Ayo Edebiri, the Emmy-winning actress, writer and Dorchester native, returned to her alma mater last Thursday — this time, without a rolling backpack in hand.

“So, a lot’s changed,” Edebiri told an auditorium full of students at Boston Latin School, where she began seventh grade and graduated in 2013. “It gets better!”

Edebiri spoke in conversation with Mayor Wu to students lucky enough to have the first lunch slot at the Latin School. In a jam-packed auditorium, Wu asked Edebiri about her experience at the country’s oldest public school.

Seated beside Wu on stage, with a small table holding a floral arrangement separating them, Edebiri shared the pride she’s felt recently in her Boston roots.

The award-winning actress, who took home an Emmy last year for her supporting role in FX’s “The Bear,” said attending Latin School helped pave the way for her future in more ways than one.

“It’s such a specific experience going to this school,” she said, before adding as an aside — “the seniors are sort of nodding their heads.” “There’s like a rigor that I have ... and a level of care that I think I have that would not be possible without having gone to this school.”

Boston Latin School, one of three public exam schools in the district, has been well known since its founding for a standard of excellence, including graduating five signers of the Declaration of Independence. On the crown molding of the auditorium, names of notable alums — from philosophers to politicians — are printed in large lettering. One space, however, is left empty, to be filled with the names of future graduates.

Students are told throughout their time at the school their names might be shown one day.
At 29, Edebiri has already filled that metaphorical space. Wu named April 10 “Ayo Edebiri Day” in Boston.

“No presh to you guys, I just vividly remember sitting in these seats, and you see all these names and all these pictures of beautiful, dead, and white people, and it felt so far away,” Edebiri told the audience. “It felt kind of impossible.”

Now, Edebiri said, she looks back at her time at The Latin School, where she did improv, played in winter concerts and participated in fashion shows, as an integral part of her success today. Her closest friends are from Latin School, she said, and attending a school that pulls kids from across Boston, from all different backgrounds, made her “ready to meet the world in a way.”

Admission to Boston Latin was once contingent on top grades and test scores citywide, before the policy was modified in 2021 to increase socio-economic diversity among the student body.

Students laughed and groaned alongside Edebiri as she made references to infamous Latin School traditions like “declamations,” or public speaking, performances each student is expected to do throughout their schooling.

“That changed my life, for real,” she said, recalling a declamation where she read part of a speech from Julius Caesar. “I was so nervous, I was shaking,” Edebiri recalled. “I remember I just had to look into Ms. McDonald’s eyes … I made it to the end, and she was like, ‘That was pretty good.’ And I was like, ‘Ah! Maybe something’s here.’ ”

After learning a certain “slickness” to survive her days at The Latin School, Edebiri said she’s now proud to be a product of public schools, just as she is to be from Boston — especially these days.

“I have felt very proud to be from Boston when I see you speak, to be completely honest,” she told Wu, who has publicly defended Boston against the Trump administration’s crackdown on funding and residents.

“I really think you’re doing such powerful and important work,” she told the mayor. “Never in my life could I imagine a mayor who’s a woman of color.”

In a statement after the chat, Wu passed on the compliments.

“It was a true delight to speak with award-winning actor, comedian, writer, producer and Dorchester girl Ayo Edebiri about how BPS and our city helped shape her path,” Wu said. “We’re so proud of our BPS alums making a difference in the world, and it was an honor to welcome Ayo back home to Boston to inspire the next generation.”

After the stage-side conversation, Edebiri took photos with students and hugged former teachers — including history teacher Cate Arnold. Arnold taught Edebiri as a student in her 8th grade US history class, and will be retiring in June after 25 years with the school.

“Her meteoric rise was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s my girl, that’s my Ayo!’” Arnold said after the event. “She sort of took all of us with her.”

Arnold still has videos of Edebiri performing in a “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” spinoff skit she and her classmates put on during an after-school club.

Arnold said she showed the reel to her students Thursday morning before the actor took the stage. “Just saying, look, anything is possible for you, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said.
Edebiri told the audience that though she now has received accolades and recognition, what matters is how you treat people.

“You’re gonna better the world, big or small, just by being yourself, trying to share the things that you’ve learned, the good that’s been put into you,” she said. “Just try to do that for other people, even if it’s something as small as like, lending somebody a pencil even though they’re annoying you.”

Arnold, the teacher, said this harks back to what she told her students earlier that day.

“The most important thing is that you be a decent human being,” she said. “I was like, ‘Yes, Ayo! I was telling them that this morning!’”

This story, part of a partnership between WBUR and the Boston University Department of Journalism, was published by WBUR on April 11. The Reporter and WBUR share content through a media partnership.