North Phoenix Prep Celebrates Participants of the National Latin Exam

While many of our scholars at Great Hearts participate in the National Latin Exam, this year marked the inaugural year for Latin students at North Phoenix Prep. The NLE, sponsored by the American Classical League and the National Junior Classical League, provides every Latin student the opportunity to experience a sense of personal accomplishment and success in his or her study of the Latin language and culture.

Sonya Hemmings, the sixth through eighth grade Latin teacher at North Phoenix Prep, proposed the idea of participating in the exam to her headmaster earlier this year. “She was totally behind it, 100%,” shared Hemmings. “We kind of made a last-minute decision to do it. So, we didn’t really start preparing until January. And the exam was in March.” But regardless, the participants did surprising well for their first go at the multiple-choice test. “They joined more than 100,000 student participants from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as 26 other countries.”

According to Hemmings, eight students joined a short-term after-school club to prepare, meeting once a week to learn the extra material that is not typically covered in the standard Latin curriculum. They also took several practice tests to get accustomed to the exam format.

“We only offered the first two levels, the introductory exam and the beginning exam. Based on the syllabus that they provide and where our students fall in that syllabus as far as the skills they’ve learned, we chose to just focus on those two this year.” explained Hemmings. “So, our sixth, seventh, and one of our eighth graders who was brand new to Latin, they all took the introductory exam. So, that was four students. Four other students who were in eighth and 9th grade took the beginning level exam. We had two gold medal winners, which means that they only each missed two on a 40-question exam that they had 45 minutes to complete.

These students were awarded the following based on their scores:

• Arjun K. (6th grade, Intro Exam) — Participation Certificate
• Dikshita K. (8th grade, Intro Exam) — Participation Certificate
• Naysha J. (7th grade, Intro Exam) — Magna Cum Laude Certificate
• Andi C. (6th grade, Intro Exam) — Maxima Cum Laude Certificate and Silver Medal
• Penny L. (8th grade, Beginning Exam) — Maxima Cum Laude Certificate and Silver Medal
• Lucy L. (9th grade, Beginning Exam) — Maxima Cum Laude Certificate and Silver Medal
• Reese E. (8th grade, Beginning Exam) — Summa Cum Laude Certificate and Gold Medal
• Andrea P. (8th grade, Beginning Exam) — Summa Cum Laude Certificate and Gold Medal

“It is an opportunity to learn some things that we don’t always get time to do in our regular curriculum. We’re so focused on maybe grammar and vocabulary, which is a part of the National Latin Exam, but there are other really interesting things like history, culture, geography, and mythology,” shared Hemmings. “So, it allows us time to explore those other things that we often don’t have time to do in the regular course of the day.”

We look forward to seeing even more students participate and thrive in Latin and the exam at North Phoenix Prep in the coming years.

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