Instead of joining fellow students in R7 Flex on Thursday, March 12, Latin students shuffled into the cafeteria to take the National Latin Exam. Every year, students around the country are tested on their Latin skills according to the level of Latin they are currently enrolled in. Students from Mary Morgan’s Latin 1, 2 and 3 classes were among those students.

To sway her students into taking the NLE, Morgan offered her students ten bonus points, and the prospect of extra credit which caused nearly all of her students to take the exam. The students’ overall excitement to take the exam, or lack thereof, was pretty low. Some students even took a cynical approach to the exam.

“You know, I asked the proctors for a calculator, and they didn’t give me one. Later I asked for a Latin dictionary, and they didn’t give me that either,” said junior Eric Reynolds. “I didn’t even have enough time to prepare for the exam; the only reason why I took the exam was for the ten bonus points,” he said.

Then there were a few students who were unsure exactly how well prepared they were for the test.

“I think I did okay,” said junior Doreen Bond from Morgan’s Latin 1 class. “I think we were prepared probably enough for part of it,” she said.

When asked why she decided to take the test, Bond turned to look at Morgan and laughed sarcastically. “She made me,” she said.

“I took the test because it looks good on a college application,” said freshman Shannon Casey. “I think we were prepared very well for the test because Ms. Morgan gave us a lot of worksheets; I think I did well on the test,” said Casey

Morgan seemed to echo many of her students’ expectations of the test. “In general, I don’t expect them to do as well as in previous years. This is a strange year to prepare, and the preparation I usually do during January and February was disrupted because of the snow; I believed we covered almost everything in the end, though. To prepare for the test, first we do the usual things we’d do in class. When we get back from winter break, I give my students a series of worksheets and tests to help them prepare for the exam. I also give them these little tests and exams from previous years, but the snow messed up all of that.”

“After winter break I was ready to go and work on preparing my students for the exam, and then it snowed, and then just when you think you’ll be back in school and have time to prepare for the exam, it snows again. In the end, all I could do was stay inside and watch Bones DVDs,” said Morgan.

How well prepared the students were will be revealed when the scores of the test are revealed later on in the year.