Alumni Profiles
Caroline Minter Hoxby, ’84, is a recipient
of the Smithsonian Magazine’s 2013
American Ingenuity Award in the field
of education. A leading scholar in the
economics of education, Hoxby developed
an innovative, data-driven process
that helps highly selective colleges and
universities recruit talented students
who otherwise might not apply due to
financial barriers.
Hoxby is a professor of economics
at Stanford University, a senior fellow
at the Hoover Institution where she is a
member of the Koret Task Force on K-12
Education, and director of the Economics
of Education Program at the National
Bureau of Economic Research. She is also
a presidential appointee to the National
Board of Education Sciences. She holds
a Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, studied at Oxford as a Rhodes
Scholar, and earned her undergraduate
degree from Harvard University.
SHAKER LIFE | SUMMER 2014 15
Aaron David Miller, ’67, vice president
for new initiatives and a distinguished
scholar at the Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars, is
the author of a new book, The End of
Greatness: Why America Can’t Have (and
Doesn’t Want) Another Great President.
For two decades, Miller served at
the Department of State as an advisor to
Republican and Democratic Secretaries
of State, where he helped formulate
U.S. policy on the Middle East. He has
served as senior advisor for Arab-Israeli
negotiations, as a senior member of the
State Department’s policy planning staff,
in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research,
and in the Office of the Historian.
He served on the United States
Holocaust Memorial Council and is a past
president of Seeds for Peace, a nonprofit
organization dedicated to empowering
young leaders from regions of conflict.
Miller holds a Ph.D. in American
Diplomatic and Middle East History
from the University of Michigan. He has
authored four other books and numerous
articles, which have appeared in The New
York Times, The Washington Post, and
the Los Angeles Times among others. SL
Calendar Notes
As you begin to make plans for the
coming school year, be sure to make note
of these changes to the 2014-15 school
calendar, which were approved by the
Board of Education in April:
The first day of school will be Tuesday,
August 26 for all students in grades 1-12.
Kindergarten students ease into school with
an orientation by appointment on August 26
or August 27, followed by half-days on August
28 and 29. Full-day kindergarten classes
begin on Tuesday, September 2. Information
regarding the kindergarten orientation and
phase-in process will be mailed home before
the start of the school year.
Spring break has been shortened from eight
days to six, and Commencement has been
moved from June 11 to June 9. The calendar
changes will allow teachers to engage in more
professional learning days when students
are not in school. The modifications also
accommodate changes in the state testing
schedule and changes in state law requiring
a minimum number of hours of instruction
during the school year, rather than a minimum
number of days.
A complete listing of events is available in the
District’s online calendar at shaker.org, and
in the printed PTO/District calendar, which
will be sent home in August to all families
with children enrolled in the schools.
New in Town?
Families are encouraged to register new
students as early as possible. Appointments
are required! Please call 216-295-4321
to schedule your appointment. For
more information about registration
requirements, visit shaker.org/registration.
The Shaker schools provide a number of
activities to welcome new families and help
them become familiar with their student’s
new school. A complete listing of new family
orientation activities is available in the online
calendar at shaker.org.
Summer Reading
Whether you’re going out of town for
vacation or hanging out at the pool this
summer, head to the library or bookstore
first to stock up on reading selections.
Required and suggested summer reading lists
are available by grade level at shaker.org. And
don’t forget the sunscreen!
Long Live Latin!
If “classic” means standing the test of
time, the Latin program at Shaker certainly
qualifies. After more than 50 years, the
program is going strong – and unlike the
Roman Empire, shows no sign of decline.
Far from being a “dead language” (don’t let
the Latin teachers hear you call it that!),
the program is more vibrant than ever,
serving over 320 students in grades seven
through 12. Beginning in 2014-15, sixthgrade
students at Woodbury Elementary
will also be able to opt to study Latin.
Last spring, more than 150 students
from the High School and Middle
School turned out an especially strong
performance on the National Latin Exam,
with 14 students earning perfect scores – a
new record for the District. Ben Robertson,
then a junior, earned his fourth perfect
score in a row – a feat accomplished by
only six other students in the world this
year. Two other Shaker students, Sameer
Apte and Anav Sood, each accomplished
their third perfect score.
Students from the Shaker Latin Club
took first place overall at the Ohio Junior
Classical League Convention, and Shaker
students took first and second place
in Case Western Reserve University’s
Vergil Week Latin Recitation Contest.
Shaker tied with one other school district
for having the most award winners in
this year’s Classical Association of the
Midwest and South Translation Contest.
And Shaker students frequently hold
positions in both the state and national
cabinets of the Junior Classical League.
Why the passion for Latin?
According to Latin teacher Nora Murphy,
who sponsors the Latin Club at the High
School, “The secret to its popularity
is that it’s really a student-led, studentenergized
organization. It’s a rare day
when I don’t have a group of students
in my room after school. The truth is
that these students participate because
they enjoy the experience. They push
each other to succeed, and they succeed
because they push each other.”