BROOKLYN KIDS ACE NATIONAL LATIN EXAM

Four BASIS Independent Brooklyn middle school students just received the highest honors possible from the National Latin Exam. The exam tests knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, and culture. The 2016 National Latin Exam was offered to students on seven levels, and 142,271 students in the US and worldwide took the test across 3,119 schools.

BASIS Independent Brooklyn students were honored with the most perfect scores of any other school in Brooklyn or Manhattan, and it was the first year students at the school sat for the exam. Only a handful of schools across the nation receive multiple perfect scores, according to the National Latin Exam organization.

The four students awarded perfect scores on the “Intro Latin” exam were Jared Moser of Park Slope, Camila Contreras of DUMBO and Benjamin Hendricks and Max Vaysburd of Battery Park City. Their results put them in the top 2% of students taking the test. Twenty eight percent of BASIS Independent Brooklyn test-takers received ribbons for placement in the 90th percentile or above. All BASIS Independent Brooklyn Latin I exam test-takers received medals, including two gold medals, awarded to students scoring 90% and above.

Benjamin Hendricks, a 7th grader who achieved a perfect score, loves that Latin helps him "build connections between the past and the present, and improve [his] understanding of other subjects. It's really logical... and so it's easy to enjoy the class."

The National Latin Exam is sponsored by the American Classical League and the National Junior Classical League. According to the 2016 Annual Latin Exam Report, “the basic purposes of the NLE are to promote the study of Latin and to encourage the individual student.”

Language instruction is a critical part of the curriculum at BASIS Independent. All 5th and 6th graders take Latin. In 7th grade and above, students have the choice of a mandatory foreign language class and choose between Latin, French, Spanish, and Mandarin.

BASIS Independent Brooklyn (http://basisindependent.com/nyc) is in the second year of operation at a new schoolhouse in Red Hook, Brooklyn near IKEA. The school operates on the principal that every child can become a great student when presented a rigorous course of study taught by teachers who are experts in their subject and supported by a culture rewarding excellence.

Recently, BASIS Independent schools announced expansion plans to the Upper West Side of Manhattan for fall 2017 at 795 Columbus Avenue based on the success of the Brooklyn campus. Other locations include two BASIS Independent schools in Silicon Valley and one opening in McLean, Virginia in the fall of 2016.

Photo – BASIS Independent Brooklyn Latin Instructor Mr. Kaiserski and his scholars awarded perfect papers on the National Latin Exam 2016.

Photo Credit: Ross Cunningham