Fabiola Alanis

President

Dear Seniors,

Congratulations! 🙂 I’d like to start off by expressing what an honor it’s been to be a part of this class and to grow alongside all of you for the past four or six years. Sometimes I think it’s unbelievable that only a short time ago we were all these small, fresh-faced sixies or B-sies, so unsure of what BLS would do for us (or to us) and what our lives would look like at the end of our senior year. 

I’ll be the first to admit that this was never what I imagined. My senior year is nothing like what I described in my sixie letter, and I’m glad. I am happy to say that I am leaving BLS as a completely different person than the one who pops up in my Snap memories and I believe that all of you are too. I hope that for you, just like for me, BLS has been an extremely formative experience, something that you can look back on and say, “I can’t imagine my life without having gone to that school.” 

Because as much as you stressed about your work and teachers, the truth is that your time here, regardless of what you did, was unique and worthwhile. As our time quickly approaches its end, I think it is important to look at how far you’ve come. Someway, somehow, you’ve all successfully completed the dreaded declamations, survived life in the basement as an eighth grader and ultimately made it to the long-awaited Graduation day. I am so proud of the BLS Class of 2023 and I know that you will all achieve thousands of amazing things in the years to come. 

With that being said, however, I’d like to leave you all with one message: don’t stop now. Many of us were fortunate to take advantage of the numerous resources that our school offered and while I believe that those accomplishments are worth commending and celebrating, I’d like to encourage you all to keep going. Look at the next four years as your chance to do everything you’ve ever imagined and to also try doing things you can’t even imagine now, all so that by the time your 2027 Graduation rolls around, you are not only excited to move on, but are completely satisfied because you made the most out of your time.

It’s been such a pleasure to be your co-president this year and I can’t wait to see what life has in store for all of you. I wish you all the best of luck!!

Fabiola Alanis

Riccardo Rollo

President

As I reflect on my time at Boston Latin School, one thing keeps coming back to me: nothing is impossible when we work together. Seriously, I can’t think of any instance where we did things alone. Whether it was a student getting sent to Mrs. Murray’s office for jumping on the lunch tables or a student winning a prestigious academic award, the impact of our classmates was always there. We lived in this school together and supported one another through the ups and downs. When our grade faced hardships, we united to comfort each other; when something positive happened, we gathered to celebrate. We truly grew up together. 

Now that we embark on our separate paths, I hope the sense of community that we fostered during our time here will endure. My dream is that the challenges and achievements each and every one of us will face in the future will be commemorated by all, and our class of 410 individuals will be known across the world as the BLS Class of 2023. 

We’ve all heard the phrase that BLS is the hardest school out there, but if we truly believe it, then there’s no limit to what our class can accomplish. My parting message is simple: follow your dreams. Whatever it may be, chase after it, because the relationships and tools gained from a school like BLS will unlock the opportunities to achieve any dream that you set your mind to. 

Before I wrap this up, I want to give a shoutout to my fellow class officers as well as Mrs. Sarkis and Mrs. Encarnacao for making this year special. I also want to express my gratitude to each and every one of you for creating the incredible environment that exists at BLS. There were times when school work seemed impossible, but I could always count on my classmates for support. We grew academically, and the blossomed friendships and relationships emerged will have a lasting impact on my life. 

It has been an absolute honor to be part of this remarkable class, and I’ll cherish the memories we’ve created over these years forever. I can’t wait to celebrate the amazing accomplishments awaiting everyone in this graduating class. 

Class of 2023, keep moving forward together,

Ricky Rollo

Nyla Anderson

Vice President

It has been an incredibly long, majorly exhausting, painstakingly difficult beautiful six years (or four). While I can’t say I’d do it all over again, I can easily say I wouldn’t have wanted to do it with anyone else. Class of 2023 is a class I’ll forever be proud to be a part of, and I couldn’t be more honored to have been VP with my lovely fellow officers. Despite our differences, we’ve all helped form a community that’s all our own.

I remember coming into sixie year and knowing one person. One out of just over 400. Now we can walk through the halls and call each other out by name regardless of how close we are. Maybe it’s because of sixie year math, where the second you met, you laughed so much that the teacher split you up, and then from across the room you still found reasons to laugh. Maybe an eighth-grade science class, where you sat beside someone for just the first term, but they never failed to make the class more bearable. It could have been Latin freshman year, spent doodling, whispering and learning nothing but still making the best out of an otherwise tedious class. An unlikely ally in a Zoom breakout room, a forever friend in French 4 or a friendship reconfigured in 014.

Whatever it was for you, odds are it happened at least once. And maybe that once was exactly what you needed to get you through at that moment. I’ll forever be grateful for all of you, for understanding what school is like here and for always being willing to help a friend.

Looking back on our time at BLS isn’t all positive — no high school experience is — but there’s something special about working as hard as we did and coming out the other end together. There’s pride here: for ourselves and for each other. No one here can walk away and say that these past six years were easy. I’m proud of all of you. Whether it was conquering declamation, finally finishing your Junior Research Paper or simply passing AP Lit this year, you’ve all done incredible things here. As we get ready to say our final goodbyes to this building, I’m confident that you’ll continue to do incredible things.

Let’s not worry too much about the future right now though. Take this time to hug your friends extra tight. Tell them you’re proud of them, and then tell yourself too. Gush about prom, graduation and senior sign out. Just please, enjoy your last few weeks before we join the esteemed BLS alumni (that’s genuinely so insane to say). We finally did it! Congratulations Class of ‘23. It’s been a hell of a ride.

All my love,

Nyla

Michelle Zhang

Treasurer

Class of 2023,

“Where’d All the Time Go?” I have to admit, I’ve been staring at a blinking vertical black line for just about half an hour now, with absolutely nothing on my page. Writing this was harder than writing my Term 3 AP Lit paper (sorry, Ms. Moon). Though, admittedly, it’s pretty hard to say goodbye to something we never thought would arrive. It’s even harder to say goodbye to something that we don’t want to leave behind. It seems strange, though, to not want to leave behind the 5:00 A.M. wake-ups, the jitters before declamation or the sound of critters (a euphemism) running through the pipes. The elation of “It’s All Over” seeps into melancholy as we’re staring up at our childhood bedroom ceilings at night, wondering how much of this we’ll remember a week, a month, a year from now.

“Everything must come to an end,” but even so, our memories keep this chapter from closing shut. Yes, ten years from now, we may not all be in the same state, country or even planet… but it is with a 100 percent guarantee that I can say a small smile will appear on our faces whenever we hear the words “beautiful people.” I can also guarantee that a dangerously large smile will don our faces whenever someone says “I am an alumni…” instead of “I am an alumnus…” And of course, our memories of how to sing “sumus agricolae, bum ba dum bum bum bum bum…” is forever a cherished classic.

1,080 school days later (or maybe 720 if you’re lucky) and it’s graduation day. These are precisely the “Good Old Days.” We know it. We feel it. We see it in the uncontainable smiles of our faces. We see it in the tears rolling down our cheeks (not me, though, I just have allergies). It’s been a fantastic ride. Time is flying, but so are we.

One final ciao,

Michelle Zhang

And of course, non-MLA citations (in order): Dr. Dog, every senior class ever, Bojack, RS, Farmers Insurance Ad, Andy Bernard.

Nicky Tran

Secretary

CLASS OF 2023! Where’d all the time go?

Just kidding. We’ve been waiting for this moment our whole lives and WE DID IT!

Congratulations to us all for these past four or six years, ‘cause it’s truly been a crazy time of our lives. I knew almost no one coming into Boston Latin, and as the shy girl who always wore the same black leggings and ponytail up in sixie year, I am truly grateful to have been given the chance to be your Senior Class Secretary. I never would have imagined it. I also never would have imagined bonding over such memorable (traumatizing) experiences with you all, and I wouldn’t have shared them with any other class. From memorizing Latin declensions and conjugations (core memory: ubi est porcus?), to the horrors of declamation (my outfits were dreadful), to those goofy PACER tests (that I actually tried really hard on) and of course, to the pandemic. We’re a class that made history, a class that’s been through history, and a class that can change history. I am so genuinely proud of you all.

There is no denying that BLS has made us all feel like we’ve been dragged through the mud. Yet we’re all here, at the finish line together, and I can’t wait to see all our caps up in the air! I admit, it’s slightlyyy bittersweet, but I really couldn’t be happier to see us all starting new chapters in our lives. I am extremely honored to be part of the same graduating class as you all. To be able to sit in classrooms filled with so much youthful talent and intelligence — I will always be in awe at how much we all have accomplished, and how much we are all capable of. 

I personally hate being sappy, but there comes a time where I can’t help it — so it will continue (apologies to those who share the same hatred for sappiness as me). The friends we’ve made along the way will last a lifetime, or at least longer than a cup of coffee that a teacher catches you holding in the hallways. I can’t express how thankful I am to those who have stuck by me (including the faculty), because I owe it all to you for helping me through the times when I struggled so much that I couldn’t see the end of it. Having a shoulder to cry on (or to lean on as I fell asleep on the tedious subway ride home) has allowed me to get so far, and it’s opened my eyes to the community we built as the Class of ‘23. 

I would also like to thank my fellow Class Officers — Fabric, Rique, Nylon and Michelin, for joining me in bringing the community together for our final year, and although we didn’t get our toga day or an actual good picture together (we desperately need one), we worked hard to make senior year the best it could be.

Here’s to the Class of 2023! Live in the moment, get more sleep and don’t feel pressured to have your life all figured out. I’m looking forward to watching your stories unfold for these next chapters. And to those still here, I’m sure you got this. 🙂 

Toodles, 

Nicky Tran