By Pierre D. Habel, Latin Teacher Adverse circumstances marked the 2019-2020 school year, as each of us knows and yet feels. But our students’ spirit of perseverance and commitment to excellence also shone forth. It is my privilege to share the example set by the fine Jaguar Latin scholars who took the 2019-2020 National Latin Exam (NLE) on March 12th, just as community spread of the virus and a disruption to learning began. But adversity did not hinder our students’ focus and achievement. A bit of context: the NLE is a norm-referenced assessment of students’ expertise in both the Latin language and Roman culture. It is a rigorous test of vocabulary, grammar, history, mythology, culture, morphology, and reading comprehension skills. Nearly 160,000 students across 50 states and countries from Australia to Zimbabwe took part this year. Many schools offer the NLE only to their “top” students or to volunteers. Here at D’Evelyn, all Latin students take the exam. With that in mind, consider how remarkable it is that more than two thirds of D’Evelyn’s Latin scholars won medals or certificates of honor. Two certificates, cum laude and magnā cum laude, reflect achievement above the 51st and 67th percentile, respectively. Students who earn silver medals (with maximā cum laude certificates) or gold medals (with summā cum laude certificates) outscore, respectively, more than 78% or 88% of their peers across the country and the world. The highest tier of achievement is the Perfect Paper; Ming Song, Latin II student, scaled this peak and thus ranks in the top 1 % of her peers for her mastery of the Latin language! (Full DHS and national score distribution data for the 2020 NLE is available here.) Please read on to learn the names and accomplishments of all award winners. If you know these young people, please reach out to them with congratulations. They were deprived of public recognition at an awards ceremony, but they are so worthy of celebration. These Jaguars knew (and know!) how to learn and to focus on demonstrating what they know. As they begin a new semester of scholarship, please encourage them with words of congratulation!
*Perfect Paper
I’d finally like to note the year-round excellence of the students whose names are bolded above: they Received the Outstanding Achievement Awards for their day-to-day excellence in Latin. Their contributions to the class as a whole and to the learning of their peers, their questions, and their determination to understand the linguistic and historical legacy of the Romans set them in the top 5% of their D’Evelyn peers. They shone most brightly and consistently in 2019-2020; please join me in honoring them. Comments are closed.
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