Tuesday morning, senior Tom Soukup walks into class, tucks in his tattersall checkered shirt, and fixes his bow tie. With a cold Klondike bar clasped in his free hand, he welcomes a smile from the teacher. It is going to be a good day in Latin class.

Revere High School Latin teacher Larry Petkovsek has continued the tradition of Bow Tie Tuesday for several years. He wears a bow tie every Tuesday and encourages students to dress up and wear a bow tie too.

Petkovsek explained that this tradition started when Joe Lazuta, one of his former students, wore a bow tie to school one day.

“[Lazuta] came in one day wearing a bow tie, and I teased him whether he had tied it himself, or was wearing one of those fake [bow ties], and he said he had tied it himself,” Petkovsek said.

Petkovsek added that he did not know how to tie a bow tie at the time, and Lazuta offered to help him learn how to tie one.

“I didn’t know how to tie one, and he said ‘I could teach you how [Mr. Petkovsek], and I said something like ‘I hope you can teach me how to do bow ties better than I can teach you how to do Latin.’ It became a joke, and that’s how it all sort of got started,” Petkovsek said.

Soukup, a student of Mr. Petkovsek, explained why he participates in this weekly tradition.

“Bow Tie Tuesday is a celebration of all that we, as Latinists, have accomplished. After countless nights staying up deciphering two thousand year old text containing universal truths, we get to carry a trophy around our necks. It gives us another chance to dress nice, practice discipline and show our stripes,” Soukup said.

Petkovsek explained his Bow Tie Tuesday tradition was separate from the trend depicting bow ties as fashionable again.

“Shortly after [Bow Tie Tuesday] began, bow ties became stylish again, and popular, but it did not have anything to do with being stylish. In fact, I started wearing it again as some sort of countercultural, nerdy, [and] old fashioned thing,” Petkovsek said.

Another student of Petkovsek, Revere sophomore Camille Volk, explained how the number of students that participate fluctuates and the effect the tradition would have on students if more people participated.

“If more people wore bow ties then certainly it would unify them since it would allow the different classes to see who else in the school took Latin besides their grade,” Volk said.

Petkovsek added that when students participate in the Bow Tie Tuesday tradition, they are rewarded with a food item.

“Those who wear the bow tie get some type of a treat, usually a Klondike bar.” Petkovsek said.

Soukup added that the tradition creates unity among Latin students and gives them something to discuss outside of Latin class.

“I know from my group of [AP students] it definitely unifies us. We talk about which bow ties we’re planning to wear, eat ice cream while we translate, and feel good keeping the tradition alive,” Soukup said.

Bow Tie Tuesday is a weekly tradition that calls for all Latin classes to band together and show the rest of the school their Latin pride.