Each year, Latin releases its Annual Report, summarizing key themes of the school’s growth, accomplishments, metrics, and goals. The recent 2023-24 Report tells a story of opportunity—how the school is growing, evolving, and creating new pathways for students. With robust growth in the endowment, a record $1.9 million raised for financial aid through the Romans Raise & Revel event, and expanding initiatives in diversity, wellness, and innovation, the 2023-24 Annual Report reflects Latin’s future-forward commitment to excellence.
“Opportunity was a big [takeaway] from this year’s Report—it plays into what the opportunities are for the school to grow, advance, and develop,” Chief Development Officer Dottie B.B. Gordon said.
Among the many components of the report is a comprehensive breakdown of Latin’s student and faculty demographics. For the 2023-24 year, the school reported that 46% of students identify as students of color—a 3% increase from 2022-23—while 2023-24 faculty members reported only 22% identifying as people of color compared to 24% in 2022-23.
While the difference between student and faculty persons of color may seem stark, Latin leadership acknowledges this gap and turns to their ongoing efforts to create a more representative overall community.
“It’s something we talk a lot about as a team—not only diversifying our student body but diversifying our staff, our faculty, so there is a reflection of our students in staff and faculty,” Ms. Gordon said. “We are a reflection of the city of Chicago—we are the Latin School of Chicago.”
This focus on a diverse Latin community is just one aspect of Latin’s broader commitment to opportunity, the theme that runs throughout the Annual Report. Alongside demographic trends, the Annual Report also highlights the financial aid budget—a resource that helps 12.3% of Latin students each year.
“Our total financial aid budget, each year, is over $5 million,” Director of Philanthropic Strategy Karl Sissman said.
In fact, the allotment sits at $5.2 million, an increase from $4.6 million a year earlier. This jump in the financial aid budget displays Latin’s commitment to providing opportunities for all students.
Romans Raise & Revel, one of Latin’s flagship fundraising events, plays a crucial role in this effort, with 100% of its record-breaking $1.9 million raised dedicated to financial aid.
Mr. Sissman said, “Primarily, our annual goal is to raise funds to support the budget, which touches all areas of the school, from academics to athletics to co-curricular and financial aid.”
Each year, the school determines a specific fundraising goal to achieve through various efforts, such as a Scholarship Dinner or Romans Raise & Revel event.
“Generally, the annual [fundraising] goal for the school grows by 3-5% each year,” Ms. Gordon said. “We have a growth goal of 12% this year. The reason for that is to create opportunities for students—there are some really exciting things that the senior leadership team and the board are looking at, not only to support the day-to-day and to safeguard everything that already exists at Latin, but to pursue special opportunities, specifically around technology, innovation, entrepreneurship, [and] student experiences.”
Despite this year’s aspirational goal, the school is on track to meet the 12% fundraising increase.
Moreover, the Annual Report highlights that Latin’s financial growth is not limited to financial aid—the school’s endowment has risen from $67.2 million in 2022-23 to $75.1 million in 2023-24.
“The endowment is a special vehicle and opportunity to raise funds to support the long term,” Mr. Sissman said. “Endowments really are there to support the perpetuity of the school’s programs, because the endowments are invested and grow over time, and each year a portion of it is utilized to support the school.”
An example of these long-term programs is the school’s commitment to student health and wellness, which the Annual Report emphasized.
The Annual Report says, “The Director of Student Health and Wellness, which will be a 12-month position, will spend much of their time developing and directing programming to help us meet the health and wellness needs of our students. This process will start with a comprehensive review and assessment of our existing programming, with the goal of identifying best-in-class recommendations and creating a three- to five-year plan for implementing them.”
Latin’s robust financial grants and growth were key factors allowing the school to implement this position. Ms. Gordon said, “We received special funding for the new Director of Student Health and Wellness. A consortium of donors came together to make the position possible.”
Latin’s investment in opportunity extends beyond financial aid and wellness initiatives; it is also evident in the development of academics, arts, and athletics. The Annual Report highlights the expansion of Latin’s STEAM programs, with new learning experiences across all divisions. These initiatives also build on the “Portrait of a Latin Learner”—a key theme from the 2022-23 Report, which listed critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration as components of a Latin student’s education.
This focus on Latin learning experiences does not go unnoticed. “I’ve seen a lot of good work being done by Latin administration to give Latin students as much opportunity as possible,” sophomore Gabi Raviv said.
The report also highlights increased student participation in Latin arts programs across theater, photography, and visual arts. These after-school arts offerings, including dance and digital photography, continued to expand.
In athletics, Latin students had a successful year, making many strong state-level performances in sports like diving, track and field, tennis, and golf. The varsity boys basketball team clinched the school’s first-ever IHSA sectional championship, a milestone for the athletics program.
Latin students also displayed a growing commitment to community engagement and service. In 2022-23, students logged 2,500+ hours of community service across various organizations. In 2023-24, that number increased to 4,000+ hours.
Considering all of these incredible developments and growth highlighted in the report, one of the key drivers behind this progress is Latin’s strong philanthropic support. As the report states, “Opportunities like the ones you’ll see throughout this year’s Annual Report are only possible because of our Latin community’s commitment to philanthropy.”
Mr. Sissman said, “As philanthropy is supporting both the budget and helping fund new initiatives, those are all coming from the vision of Dr. Hagerman, division directors, and the programming needs of the school—ensuring that all of the students, faculty, and staff have all of the resources they need.”
The report features two examples of significant philanthropic grants given to the school— Computer Science and Teacher Excellence—each a decade-long.
The Annual Report states that “the main goal of the Computer Science Grant was to create a best-of-its-kind computer science department at Latin to increase opportunities for all students, including underrepresented groups such as girls and students of color that have traditionally had limited access and exposure to the field.”
The Teacher Excellence Grant is described as “[transforming] the way Latin approaches, measures and supports the growth of our faculty, improvement of our academic program and progress of our students. It has expanded and enriched the training and development opportunities available to our teachers.”
Looking to the future, Latin administration is now beginning the process of selecting new themes and goals for the coming years, hosting recent Strategic Planning Labs to listen to and record community voices from student leaders, parents, faculty, and alumni.
“The strategic planning process is to help identify the programs and priorities of the school, in addition to what we already know—how do we move forward and grow?” Mr. Sissman said. “Once we identify what those areas are, we know what programs and components that we will focus on and grow over the coming three to five years.”
