The mission of the school, since its founding, has been to prepare boys to “lead and serve.” Throughout the year, boys commit themselves and volunteer their time to serving others, in a number of ways.

Community Service

Concern for others is one of the school’s paramount values. Our service initiatives aim to give students various and varied opportunities to realize the satisfaction that “giving back” can provide them throughout their RL years and beyond. Although we strongly encourage boys to take part in all-school, class-wide, and individual service initiatives, we also believe that participation should be voluntary rather than required. Therefore, we do not have compulsory service hours. However, we are gratified that all students do participate willingly and cheerfully.

With the assistance of class deans and the faculty director of community service, our Service Corps—comprised of more than 20 student volunteers drawn from each of the six classes—coordinate individual service projects for each class as well as several school-wide projects open to boys of any grade level. The Service Corps also oversees our three-week food/clothing/shoe/toy service drive in January.

Class-wide service projects for the 2024-2025 school year:

  • Class I boys make monthly visits to Perkins School for the Blind, planning and taking part in various activities with visually impaired students. Seniors also regularly prepare Saturday meals and wash dishes at the Women’s Lunch Place in Back Bay.
  • On Tuesday afternoons, Class II prepares meals at Community Servings in Jamaica Plain that are distributed to shelters throughout the area.
  • Class III boys volunteer at Haley House, an organization in the South End that serves the homeless and low-income residents of the city. Each month, the boys plan, shop for food, cook, and serve a Sunday lunch for elderly guests. In addition, sophomores sponsor a community cleanup, helping needy residents in their own neighborhoods with leaf-raking and general yard maintenance.
  • Groups of six or seven Class IV boys visit our elderly neighbors at the Deutsches Altenheim once a month for varied activities such as poetry readings, music sing-alongs, art shows, board games, and even just chats.
  • Boys in Class V help out at the Dedham Food Pantry once a month, assisting with “shopping” and loading food into cars. In addition, the entire class gathers pledges for and participates in the annual Walk for Hunger in early May.
  • Class VI boys walk to Theresa’s School, our neighbors down the hill, to meet with and tutor their elementary school students. Also, all boys do the Winter Walk through West Roxbury each February as a fundraiser to support the Pine Street Inn and raise awareness of homelessness in Boston’s coldest month.

In addition to these class projects, our boys participate in numerous all-school initiatives:

  • Ethos–Technology Tutoring: Boys in Classes I through III teach computer skills to senior citizens here at school on Tuesday afternoons throughout the school year.
  • Habitat for Humanity: Students 16 years and older participate in several “builds” each year, most recently in Malden, Roslindale, and Roxbury.
  • Prison Book Program: Boys help the volunteer staff of the PBP to fill requests for books from incarcerated men and women in prisons around the country.
  • Maru a Pula School, Gaborone, Botswana: All students help raise money to support a scholarship for an orphan/at risk student enrolled at the school. “Dress-down day” donations from students are voluntary.
  • Medicines for Humanity: Founded 25 years ago by Roxbury Latin alumnus Tim Bilodeau, Medicines for Humanity provides medicines and medical support worldwide to prevent and treat childhood diseases that claims millions of lives per year. As part of its winter service drive, Roxbury Latin raises money to support this worthy undertaking.
  • This past year, students raised $1,500 to support A Shot for Life, a sports-based non-profit that funds health and cancer research initiatives.
  • 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament: All students can participate in a tournament to raise money for Habitat for Humanity as well as the Maru a Pula School.
  • Project D.E.E.P: The mission of the Dorchester Educational Enrichment Program is “to foster the educational, athletic, and social growth and development of middle school children of all races, creeds, and ethnic backgrounds throughout the Dorchester community.” Roxbury Latin boys serve as tutors to middle-schoolers for 90 minutes per week at the Leahy-Holloran Community Center in Dorchester.
  • The Eliot Burying Ground Cleanup: Class VI boys spend a service morning each year participating in maintenance of the grave site of John Eliot, our Founder, and the rest of the cemetery.
  • Hale Reservation: Class V boys do seasonal trail clean-up and facility maintenance within the network of the nearby reservation.

In addition to these structured, school-sponsored programs, many boys participate in service activities through their churches, synagogues, and community organizations. We also offer in-house service opportunities: Many older boys tutor younger boys through our extensive tutoring program, and most boys serve as admission tour guides throughout the year. Class I students serve as big brothers to new boys, several staff the Sixie Seminar, and many members of the senior class choose service work to wrap up their school careers during their four-week Independent Senior Projects in May.

Finally, it goes without saying that all students are expected to lend a hand whenever and however they may be needed in the course of the school year, and we can count on them to do so with good humor.

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