In mid-March, seventh grade students at Stella Schola Middle School in Lake Washington School District participated in the National Latin Exam. The one-hour test consisted of 40 questions ranging from Latin root words, verb conjugations, and case endings (e.g. genitive, nominative, accusative, etc) to questions regarding a multi-paragraph Latin story which students had to translate in their heads. “It was not as hard as I thought it would be and I was surprised at how much I knew,” commented one Latin student, “Our hard work in class paid off!”
Over 134,500 students took the National Latin Exam this year, including all 50 US states and 11 foreign countries including Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, England, Italy, Japan, Mozambique, New Zealand, Poland, Zimbabwe, Switzerland, and, for the first time, students from Brazil.
Eighteen students from Stella Schola Middle School placed in the 85th percentile on the national level, earning them a certificate and a purple ribbon. Three students scored in the top five percent in the nation on the exam; Zein C. (scored 38), Michael P. (scored 38) and Merlin E. (scored 39)!