Boston Latin School
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| Motto: Sumus Primi</small> | |||
| Founded | April 23 1635 | ||
| Headmistress | Ms. Cornelia A. Kelley | ||
| School type | Public high school
Grades 7-12 | ||
| Enrolment | c. 2,400 | ||
| Mascot | Romulus and Remus at the teats of a wolf | ||
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Founded on April 23 1635, Boston Latin School in Boston, Massachusetts, is the oldest school in the United States. Its curriculum follows that of the 18th century Latin school movement, which holds Latin to be the basis of an educated mind. Four years of Latin is mandatory for all pupils.
The school's first class was in single figures, but it now has 2,400 pupils drawn from throughout Boston. It has produced four Harvard presidents, four Massachusetts governors, and five signers of the Declaration of Independence. William Lloyd Garrison, Benjamin Franklin, and Louis Farrakhan are its most famous dropouts.
Public declamation is the most time-honored of the school's traditions. Pupils give an oration to the school five times during the year. Those who score well in three of the first four public declamations are given the chance to declaim in front of alumni judges for endowed awards in "Prize Declamation".
In 1791, Benjamin Franklin established a legacy to fund the Franklin Medals. He stipulated that the medals be awarded to the school's top-ranking pupils at graduation. The second most prestigious awards – the Dixwell Prizes – are given to pupils excelling in Latin or Greek.
Among the less illustrious traditions at Latin School is Sixie Rush Day, when upperclassmen blatantly ignore any anti-hazing laws to terrify the entering seventh graders.
For the graduating class, it is traditional for a student to ask the headmaster to the senior prom, where they will awkwardly dance with each other.
The school's motto is "Sumus Primi".
Famous students
- Samuel Adams
- Leonard Bernstein
- Phillips Brooks
- Thomas Bulfinch
- Richard A. Clarke
- Cid Corman
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Louis Farrakhan
- Arthur Fiedler
- Benjamin Franklin
- William Lloyd Garrison
- John Hancock
- Henry Lee Higginson
- Joseph Kennedy
- Cotton Mather
- Josiah Quincy
- Sumner Redstone
- George Santayana
External links
- Boston Latin School official website (http://bls.org/)
- Boston Latin School Association (http://blsa.org/)
- Boston Public Schools' Profile PDF for the Boston Latin School (http://boston.k12.ma.us/schools/RC612DEC2004.pdf)