Latin is a dying language, many may argue, considering that no country designates it as its official language. However, one Green Hope student wants to change that.
Green Hope junior Katie Biddle (‘25) is the co-president of the school’s Latin club and hopes to foster a love for the language among her peers. “I hope the Latin club members can find genuine enjoyment in learning about Roman authors and Latin literature,” she said.
After taking a year of the Latin curricula at school, Biddle worked with fellow Green Hope student Reiden Khan (‘24) to revive the organization. “The Latin club was originally created last year by Eliza Jankowski, who was a senior at the time. After she graduated, there wasn’t much information about how the club would look for the 2023 school year, so I reached out to Reiden Khan (who took AP Latin last year and was a member of the club) and now we are running it together,” she said.
Although no country designates Latin as its official language, it has evolved in tandem with numerous commonly spoken ones: traces of word roots are still present in the words we speak in English today.
Although she thoroughly enjoys engaging with the language, she didn’t start learning early on – in fact, she took her first Latin class in her sophomore year. Initially, she explained that she chose Latin because her older brother, a Green Hope alumnus, recommended it to her.
“I mostly chose Latin because my brother took it for a couple of years before me and he liked having Mr. Smith as his teacher,” she said. Another reason, she cited, was due to the challenge she thought it would present. “I also had the impression that Latin was a very complex and scholarly language, so I thought it would be interesting to see what it was really like.”
Even for more STEM-oriented students who rarely venture beyond the confines of science and math-related courses, Biddle encourages anyone to try out the course. “I usually prefer CTE courses, but this year I have found Latin and history to be my most interesting classes,” she said. She takes Latin along with AP United States History and expressed her love for the narrative format both classes employ. “I am currently taking Latin III and APUSH, and I have really enjoyed the story-telling structure of many of the lessons.”
Biddle also dispels common myths about the language: most commonly, stereotypes that the language is “boring” and irrelevant. “I think it is easy to assume that Latin writing is boring, but it can actually contain many interesting themes, such as comedy and romance, which are still common today,” she said.
She also mentioned Mr. Smith, Green Hope’s Latin teacher, as a driving influence in her love of the language, taking away the complexity in the language that may detract from her understanding of it. “I think Mr. Smith has already communicated this very well, [and] it is still interesting to talk about Latin without having to also focus on grammar concepts and translations.”
After high school, Biddle hopes to continue engaging with Latin, and incorporate it into her coursework in university. “In college, I hope to earn a minor in Latin. I’m not sure how much I will be dealing with it after that, but perhaps I will still enjoy reading translations by poets such as Catullus and Martial,” she said.
Exploring historical literature through learning Latin allows students to better understand both the past and the world around them today – a worthy goal of a high school like Biddle herself.
