Two Incarnate Word Academy students made a perfect score on the National Latin Exam. Abigail Christensen '24 and Devin Gold '24 aced the test, given annually to students in the United States and around the world.

"In all my years teaching Latin, I've only ever had one student earn a perfect score on the exam, so having two was a delightful surprise," said Dr. Brian Apicella, IWA's Latin teacher. "Earning a perfect score is very difficult; about 140,000 students from 20 different countries take the test each year and less than one percent earn a perfect score."

Abigail and Devin received a medal and a certificate touting their accomplishment. They'll also receive a hand-lettered certificate announcing the test results. 

"I decided to study Latin because I was fascinated by how Latin is intertwined with the words many people speak on a daily basis, even though the language has not been officially spoken for many years," said Devin. "I'm enjoying diving further into the rich history of Latin, and how my vocabulary has expanded since taking the class."

Abigail likes that, too. She decided to take IWA's Latin I class to help her learn new vocabulary words. While she certainly did that, she discovered something else.

"I enjoy how I can find correlations in words with what we have been learning in class," she said. "In addition, I like how the stories we read in class have interesting storylines."

 Abigail and Devin aren't the only IWA students to win awards on the National Latin Exam. Brianna Reagins '24 and Reese Mason '24 earned gold medals. All four students will have their names published in "Torch U.S.," the publication of the National Junior Classical League. The League is a national non-profit that encourages an interest in and appreciation of the language, literature and culture of ancient Greece and Rome, as well as imparting an understanding of the debt contemporary culture owes to that of Classical antiquity.

"We are very proud of these two young ladies," said Andrea Smith, M.Ed., LPC, NCC, principal. "This is a tremendous accomplishment. And we're thankful to Dr. Apicella for his hard work preparing them for this exam, as well as his enthusiasm for all things Latin."