Our Latin Hopes Reduced to a Flicker

I am on such good terms with the Latin program as a whole because of my initial friendship with some of the students; I’ve known some since the seventh grade! Checking in on friends turned into saying hi to the beloved Mr. Heinitz and listening in on review sessions. I became a groupie, and it’s been more rewarding than I thought.

I’ve known Latin students since my freshman year of high school, even though I am a fourth-year Frenchie. proudly stands by its Latin program, a rara avis (Latin for “rare bird”) these days, especially in California public schools. Not even our rival school, , can boast about their high tanking Latin students – their class is nonexistent. We, however, can boast and see no shame in doing so.

And we do have a right to boast, as our program is one of the most successful I know. This year, the Latin students participated in their first statewide Latin Convention. At the convention, Foothill won second place (in their first year!) among small schools by producing many students and teams whose individual success propelled Foothill to success. A Foothill student scored higher than any other convention participant on the convention’s Roman History exam, and other students placed among the top honors in other tests like mythology and grammar. Furthermore, Latin III Certamen team placed second statewide. Certamen is a quiz-bowl style game that tests students on their overall knowledge of Latin and Roman life. As this is their first year in the Convention, these students surely have potential to place first in years to come, if not next year. Likewise, on the National Latin Exam, a prestigious standardized Latin test, numerous students also achieved gold and silver (that is, making very few mistakes). Three students received perfect scores within the past two years, one of them two years in a row. The Latin program is raking in too many honors to count!

It’s tough to deny that the Latin program is a gem among Foothill’s many. And now I must come to a sad ending to an otherwise encouraging story: Foothill’s Latin program is facing serious obstacles next year. Foothill projects Latin’s four levels will be forced into one class size, jeopardizing the future success of the program, and any extra funding will be cut out. This is just one example of California’s harsh budget reality. How exactly do we tell dream-chasing students that their efforts have been flushed away?

Cue the long sigh and typical teenage eye roll. It’s sad that my inquiry has become a rhetorical question due to its unanswerable nature. When someone can fix aspiring students’ problems, let me know. I’ll be the girl waiting in the currently missing light at the end of the tunnel, as that light has dimmed out to a mere flicker due to budget cuts.

If you would like to encourage Foothill Principal John Dwyer to keep the Latin program and any other program in jeopardy, please send an email to jdwyer@pleasanton.k12.ca.us.