Boston Latin Academy

Boston Latin Academy
Motto	vita tua sit sincera.
Founded	1877
Head Master	Maria Garcia-Aaronson
School type	Public high school Grades 7–12
Enrollment	c. 1,800
Mascot	Dragons(Jabberwock)

Boston Latin Academy is a secondary school in the Dorchester section of Boston, Massachusetts founded in 1877 as Girls' Latin School.

The school is currently located at 205 Townsend Street and has a student body from 7th grade to 12th grade. The school enrolls students from 7th to 12th grade.

The school, classified as an "Exam School," is a part of the Boston Public Schools.

History

Boston Latin Academy was founded in 1877 as Girls’ Latin School. The founding of the school was the result of citizen and parent participation and the intention to establish college preparatory training for girls. A plan to admit girls to Public Latin School was formed by the Massachusetts Society for the University Education of Women and Henry Durant, president of Wellesley College.

A committee was formed to discuss the issue. A petition with a thousand signatures was presented to the School Board in September 1877. The board referred the question to the subcommittee on high schools.

Meanwhile a group of parents met with the headmaster of Public Latin School and asked that their daughters be admitted. Although the headmaster was willing to teach the girls, he thought it best to wait for the sub committee's decision. Ultimately the subcommittee recommended that a separate Latin School for girls be established.

Girls’ Latin School opened on West Newton Street in Boston’s South End in 1878. The school had only 37 pupils in its 3 classes. The first class graduated in 1880 with 6 members. The number of students grew each year. When the number of students exceeded 350 in 1898, the school committee moved the first four classes to a building in Copley Square while the fifth and sixth remained in the old building. In 1907, Girls’ Latin School moved into a new building, shared with Boston New School located on Huntington Avenue in the Fenway.

The school remained there until 1955, when Teachers’ College expanded, forcing Girls’ Latin School to relocate to the former Dorchester High School for Girls building located in Codman Square.

In 1972, the School Committee recognized a state law that ended sex discrimination in the two Latin Schools. Soon after, boys were accepted into the school and the name was changed to Boston Latin Academy.

In 1981, Latin Academy moved back into the Fenway area, this time to Ipswich Street, across from Fenway Park. It remained there until the summer of 1991, when it moved back again, this time to its present location in the former Boston Technical High School, located on Townsend in Dorchester. In 2006 Boston Latin Academy had 247 graduates, the largest class in their history.

Notable Alumni

*Graduate - Achievement - Graduation Year

• Alice M. Mills, First graduating class of GLS and first Alumnae President 1880
• Natalie W. Linderholm, Founder of Career Center for Social Service in New York 1910
• Alice C. Lacey, Teacher & President of the Girls Latin School Alumnae Assoc. 1914
• Dr. Mary T. Rooney, First Dean of Seton Hall University Law School 1914
• Pamela Robinson-Moore, Author of fiction and children's stories 1920
• Norma Farber, Poet, author, and concert singer 1926
• Bernice Rosenbaum, Founder, Social Workers for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament 1930
• Barbara Washburn, First woman to climb Mt. McKinley 1931
• Eileen Donovan, Career Diplomat with service in the Phillipines 1932
• Mary McGrory, Syndicated columnist for the Washington Star newspaper 1935
• Lillian Gass Savage, Teacher at Sharon H.S. and helped create Student Coalition Against Hatred and Racism 1937
• Eleanor Creed L'Ecuyer, First woman officer to retire as Coast Guard Captain; Prof of GLS Alumnae Assoc. 1951-55 1939

• Eunice Alberts Nicholson, Soloist for Boston Symphony Orchestra 1940
• Priscilla Laubenstein, Educator and designer of a Learning Aid Device for disadvantaged youth 1940
• Nona Rohan Mahoney, Founder of Blue Hill Montessori School 1941
• Martha Bergin Thomas, Engineer-Recipient of the Achievement Award from the Society of Women Engineers 1942
• Maria-Pia Antonelli, Accomplished pianist & recipient of the Star of Italian Solidarity Award 1943
• Jacquelyn Seevak Sanders- Author, lecturer and Director of the Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School at the University of Chicago- 1948
• Norma Swenson- Author, lecturer and presently Director of the Boston Women's Health Book Collections- 1949
• Alice Koerner Wolf- Former Mayor of Cambridge- 1951
• Sarah Ann Shaw- TV-reporter and former host of Say Brother- 1952
• Martina Souretis-Horner, Former President of Radcliffe College- 1957
• Diane White- Columnist for The Boston Globe- 1961
• Jacqueline Adams- Reporter for CBS news- 1968

Athletics

Currently Latin Academy offers a wide variety of sports. Football, Baseball, Girls and Boys Basketball,Girls and Boys Hockey, Girls and Boys Soccer, Girls and Boys Volleyball, A Coed Swimming team, A Coed Track Team, Golf, Softball, Tennis and Cheerleading.

See Also

• Boston Latin School
• John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics & Science

External links

• Boston Latin Academy's website
• Boston Public Schools' Profile PDF for Boston Latin Academy