Pen to Paper
As I put pen to paper, and wrote down ‘Latin I’ on my
high school course registration sheet in the spring of
the eighth grade, I had high hopes for myself. I had
dreams of becoming a doctor - a surgeon, specifically
- and was excited to receive a head start on medical
terminology. After all, everyone told me that half of
the medical jargon was derived from Latin
roots. This goal of entering the medical field fueled
my initial interest in the classical language; I
quickly made plans to take Latin all the way up to the
Advanced Placement level. I thought my
plan was impeccable, and the thought of acing all my
future vocabulary tests in medical school
inspired me to excel in my Latin class. However, come
the end of freshman year, my interest in
the medical field waned significantly. Suddenly, the
thought of working in a dimly-lit, sterile
hospital for the better half of my adult life gave me
chills. At the beginning of my sophomore
year, I wasn’t sure what my next career plan was
going to be, but I was certain it would not
involve an M.D..
As I continued with Latin II that year, my fading
interest in becoming a doctor was
concurrent with a fading interest in the Latin
language. I lost my enthusiasm for the class, and I
couldn’t help but regret not taking Spanish, French, or
another, you know, spoken language as
my foreign language requirement. I was regretful, I
didn’t understand why anybody who wasn’t
on the path of becoming a doctor would take such a
vested interest in the course. After all, there
were four hundred million people on Earth who spoke
Spanish, and how many who spoke
Latin?
My apathetic attitude stuck around for the remainder
of my sophomore year. When it
came time for class registrations in February, I
decided to sign up for another year of Latin.
I recall thinking that it wouldn’t be the best idea, but it
would be much better than, say, another
science class. So, I put pen to paper again and wrote
down ‘Latin III’ in the elective section of
my course registration sheet.
Fast forward six months, and I am so glad I stuck with
this incredible language. At the age of sixteen, I have
discovered that I have a passion for politics and
international affairs and wish to build a career in
them in the future, but that doesn’t discount from the
priceless lessons my Latin class teaches me on a
weekly basis. The skill of dissecting sentences
into their separate parts has helped me tremendously
in English and writing class. The extensive study of
derivatives and roots has blessed me with the
capability of discovering a word’s meaning before I
ever resort to a dictionary to find it. The unique and
diverse makeup of my Latin class has provided me
with countless friendships that I treasure. The driven
and determined members of my school’s JCL chapter
inspire and challenge me to be my very best. I’m not
sure you can find these in other, more common and
homogeneous languages. But I know firsthand that
they are found in the rigorous yet exciting
environment of my 5th period: Latin III.
Latin is spoken primarily in Vatican City, and while I
don’t imagine myself as a Pope or Catholic priest
anytime in the future, I do imagine myself as someone
benefitting from the critical thinking skills this
language and class have taught me, which are
transferable among every career, culture, and
country. Needless to say, this upcoming February,
when it is time again to fill out my annual course
registration form, I will be putting pen to paper again
when I fill in ‘AP Latin’ as my senior elective class.
And I encourage every current Latin student reading
this to do the same.
Ashley Song
Rossview High School