who will be leaving RL after eight years. Mr. Wildes taught calculus, analysis, geometry, and algebra, which were always both fun and rewarding. He coached junior lacrosse for six years, and he led the school’s Anime Club for two. In addition to these activities, Mr. Wildes was the head coach of varsity wrestling for all eight years. In the 2018-2019 wrestling season, he was inducted into New England’s Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as Coach of the Year.

Tactics of big-spending candidates raise questions about campaign financing

By John Harrington I

The fight for the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 2020 included a very interesting and diverse race. The initial field was massive, including young startups Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Andrew Yang, experienced moderates Joe Biden and Amy Klobuchar, progressives Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, tenacious representative Tulsi Gabbard, along with a full cast of relatively minor players who dropped out along the way. Perhaps the most notable pairing in this array were the two billionaires, businessman Tom Steyer and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The Nevada Democratic Primary Debate on February 12, 2020

Offseason decisions hint at the future of the Pats

By David D’Alessandro II

Let’s begin with the many, many changes that have occurred this offseason. Most notably, beloved quarterback Tom Brady is leaving after 20 seasons, and although he wrote a nice twitter post, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s moving to Tampa Bay. With weapons such as Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, the most productive wide receiver duo in the NFL last year, and the recent retiree, Rob Gronkowski, the Buccaneers have favorable odds for stealing the NFC South Crown from the Saints. The Pats will also have some big holes to fill on the defense, losing two key defensive players, Kyle Van Noy to the Dolphins and Jamie Collins to the Lions, both of whom were defensive leaders and performers.

Standardized testing is a victim of the pandemic

By Aidan Cook I

The coronavirus pandemic has caused everyone to reconsider how to assess students as they start thinking about college. This year, the College Board, the institution that organizes and administers most of the standardized tests high schoolers take as they apply to college, has announced that AP tests will be given remotely and that SAT tests will be cancelled until at least August. These changes have far-reaching implications in the college process for not only juniors but also younger students.

Rapid research efforts offer pandemic hope

By Raj Saha VI

Throughout the past two months, many organizations have sought to prevent the social, economic, and health impacts of coronavirus. While much emphasis has been placed on the social and economic implications, we must remember that this a health crisis at its root. The invisible clouds of fear encircling our communities and the plunging of stock markets are simply ramifications of an insidious virus amongst us. So, if we were able to create a remedy and neutralize the virus, all social and economic consequences would diminish. Thankfully, there is hope. With the collaboration of brilliant minds from biotech and pharmaceutical companies, government agencies, and academia, we have developed our own intellectual army to combat COVID-19. All of these people are together in the quest to substantially reduce the mortality rates of this virus, hopefully to levels similar to influenza (flu) virus.

Please stop writing about Corona!

By Dennis Jin V

These are extraordinary circumstances and extraordinary times. Our lives have been upended and our livelihoods changed, possibly forever. Everything is online now: our classes, our work, and, most troublingly, our knowledge about the outside world.