In this fast-paced era of disposable diapers, trash bags and even one-pair-a-day contact lenses, one can wonder, is there anything worth saving as the ball drops in Times Square and we careen our way into the next millennium? From the vantage point of the country's oldest public school, with four centuries of education under its ever-growing belt, the answer is a resounding "yes." So, as we say goodbye to the 20th century, we leave you with a brief - although certainly not exhaustive - list of memories and traditions about Boston Latin School that every generation of students, masters, alumni and parents should not forget.

Approbation cards
For those students lucky enough to get all As and Bs on their report cards, a highly coveted approbation card is the prize awaiting their good grades. The cards are so coveted that many students save them, including former master Conrad Jameson, class of 1937, who keeps all of his tucked away in a shoebox and boasts of only missing one during his six years as a student.

Apthorpe Gould, Benjamin
What seems to set Benjamin Apthorpe Gould apart from other head masters of distinction at Boston Latin, aside from the fact that he helped pave the way for the school's first library, created declamation and instituted the practice of issuing regular report cards, was that he was very young - in fact, when he was appointed head master in 1814, he was still a senior at Harvard College.

Auditorium frieze
This is no ordinary slab of building material. The frieze, described by one former student as a "very special place," exhibits the names of renowned alumni and masters. "Names like Bullfinch are on the wall," said one alumnus, "so it's one of the things you notice on your first day at the school. Most of the ambitious tykes look up at the frieze and say, 'I'm going to have my name up there someday.'" If so, they'd better hurry. With only a few spaces left, they may soon have to institute a freeze on the frieze. In fact, only one name has been added in the past 20 years - that of composer Leonard Bernstein, class of 1935.

Avenue Louis
Pasteur Today, Boston Latin is closely identified with Avenue Louis Pasteur in Boston's Fenway neighborhood, which the school started building in 1920 to accommodate a growing student population. By the fall of 1922, the first class entered the new building, leaving English High School in possession of the old building on Warren Avenue (which was shared, with English occupying the Montgomery Street side). The new building proved inadequate for the school the very first year, and six extra classrooms were immediately added. Even this addition proved insufficient, and for seven years, the lower classes had to be housed in several annexes. During the 1932-1933 year, the building was extended to about double its original size, and in the fall of 1933 the entire school was finally organized under one roof. By 1988, the building underwent a complete renovation, which included major work on the auditorium and cafeteria, as well as an extension to include a new gymnasium and athletic facility. Today, a visit to the school shows that once again, major reconstruction is taking place and is expected to be completed in the year 2001. By the time it's finished, it will be a far cry from the school's early locations - master's homes and the first schoolhouse, erected in 1645 on the north side of School Street, on the rear of the site now occupied by King's Chapel (a tablet marking the site is located in front of old City Hall).

Boston Latin School Association
Perhaps the oldest high school association of its type - begun in 1844 by then-head master Epes Sargent Dixwell - the Boston Latin School Association serves as a support for the school by managing and administering scholarship funds and by providing grants for academic enrichment, athletics, technology enhancement and faculty development. The team on West Street, led by executive director Fred Markey, class of 1956, has also become the prime link for alumni who want to keep in touch with their alma mater as well as each other. Coordinating the ever-popular reunions and regional events, the association also publishes this very magazine, one of the very few published by public high schools.

Classical method
In many ways, the emphasis on teaching students by the classical method is what has always set BLS apart from other secondary schools. Students, as one might guess by the school's name, are required to take Latin - what is sometimes referred to as the "living language of diplomacy" - for a minimum of five years, with the option to forgo it in the senior year. Surprisingly, despite the option to drop, many decide to stay the course and continue learning about - and translating - Cicero and Ovid.

Cotton, John
The name might not ring a bell, but Boston Latin owes, in many ways, its very existence to John Cotton. An English Puritan clergyman, Cotton came to the "city on a hill" with the dream of one day starting a school like the Free Grammar School of Boston, England, in which Latin and Greek were taught. His dream came true, and Cotton, along with others, was able to start the nation's first public school in the New World in 1635.

Counting light bulbs
As one alumnus noted, at Latin, there is always a reason for an assembly. And what better to do, when the mind starts to wonder, than to look up at the tiny ceiling lights in the auditorium and start counting?

Declamation
Declamation has been, as the BLS catalog points out, "an art nurtured since the founding of the school." Each student, except those in classes I and II, has to declaim -reciting poetry or prose as an exercise in elocution - three times a year in his or her English class. In addition, public declamations are held five times a year. For some students, declamation may be an exercise of sheer terror. But for students receiving the highest marks in three of the first four public declamation competitions, the exercise means something bigger and better: prize declamation, held in May, with a panel of distinguished alumni judges and a sea of parents and friends watching from the auditorium.

Declaration of Independence
How many schools can boast of having, among their alumni pool, a signer of one of the nation's most cherished symbols of liberty and self-governance? Assuming each of the 56 signers went to a different school, at most, 56 schools could claim the honor. However, not all 56 did go to different schools. In fact, enough went to one school - Boston Latin - that they could have formed the starting lineup for their own basketball team (although it would be another 115 years before Naismith would invent the game). The five included Sam Adams, John Hancock, Ben Franklin, Robert Treat Paine and William Hooper.

Extracurricular activities
The number of extracurricular activities offered at Latin is, to say the least, mind-boggling. The catalogue mentions 78 clubs, not including sports, ranging from the expected - yearbook, band and drama society - to the diverse - aggro skate society, Chinese chess and Afrikan Kultural society. Two additional clubs were added since then, bringing the total to 80. As for sports, the concept of the "scholar-athlete" is nurtured, which Jameson '37 notes is probably surprising to many outside the school. "Our kids are not only good at hitting the books," he said, "but also at hitting the baskets and the curveballs."

Football rivalry
Speaking of sports, one of the most endearing - and enduring - traditions at Latin is the rivalry the school has with its football nemesis, English High School. Although the battle of the brawn has diminished somewhat since Latin left the City League, explained Lucia Colombaro, class of 1992, "We still hold the rivalry very dear and the Latin-English game every Thanksgiving is a big event." Under the leadership of Coach Paul Costello, who was recently honored by the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame for his contribution to amateur football, this year's match marks the 113th game.

Fourth-floor swimming pool
No fourth floor, no pool. But hey, why ruin the fun and tell sixies the truth?

Harvard College
More than one alumnus has left the hallowed halls of BLS with the misguided belief that Harvard was created solely for their purposes. And they are not alone in their thinking. As Phillips Brooks, the infamous and highly revered minister of Boston's sacred Trinity Church, pointed out in a story about Boston Latin that he wrote for a 1893 issue of New England Magazine, "It was the classic culture in those earliest days that bound Latin School and Harvard College close together. The college is young beside our venerable school. It did not come to birth till we were four years old. But when the college had been founded, it and the school became, and ever since have made, one system of continuous education." Actually, Brooks was almost right. Harvard College was established in 1636, one year - not four - after Latin opened its doors.

Head Master
Affiliated primarily with private schools (public schools have "principals"), the term "head master" dates back to the 1500s. Since the founding of Boston Latin, the school has had 26 head masters, whom author Brooks defined as "like a priest, between the present and the past, between the living and the dead, between the ideas and the life of the world, his is a noble - nay a holy -priesthood. He is the lens through which pours itself our young human souls; he is the window through which fresh young eyes look out at human life." Had Brooks been writing in 1999 instead of 1893, he would have had to alter his use of pronouns. For the first time in Latin's history, the school has a female head master at the helm - Cornelia Kelley, honorary member of the class of 1944.

Library and media center
Any student who passed through the halls of Latin since the beginning of the century will surely tell you that the school's library, designed and built in the 1920s, has never had adequate space. Luckily, for students of the next century, this will no longer be a problem. In June, carpenters and engineers flocked to Avenue Louis Pasteur to begin work on the long-awaited $35 million renovation of the school, including the creation of a 12,000-square-foot library. Housed in what was once the cafeteria, the library, thanks to a generous donation from Harry Keefe Jr., class of 1939, will include media resource rooms and up-to-date technology. Bibliophiles need not worry: The new digs will still have books.

Mentoring
For many students, the transition to a school like Boston Latin, with such a rigorous academic curriculum, often means they need additional guidance to keep them focused. This is where the Boston Latin Alumni Mentoring Program comes in. Started in 1993, the program has grown from its original 10 kids and 10 mentors to more than two dozen of each. As one volunteer mentor said of the program, "I remember what it was like. BLS is a difficult place, at least in the beginning. To manage it all is hard, and when you're young, you can get overwhelmed. The mentoring program provides a 'reality check' for the kids involved."

Military drill
From the Civil War years until 1961, one of the more popular activities for students was the military drill, also known as the boy's brigade. As Gerald Levenson '56 noted, recalling his days with the khaki-wearing company, "Once a week we would assemble either in the gym or school yard to practice. There was also the annual drill parade, when teams from across the city would march down Commonwealth Avenue to the Boston Common." Even from its earliest days, this parade was so festive that, according to an 1894 newspaper account, the governor would come out of his State House office to watch. "The passage was marked by excellent steadiness on the part of the little fellows," the newspaper account noted, "who went by with their heads erect and their faces square to the front." Levenson added that throughout the years, several changes were made to the drill, including the addition of the drum and bugle corps and the marching band, the latter having the honor of participating in the 1961 inaugural parade in Washington, DC, when the son of Latin alumnus Joseph P. Kennedy '08 became president of the United States.

1972
Although the year may only conjure up images of bell-bottom jeans and "McGovern for President" buttons, it stands as a watershed mark for BLS. It was during this annum that women were admitted for the first time to the student body, under the tenure of then-head master Wilfred O'Leary, class of 1925. Until that point, the boys went to Boston Latin, while the females had their own school, commonly referred to as "Girl's Latin."

Pormort, Philemon
Philemon Pormort holds the distinction of having more than just a great name - he was also chosen, at a general town meeting in 1635, as Latin's first master. His home also served as the school's first meeting place. Despite his initial success at BLS, however, Pormort was forced to leave Boston because of his adherence to the liberal doctrine of Anne Hutchinson, a religious leader whose teachings were not accepted by Puritan officials. Daniel Maude, Pormort's assistant, took his place and moved the school to his home until 1643.

Romulus and Remus
For those whose mythology is a bit rusty, the story behind the figures on the Latin School logo is this: Romulus and Remus, twin sons of Mars and the Vestal Rhea Silvia, were the mythical founders of Rome. At birth, the duo were placed in a basket and set afloat on the Tiber. The basket made its way to a fig tree, where a she-wolf found it and nursed the twins, who were raised by the shepherd family of Faustulus and Acca Larentia. By the time the lads were young men, they found the city of Rome. Unfortunately, their good fortune didn't last. One day, Romulus reportedly used a plow pulled by a white cow and a white bull to cut a groove that marked the city's boundary. Remus disputed the boundary, and was later killed by Romulus. With his brother out of the picture, Romulus had the city to name - which he did, after himself. In addition to gracing the Latin School logo, the image of the twins suckling the she-wolf can be found on coins, the most common issued during what is known as the "Constantine commemorative period," ca. 330-346 AD.

Sixies
Often likened to being a plebe at West Point, "sixies" - the BLS equivalent of a seventh grader - have always taken a lot of heat at the school. Called sixies because they have six years to go, this youngest group of students at Boston Latin not only bear the brunt of good-natured joking and pranks by their elder classmates (who went through the same ribbing when they were sixies), but also spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to navigate the seemingly endless hallways. Which is why, at the beginning of every school year, it's not uncommon to find the lockers of most sixies empty - as the fear of being late while trying to find a class tends to keep the backpacks full.

Student publications
For aspiring editors, writers, poets, graphic designers and photojournalists, two student publications at Boston Latin have provided outlets for their talents - the Register and the Argo. The Register was, for most of its 120-year history, the school's main literary attraction. Today, the magazine makes claim to numerous awards and was last year named the best high school magazine in New England by the New England Scholastic Press Association. It also earned the rating of "superior" by the National Council of Teachers of English Program. The Argo, overshadowed for many years by its elder sister publication, having started production just 29 years ago, has come of age. Last year, the monthly newspaper won the "superior achievement" award from the New England Scholastic Press Association.

Despite its classical approach to education, Boston Latin has always put a lot of faith in innovation. The Connections Program is no exception. Created through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the cross-disciplinary program for eighth graders began during the 1990-91 academic year. A group of six to eight teachers "share" the same group of students, usually two to four classes. Working in teams, the teachers jointly develop a new curriculum, plan interdisciplinary activities and projects, meet with students and parents, and evaluate student performance. Classes are also grouped and include an arts component, such as studio arts and theater, as well as "themes" such as mythology and the power of images. After the program completed its first year, a survey found that more than 90 percent of parents of students in the program described a favorable change in their child's attitude toward school.

A national education and teacher training program, Facing History and Ourselves was begun 20 years ago by Brookline High School teacher Margo Stern Strom in an effort to help students examine racism, prejudice and anti-Semitism, as well as how people live and how they can work together for a more peaceful world. Boston Latin got involved after Sheldon Seevak '46 heard about the program from a colleague at his investment firm, Goldman, Sachs & Company. Administrators then came up with a plan to bring the program to the school, and Seevak came up with the funding, in part, he told the Bulletin in 1997, because "Latin is developing society's future leaders, and we need leaders who can think as openly and with as little prejudice as possible." The pilot year in 1996-97 had more than 60 students enrolling. Today, more than 160 students have benefited from the program.