Latin, an ancient language that over 47 languages derive from, has swept the Parker Upper School with more students taking it than ever before. With just 1% of the world still speaking Latin, students at Parker have been enrolling in Latin at an increasing rate with Latin 1 classes in the 2021-22 school year having had more students than ever before. 

There has been a common trend of many students switching to Latin after taking other languages. Sophomores, juniors and seniors all form the Latin I quorum. There are many benefits to taking Latin, which could be a reason for the spike in enrollments. Sean Miranda, the only Latin teacher at Parker, said that Latin is “a chance to learn about something that’s completely out of the norm…a class where we actually get to talk about gods, goddesses, monsters, swords, and stuff like that, so it’s a nice break from the norm.” He also said that Latin is a “spring board” for other languages, meaning that if one takes Latin, it’s easier to learn another language. 

Sophomore Kyle Feitler, President of Latin club and student enrolled in Latin II, stressed that taking Latin “improves vocabulary and can help on things like the SAT and ACT, which is a huge benefit especially to high schoolers.” According to a series of SAT score studies, students who have taken Latin score significantly better than the average across every section of the SAT, and even better than students learning Spanish, French, German, or Hebrew. 

Miranda also stressed that students switching into Latin “isn’t as common as you’d think. Most of the time, it will be upperclassmen who would do the sequence, and then decide to do a year of Latin just for fun.” 

There are numerous juniors, sophomores, and even seniors taking Latin I, including senior Lorenzo Collier and sophomore Monet VanVooren. VanVooren is planning on switching from Spanish II to Latin I junior year. She explained that “many of my friends have taken Latin and said that it’s very welcoming to upperclassmen, helps with SAT/ACT vocab, and has a very calm classroom environment, making it a less stressful class, especially in your junior year.” 

Collier switched from Advanced Spanish: Literature and Spanish Civ. to Latin I “I’ve heard that Latin is a pretty chill, so as a second semester senior, I wanted to take a more relaxed class,” Collier said.

Feitler also explained how Latin isn’t necessarily easier than other languages. He explained that you’re “not supposed to actually speak Latin, so that’s why it comes off as easier, but that’s just how Latin is… There is so much history behind it which makes it interesting to learn.” 

Collier went into more depth on Latin’s uniqueness by explaining that “it’s not a typical language class. You’re also doing history and mythology.” Latin accounts for the history behind the language, as well as projects on different figures in Roman history, such as Julius Caesar.

It’s safe to say that, with increasing interest, enrollment, and Latin club, Latin at Parker is as strong as ever.